The Cristo del Gran Poder and the T”inku: Neoliberalism and the Roots of Indigenous Movements in Bolivia

Abstract

It was clear that Víctor Hugo Cárdenas, the first Aymara vice president of Bolivia, enjoyed telling the story of the painting. Originally, he explained to me, the painting of Christ in the famous Catholic church of Gran Poder in La Paz, Bolivia, had three faces. Unhappy with this unorthodox portrait, which smelled of idolatry (indigenous Aymara spirits are often viewed as a trinity), church authorities decreed that the two lateral faces be painted over, keeping only the one in the middle. “Ultimately, the Church failed in this endeavor,” Cardenas said, “for today the logo of our fraternity, the Fraternity of the Fanatics of Folklore, again represents Christ with three faces. So our experience regarding the three religions has not been conflictual.”¹ Cárdenas was insistent: he rejected the notion that he had to relinquish his Aymara beliefs in order to remain a good Catholic. He went further: he took pride in his capacity to move readily between Protestant, Catholic, and Aymara religions. In fact he hoped his ecumenicism would be an example of tolerance and cooperation to his country’s rural and urban Aymara, mestizos, and foreigners.