Cambas, kollas y chapacos
01.12.2004I thought it necessary to define the words camba, kolla, and chapaco for those unfamiliar w/ the terms. I'm hesitant to do so, since the terms are cultural ones that have multiple meanings (positive & negative) depending on context. Also, I want to point out that while I'm a camba (and proud of it!), I've no anti-kolla sympathies, like many cambas do. And, to be honest, I much prefer living in La Paz to living in Santa Cruz.
But there's at least two Bolivias, and I don't mean the division between the Europeanized mestizo urban populations and the indigenous campesinos (which is, of course, an important division as well).
Bolivia's divided, regionally, into three different "cultural" groups. The eastern, lowland departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando are considered camba departments (people from the city of Santa Cruz are, specifically, cruceños). The western, Andean departments of Oruro, Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, and Chuquisaca are considered kolla departments. People from the southern department of Tarija are known as chapacos and are neither camba nor kolla (parts of Chuquisaca also share this distinction).
The international image of Bolivia is kolla. These departments are more "Andean" and have large Quechua & Aymara populations and traditions. Basically, fill in all your Bolivian stereotypes here, including music, food, dress. Everything you've seen in a postcard or travel guidebook. I've many kolla friends (also, my family's originally was born in Oruro). Kollas are pleasant & courteous as a rule, even somewhat humble & socially conservative. Most meals include soup, evenings require sweaters, and mate doesn't mean "yerba mate".
Cambas are another story. Forget everything you think you know about Bolivia. Cambas almost never wear sweaters (they wear shirts open to the third button & their pants below their waists), dislike soup, and mate is something strong & bitter drunk through a metal straw (that is, yerba mate). Cambas are extremely direct, perhaps even rude at times (if we don't like you, we'll let you know, kollas might just avoid you). We don't have a reputation for humility; a camba will always demand good treatment, and is quick to anger if slighted (kollas will wait until water boils to steam out). These three departments sit on the edge of the Amazon basin, and are tropical & hot. The folk dance isn't the cueca, it's the taquirari.
Chapacos resemble Argentine gauchos. They're laid back, speak in sing-song, and are well known for their carefree attitude (including love for parrilladas, wine, and friendly parties). They seem cold to strangers at first, but take time to warm up. They do dance cueca, though in such a way that it barely resembles the cueca danced in the west. The real tarijeño folk dance is the chacarera. And when they sing, chapacos love to stop in the middle of a song for a round of joke-telling.
Cambas, kollas, and chapacos speak differently. Whereas kolla Spanish is marked by Aymara or Quechua words & expressions, camba Spanish is marked by the near-inability to pronounce the letter "S", sprinkled Guarani words & expressions, and verb conjugation patterns that resemble Portuguese. Chapacos speak w/ a slow, sing-song cadence and many Argentine idioms.
Attitudes towards property are also very marked. The kolla campesino is more familiar w/ the tradition of the ayllu, a form of communal farming. The camba & chapaco campesino isn't. Private property is private property — and fiercely defended. In the Beni countryside, you don't walk up to a door and knock (you're liable to be shot). Rather, you walk up to w/in viewing distance of the door, and clap (loudly) in the air — then you sit down & wait for the owner to decide if you're friendly or not.
So much for the ethnography lesson. Why does it matter? Well, it probably shouldn't, but for many cambas & kollas it does. A lot. The Nación Camba (an ultra-regionalist, vaguely racist organization) has tried to lead cruceño secession from time to time. There's a long history of bitter distrust (even "racism") against kollas in Santa Cruz. Ironically, many of the camba-kollas (immigrants to the city of Santa Cruz) are often most fiercely regionalistic — although they still retain their familial kolla ties.
Part of this animosity is your typical xenophobia (a popular pastime throughout the world). Part of it's an extension of European racism — since many cruceños (traditionally European & mestizo) even think of themselves as "true" cambas compared to the countryside cunumis. Part of it's a long tradition of centralized politics that virtually ignored the eastern departments for over a century. The city of Santa Cruz (population 1.2 million) was a small backwater town just 50 years ago. That is, until oil was discovered.
In school, we learned about Melchor Pinta Parada & el once porciento — the bitter struggle to win the right to keep 11% of the oil profits in Santa Cruz (the rest all went to the "national" treasury, that is, La Paz). Such history of political marginalization left deep scars among both cambas & chapacos. This has led to a great deal of mistrust against La Paz (the center of political power) in particular and the poor western departments (Potosí & Oruro) that receive large chunks of economic support from the state while producing less than 5% of the national GDP (Santa Cruz alone produces more than 30% of Bolivia's GDP). In essence, cambas & chapacos frequently see themselves supporting the nation economically while getting little back, and being politically ignored to boot.
October's guerra del gas was emblematic. Both the international & paceño press portrayed the conflict as having pitted all of Bolivian political society against an unpopular government. Of course, cambas & chapacos are well aware that there were no anti-government protests in their cities, but rather pro-Goni rallies. Here, again, Santa Cruz & Tarija felt specifically slighted. The debate over what to do w/ their oil & gas resources was being debated in La Paz, w/ little interest in what the eastern half of the country felt about the issue. Add to this the fact that while Mesa went out of his way to meet w/ all the leaders of the anti-Goni revolt, he didn't visit Tarija until he'd been in office almost two months.
I'm not justifying camba or chapaco secessionism. But it's a very real problem facing Bolivia today. During October, the cruceño media often referred to "the two Bolivias" — el país que bloquea, y el país que trabaja. Fair or not, cambas & chapacos (more recently) see themselves as the country that works, and constantly hindered by the rest of the country.
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NOTE: I thank my friend Daniel Bustillos (a paceño, and proud of it!) for looking this over to make sure it was a fair/accurate assesment. Many of his comments are included in the text. Any errors, however, are my own.
Posted by Miguel at 06:30 PM
Comments
I loved how you explained everything so well. It's so true it's kinda scary =P
I just think you forgot to mention the cochabambinos, in my opinion, they are so different from the other bolivians.
Posted by: Irrel at January 12, 2004 08:07 PM
Well, in a certain sense, cochabambinos are different from most Bolivians. But they're usually put clearly into the kolla category (even if they're usually disliked, unfairly or not, even by most other kollas).
Posted by: Miguel at January 12, 2004 08:54 PM
that was really well done
Posted by: Leslie at January 12, 2004 09:13 PM
you should post this on LiLA... excellent post. especially the part about the cruceño pro-goni rallies- you never heard about them up here.
Posted by: mike d at January 13, 2004 02:07 AM
Very well put... I believe that the cambas who see themselves as somewhat superior to kollas have major inferiority complex... but not to kollas, rather the rest of Latin America. I see it similar to the poor white people of the U.S. who blame the immigrants for all their problems. Its plain ignorance.
Posted by: sergio at January 13, 2004 05:01 AM
I think your definitios could end up in a dictionary or enciclopedia! :P
Posted by: Daniel at January 13, 2004 08:39 AM
Sergio:
Yes, I think there's some overcompensation going on w/ cambas. But. Keep in mind that some of the animosity is due to a heavily centralized government that hasn't allowed regional self-government in 200 years. This has meant that many cambas feel like they're governed from afar, and by foreigners.
Posted by: Miguel at January 13, 2004 03:35 PM
Perhaps, but I find it ironic that the officials with power in the Bolivian government happen to be white, and not the stereotype 'kolla'. This contradiction causes me to believe that the real reason why cambas are so anti kolla (people who look ethnic) is because they are racists. You can not deny that Bolivia has a form of apartheid at work in all aspects of society. The whiter your skin, the 'better'.
Its a sad fact but it is a major reason why the country is so backwards and corrupt.
Here's an example of camba ignorance: My mom was on a flight from Cochabamba coming back to Washington, DC on Lloyd Aero Boliviano on December 15. They were boarding the plane at Viru Viru (Santa Cruz's airport) and the LAB staff stated that all persons with children could board FIRST. A gentleman with very kolla like features brought his 2 daughters to the front of the line, as he was told to do so since he had children.
Suddenly, an older camba (mid 50's) started yelling at the kolla telling him to get back to where he was at in the line. The kolla stated that he had children, therefore he had a right to get in front. The camba then started insulting the kolla, calling him 'indio de mierda', etc in front of the kolla's 2 young daughters and other passengers.
LAB personnel finally interceded at the request of the kolla. Sadly though, the camba's wife and his daughter (2 bleached blondes) told LAB personnel that the kolla was the agressor and he called the CAMBA an 'indio'. This was a lie since my mom and other passengers were witness to the incident. LAB asked everyone to calm down and they boarded the plane. ON the plane the camba started insulting at the kolla again, even making threats that he would 'kill him' for telling LAB.
Once in Miami, several passengers along with the kolla reported to the LAB personnel at the airport that the camba had made threats to him. LAB personnel dismissed all the complaints and did nothing. The kolla who was the target of all the abuse went the the United States Airport authorities and reported the same thing to them in perfect English. He had several corroborators including my mother. The US Authorities detained the camba and informed the kolla that the camba would be deported back to Santa Cruz.
Ironically, before he was deported, the pathetic camba begged and even kissed the kolla that he embarassed, stating 'we are both Bolivians, don't do this to your compadre' -in spanish of course.
Off he went, but left a bitter taste in my mom's mouth as well as the dozens of passengers who were Bolivian, Argentine, and Americans.
Posted by: Sergio at January 13, 2004 05:19 PM
Compare & contrast with Italy (Kolla = Souhthern Italy, Cambas = Northern Italy, Chapacos = Süd Tirol? ) From your description it seems that the organiazed crime is more in the Kolla area - whihc ties in nicely with Mafia dominated southern Italy and certainly the Crucenos have similar grievences to the Milanese about their hard earned industry supporting others.
Posted by: Francis at January 13, 2004 05:25 PM
Sergio:
Oh, I don't doubt that story at all. And, yes, there is a sort of "informal apartheid" system in Bolivia. The white k'aras are better off then most other people.
But. Ironically. The terms camba & kolla are now transcending racial meanings. Most cambas are actually sons of kollas. And many urban, city k'aras call themselves kollas (and are referred to as such by cambas).
Even more ironically. People like Quispe (aka Mallku) are known to use the phrase "indio de mierda" in interviews and such.
Posted by: Miguel at January 13, 2004 06:18 PM
Racism is never justified, especially for political reasons. That being said, Santa Cruz does not hold a monopoly on racism in Bolivia. Every department suffers from and lives in the apartheid-like state. Class has a huge role in these divisions as well.
I don’t know how Bolivia can take the big step towards actual equality. Affirmative action-type programs? The emergence of a moderate campesino leader to bridge the gap? Better enforcement of laws designed to protect the poor? I really don't know, I guess one can only do his/her part by treating others with respect and dignity.
I still say real changes to the political system and actual representation could go far towards defusing this situation. Autonomy does not mean secession. I believe most of the leaders in Santa Cruz believe that as well, or at least they publicly say that. Ruben Costas from the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz denounced divisive statements like the one made by Zvonko Matkovic, of the Camara de Industria y Comercio de Santa Cruz. Matkovic proposed holding a nationwide vote so that people could decide which Bolivia they want to belong to (Occident or Orient). Costas said he does not believe in 2 Bolivias, rather an integrated and united country with regional autonomies. - From Los Tiempos 25/12/03.
The extreme regionalist zealots are every bit as dangerous as their opposite end of the spectrum counterparts (Felipe Quispe and the like). They, however, have a lot in common. The indigenous populations, too, feel like they are governed from afar and by foreigners.
Posted by: eduardo at January 14, 2004 03:06 AM
Eduardo:
I hope you don't think I was suggesting that racism is ever acceptable. That's certainly not the case; racism is NEVER acceptable.
That said, I agree w/ you. Racism permeates much of the Bolivian political reality. And the indigenous peoples of the Altiplano (and the orient, too) have legitimate grieavances against the Bolivian state and society. Unfortunately, leaders like Quispe (who aren't even all that popular in much of the Altiplano themselves) have done little to bridge this gap. Where are the leaders like Víctor Hugo Cardenas (former vice-president under Goni, 1993-97)?
And I don't think that most cambas are ready to secede from Bolivia, even if they might say it in popular discourse on the street. But. How much would push them over the edge? I'm afraid that another October might.
Posted by: Miguel at January 14, 2004 04:00 PM