Melchor Pinto
My friend, Anna, and I were
talking about how to get the trufis to Cotoca one day. She said I should go to the rotunda with both
a statue and a mural; the road that goes east from there is called Melchor
Pinto. But she wasn’t sure who the statue
represented. I hazarded a guess that
maybe it was Melchor Pinto. With a
little research, I discovered that it was.
But who is Melchor Pinto?
Dr. Melchor Pinto Parada was born
in Santa Cruz, in November of 1903. He
married a distinguished lady by the name of Leticia Peredo Zambrana. They had four children.
He graduated from medical school
is Chile. His skills as a surgeon were
put to the test in the Chaco War, Bolivia’s war against Paraguay in the
1930s. But he became renowned for caring
for the injured. By this time, he was
also becoming famous as a local philosopher.
In the 1950s Melchor Pinto fought
a different kind of battle. Oil and
natural gas was being discovered in ever greater amounts in the department of
Santa Cruz. A lot of money was being
made, but only for the elite in La Paz and the big oil companies drilling for
oil. The people of Santa Cruz did not
think this was right.
At this time, Santa Cruz was not
the cosmopolitan city it is today. The
city and the surrounding towns in the department were squalid compared to the
rest of Bolivia. Paved roads were rare. Clean drinking water and any kind of sewage
system were non-existent. The small city
of Santa Cruz had electricity, but rolling blackouts were common. The small towns had yet to experience electricity.
The people of Santa Cruz knew
that the oil and gas was their natural resource. Why shouldn’t part of it go to help the
people? They didn’t demand all of it,
they just wanted a portion. Dr. Melchor
Pinto began a campaign demanding 11% of the proceeds to go to the establishment
of electricity, paved roads, clean water, and sewage systems. After years of strikes and protests, the
government in La Paz agreed to the demands.
Today, Dr. Melchor Pinto Parada
is honored with a statue in the rotunda where a street that bears his name
crosses the First Ring. A block from the Plaza is a coffee shop called Café Patrimonio. I was told it was his house. One room of the cafe's art gallery has a reconstruction of his office.
I am always amazed that I learn something new and it suddenly appears everywhere.
I am always amazed that I learn something new and it suddenly appears everywhere.
Good story.
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