María Barzola
María Barzola | |
|---|---|
| Born | Llalagua |
| Died | 21 December 1942 Catavi Mine |
| Occupation | Miner |
| Movement | Catavi Mine Workers Union |
María Barzola was a Bolivian miner and trade unionist. She is best known for her death during the Catavi Massacre, a 1942 confrontation between tin miners and the army. Barzola grabbed a Bolivian flag, and then was killed by the soldiers' bullets.[1]
Personal and working life
Maria Barzola was a palliri, or rock- breaker.[2] This was a name derived from the Aymara language that was given to female mine-workers who sorted through the rocks pulled up from mines. Many of them came from indigenous backgrounds.[3] Palliris lived a difficult life, described by Gregorio Iriarte as "slaves in modern times, without a man to defend them nor a law to protect them."[1] There are varying accounts told of her involvmenet in the Catavi incident, but the most credible state that she was a representative for women in the union. She was also a mother.[2]
Legacy and recognition
A female wing of the Bolivian NMR, or Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, are named 'Barzolas' in honor of María Barzola. Lidia Gueiler, the president of Bolivia from 1979 to 1980, was a former member of this group.[4]
A plaza in Potosi is named after her.
References
- ^ a b Greaves, Thomas C. (1986). "The Woman's Voice In Andean Labor Unions". Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development. 15 (3/4): 355–376. ISSN 0894-6019.
- ^ a b Nash, June (1993). We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us. Columbia University Press. pp. 42–44.
- ^ "'The mountain that eats men alive' | New Internationalist". newint.org. 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2025-05-30.
- ^ Morales, Waltraud Queiser (1980). "Bolivia Moves Toward Democracy". Current History. 78 (454): 76–88. ISSN 0011-3530.