"Yo sí grito," Karoly says with pride. Behind the literal pronouncement that she indeed shouts when she participates in these ongoing protests is the assertion that she is willing, ready, and unafraid to do so.
I am honored to share her powerful writing and photographs here.
******************************************************************************************************
This is my Shipibo community, where we all support each other.
...Hasta que ingresó el alcalde de ahora, Luis Castañeda Lossio, que no nos quería dar la reubicación. Más o menos quería botarnos de Cantagallo y no darnos terreno.
The community has been here since 2000. We’ve been here until 2013 without any issues, until about 2 years ago, when this whole relocation thing began. With the government’s Project, Cantagallo has to leave its current site, because that area is going to become part of Via Parque Rimac. So we’ll have to be relocated. The former mayor, Susana Villarán, initiated this project. In her turn as mayor, she did good things. She was going to give us land; apartments where all of Cantagallo would be relocated together.
…Until the current mayor, Luis Castañeda Lossio, took office. He didn’t want to help relocate us. Basically, he wanted to kick us out of Cantagallo without giving us anywhere to go.
Where would that leave us? We, the indigenous Shipibos? They denied us land and so we as a community coordinated that we would have a protest, so they would approve the land we were promised.
So we marched to the Palacio del Gobierno to protest. We arrived at the Palacio de Gobierno with our attorney. Some of the mothers of the community, Shipibo women and artisans in traditional dress from the jungle, had already arrived. So the police already suspected something, and they approached three of the mothers from the community, telling them we had to leave. That’s when we all put on our traditional Shipibo clothing, including myself.
Queremos que los limeños nos traten igual.
At that moment we decided to identify ourselves like that because even though we wear Shipibo dress, we want to be treated just like everyone else. Not to be discriminated against. We want to feel equal to everyone—not more, not less. Because we’re Shipibo, some people think we’re bad, or that we don’t know anything.
We want limeños (people in Lima) to treat us equally.
People think we’ll arrive at a protest with sticks and stones. But it’s not like that. We went to make our voices heard by the government. So that they won’t lie to us anymore. They think that, because of our culture, because we’re different, that they can treat us like we’re ignorant. They’ve been lying to us for 2 years, and we don’t want that anymore. So we went and staged a protest, where even children participated.
Tambien fueron periodistas que nos apoyaron durante todo este tiempo. Nos dieron entrevistas para hacer no solamente que nos escucharan los del palacio del gobierno sino que la gente toda la gente sepa donde vivimos quienes somos y para que estamos luchando. Los periodistas, personas que ni siquiera nos conocíamos, personas limeñas, nos apoyaron. Y hasta turistas nos apoyaron.
We were there from 9am until noon. During this time the police called us Asháninkas [1] ; we explained to them that we were Shipibos. And the police made fun of how we spoke, of how we were dressed.
There were also journalists who came to the protest and supported us. They interviewed us, so that we would be heard not just in the Palacio del Gobierno, but so that everyone else would know where we live, who we are, and what we’re fighting for. The journalists, people who we didn’t even know, people from Lima, supported us. And even tourists supported us.
I, and my Cantagallo family, thank everyone who supported us, who came to see us shout for the defense of our community. No more rejection, no more lies!
I am Karoly Bautista Pizarro, daughter of Isaiah Bautista Pizarro and Delia Pizarro, and I’m 13 years old. I don't like for people to discriminate against us. I like to perform, especially when it's related to my culture. I like my community. I like being Shipibo; it makes me proud. And I want all Peruvians to love one another. We are all equal.