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Abril 09, 2005
The Pope in Bolivia
You can still find old posters on the walls of some of the photocopy stands around the University commemorating the Pope's visit to Bolivia in 1988. The five-day visit from May 9-13 took him all across the country. At the airport in El Alto he continued his practice of kissing the ground of his newly arrived destination. When he arrived in El Alto, the entire Altiplano converged on the city to welcome the Pope. People met him at the airport and lined the entire "Autopista" leading down to La Paz.
Los predios del Aeropuerto Internacional de El Alto, esa tarde emotiva, se convirtieron en un extenso hormiguero donde niños, jóvenes y adultos querían tocar el Papamóvil. Como nunca en la historia de El Alto miles de personas se apostaron en la vía de acceso al Aeropuerto y a lo largo de la autopista La Paz-El Alto.
Para recibir al Papa miles de campesinos de las más alejadas comunidades del altiplano paceño llegaron a El Alto con días de anticipación.
The Pope visited Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija, Trinidad, Sucre and Cochabamba. In Cochabamba, some say his visit was the driving force behind the construction of the Christ statue, which is the tallest in the world. For the rest of the year, the television would run replays of the Pope's famous lines, "Debo volver a Cochabamba," which he said upon learning of the construction of the Christ statue.
The Pope, who had a special affinity for the Virgin Mary, felt a connection with the Bolivian people as they
too have special relationships with various Virgin Marys, such as the Virgen de Urkupiña (Quillacollo), Virgen de Guadalupe (Sucre), Virgen de Copacabana (Copacabana) and la Virgen de Cotoca (Cotoca). In Oruro, the Pope was especially sympathetic to the plight of miners. He addressed them in their native Quechua and Aymara.
After declaring three days of national mourning, President Mesa attended Friday's funeral at the Vatican on his way to a meeting in Japan, even though he didn't receive "permission" from Congress. The Bolivian Cardinal Julio Terrazas from Santa Cruz will participate in the secret conclave to help elect the next Pope.
Posted by eduardo at Abril 9, 2005 03:23 PM