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Four deaths surrounded Bolivian political mobilizations in 2021. Responsibility for two remains in dispute. woborders.blog/2021/12/31/four-deaths-2021/
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The dead were: Police Sergeant Miguel Ángel Quispe Nina, shot dead while clearing a blockade in the Adepcoca factional dispute.
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Chiquitano community leader Lino Peña Vaca from Ebenezer community, San Ignacio de Velasco municipality, beaten by Interculturales and hospitalized in July. Whether he died of the wounds or an "unrelated" COVID infection is disputed.
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Indigenous marcher Rafael Rojas Abiyuna, died of natural causes (heart attack) in September while an Indigenous march was fruitlessly awaiting negotiations with the national government.
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Pro-MAS demonstrator Basilio Titi Topolo, died in November while fleeing anti-MAS demonstrators in Potosí during a strike against a money-laundering law. The proximate cause of his death is disputed.
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Three of these four deaths were violent (or at least came in the context of potentially lethal violence), where Rafael Rojas Abiyuna’s death was a tragic accompaniment to political mobilization.
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Two of the three violent deaths came in confrontations among civilians from opposed social movements, the pattern that predominated prior to the 2019 crisis.
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Debates over Peña Vaca and Titi Topolo’s deaths reflect the country’s increasing polarization: material facts are increasingly drawn into political disputes, rumors and accusations proliferate, and trust in medical, forensic, and prosecutorial institutions is in decline.