Martha Yujra

It is important to preserve the cultural practices of our Bolivian people because they enrich the national identity.

Martha Yujra (born 19 January 1964) is a Bolivian politician and trade unionist who served as minister of cultures from 2019 to 2020. A prominent trade union leader in El Alto, Yujra was the only indigenous member of the Jeanine Áñez Cabinet and was the final official to head the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism; the institution was abolished during her term.

Quotes

• It is important to preserve the cultural practices of our Bolivian people because they enrich the national identity. My commitment, as a woman in pollera, is to continue fighting for a country united in diversity.
  • "Martha Yujra: 'Mi compromiso, como una mujer de pollera, es seguir luchando por un país unido en la diversidad'" in El Deber (14 November 2019)
• It is women's time. We are the ones who take the reins of this country.
  • "Martha Yujra: 'Mi compromiso, como una mujer de pollera, es seguir luchando por un país unido en la diversidad'" in El Deber (14 November 2019)
• Today Bolivians are more united than ever.
  • "Martha Yujra: 'Mi compromiso, como una mujer de pollera, es seguir luchando por un país unido en la diversidad'" in El Deber (14 November 2019)
• Those days I was persecuted and in hiding. The masistas wanted to hang me; ... my children were scattered. Weeks before, we were at the barricades, rain or shine, ... praying in El Alto; ... we could no longer resist so much abuse, the mockery of the sovereign vote of the people ... That is why we have begun to organize ourselves  ... against that regime, to return democracy to our children ...
  • "'El museo de Orinoca es un elefante blanco, vamos a cambiar su función'" in Página Siete (23 February 2020)
• In the mine, our parents told us women: "You have to learn to cook because you have to have a husband. You don't have to study, you don't have to give your opinion". I have lived those times, and I have rebelled.
  • "'El museo de Orinoca es un elefante blanco, vamos a cambiar su función'" in Página Siete (23 February 2020)
• [I want to remembered] as an Aymara woman, from El Alto, and humble. But a leader should never say "me, me, me", but rather the bases have to decide who to remember and who to forget.
  • "'El museo de Orinoca es un elefante blanco, vamos a cambiar su función'" in Página Siete (23 February 2020)
• ... he who does nothing fears nothing. I have no reason to hide, why hide?
  • "Cinco ministros de Áñez están fuera del país, dos presos y uno en la clandestinidad" in Página Siete (2 June 2021)