Bolivian vice president finds solidarity in NYC

New York City

Bolivia’s Vice President David Choquehuanca spoke to a gathering of U.S. and Latin American anti-imperialist and human rights activists April 17 in New York City. Choquehuanca is an Indigenous Aymara leader, peasant organizer, trade unionist and member of the Movement for Socialism (MAS), which is the leading party in the government of the Plurinational Republic of Bolivia.

The reception was co-hosted by Alliance for Global Justice and the International Action Center and held at the Solidarity Center at 121 West 27th Street in Manhattan.

The vice president was in New York for Sustainability Week at the United Nations. He would attend the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, including the 23rd Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) that started April 15 and was scheduled to run until April 26.

In the discussion at the IAC office, Choquehuanca, who has often represented his country at international forums on the environment, emphasized the goal of MAS to create a world in which, besides working toward equality among human beings, humans are able to live in harmony with all living things. He considered this view as going beyond 20th-century socialist thought.