Bolivia's shamans in cliffside 'suicide homes' face eviction due to climate change

Record ID: 1889289

  • Title: Bolivia's shamans in cliffside 'suicide homes' face eviction due to climate change
  • Date: 12th December 2024
  • Summary: EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 11, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF ROW OF HOUSES BUILT ON EDGE OF A CLIFF / LA PAZ CITY BELOW CLIFF DRONE SHOT OF JAGGED CLIFF WALL / HOUSES BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF / LOCAL TAKING PICTURES WITH CAMERA BEHIND HOUSES / BUILDINGS NEAR CLIFF'S EDGE DRONE SHOT OF HOUSES ON BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF, CABLE CARS PASSING BY, BUILDINGS NEAR CLIFF'S EDGE EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 4, 2024) (REUTERS) "BRASERO" OFFERING FOR RITUALS BY INDIGENOUS AMAUTAS, MEANING "WISE MEN" WHO ARE ANDEAN SPIRITUAL AUTHORITIES VARIOUS OF AMAUTA, MANUEL MAMANI, PRAYING NEXT TO AN OFFERING TO THE "PACHAMAMA", MEANING MOTHER EARTH IN QUECHA BURNING OFFERING SIGN READING (Spanish): “DON MANUEL, MASTER YATIRI AMAUTA” (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) AMAUTA, MANUEL MAMANI, SAYING: “We are not going to move from this place, because this is our everyday workplace. However, we will take care of the ground. We will push the rainwater elsewhere, for it to flow quickly.” VARIOUS OF STREETS LINED WITH AMAUTAS' HOUSES AND OFFERING TABLES OUTSIDE THEIR FRONT DOORS EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 11, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF AMAUTA’S HOUSES BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF DRONE SHOT OF HOUSES BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF, CABLE CARS PASSING BY EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 4, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOUSES BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF, CABLE CARS PASSING BY EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MUNICIPAL SECRETARY OF WATER, SANITATION, ENVIRONMENTAL AND RISK MANAGEMENT, GABRIEL PARI, SAYING: “The cliff of this valley is at 90 degrees, and the shacks’ foundations are visible. For this reason, with the deputy mayor, we notified (the inhabitants of the danger) in March and will notify them again. We want them to leave this place, and if they refuse, we will have to use public force.” EL ALTO, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 11, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF AMAUTAS' SHACKS BUILT ON EDGE OF CLIFF AND NEARBY BUILDINGS IN THE CITY DRONE SHOT OF THE ROOFS OF AMAUTAS' SHACKS ON EDGE OF CLIFF EL ALTO, BOLIVIA (DECEMBER 4, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AMAUTAS BURNING OFFERINGS FOR THE PACHAMAMA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) AMAUTA, GABRIEL LOPEZ CHIVA, SAYING: “If something might happen here, like a landslide, we can perform an offering ceremony. We do it as a payment, and this land will never move. Pachamama needs an offering, like food, and this place will not move. On the contrary, the place will stabilize.” VARIOUS OF AMAUTA PERFORMING AN ANDEAN RITUAL SHAWL DRAPING A WORSHIPPER SITTING NEAR A BURNING OFFERING
  • Embargoed: 26th December 2024 11:03
  • Keywords: Amautas Andean ritual Beliefs Bolivia Brasero Dangerous housing El Alto La Paz Pachamama Precarious housing Slums burning offering cliff edge suicide houses
  • Location: EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA
  • City: EL ALTO, LA PAZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: South America / Central America,Society/Social Issues,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001656011122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In the highland city of El Alto in Bolivia, a row of shacks with colorful corrugated metal roofs - blues, oranges, reds and greens - are perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, mere inches away from a precipitous drop hundreds of feet to the rocky escarpment below.
    Locals call them "suicide homes" for the high risk that the inhabitants take.
    The row of cliffside homes often double as workplaces for Aymara shamans, or amautas, where they make offerings to the Pachamama, or Earth Mother. But the structures are becoming increasingly unstable due to heavy rains and the impacts of global warming.
    The city authorities have warned residents about the eroding cliff and are planning a forced evacuation if necessary.
    Despite the increasing dangers, amauta Gabriel Lopez Chiva said he had faith in the protective powers of the Pachamama.
    "We can do an offering ceremony, we do it as a payment and in this way the land will never move because Pachamama needs an offering. It is like food and this way this place will not move, on the contrary, the place will stabilize," said Chiva.
    (Reporting by Monica Machiaco, Sergio Limachi, Santiago Limachi, and Hugo Monnet)
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