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New Military Phrase and the Wiphala Mark Day of the Sea

Posted: Nate on Mar 23 | Law & Justice, News

In today´s celebrations commemorating the Day of the Sea in Plaza Avoroa in La Paz, “Country or Death, We Will Overcome” was announced as the new official call of the Bolivian armed forces.  At the beginning of the ceremony, marking the 131st anniversity of the loss of Bolivian coastline to Chile, President Evo Morales raised the tricolor national flag and Vice-President Álvaro García Linera the 7-colored wiphala.  At the end of his speech, in which Morales acknowledged that relations between Bolivia and Chile had reached a new step in mutual confidence, the President called to the service men and women assembled, “Police and Armed Forces of the Plurinational State, Country or Death!”  To which he received a resounding response, “We Will Overcome!”

The new phrase is an adaptation of a slogan popularized by Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the late 1950´s, “Country, Socialism, or Death,” signifying President Morales´ eagerness to align with their historic movement.  The wiphala, a symbol of the indigenous movement, was made a national symbol along with the tricolor flag, the national hymn, the coat of arms, and the flowers kantunta and patajú by Supreme Decree in 2009.  In accordance with the decree, the wiphala was raised as a flag of war by various military schools in attendance at today´s ceremony.

For more in Spanish see:

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483925970

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