“I invite you today to celebrate this tradition so that this year our region lacks nothing and we make our dreams come true,” said the President the day before, before concluding his speech at the Latin American Community Forum States ( Celac).
Arce explained that every year on January 24 at 12 noon begins this celebration where, full of faith, Bolivians try “to make many of our dreams come true, and we buy what we need, at the Alasitas fairs, where we find miniature objects”.
He described that among these artisan creations, the populace buys replicas of food, houses, implements of work, title deeds for one’s home, studies, passports for those wishing to travel, and quite a few loose change.
After his speech at the plenary session of the Regional Forum, in which the United States and Canada are not present, the Head of State moved to Juana Azurduy de Padilla Square in Buenos Aires and there attended the opening of the festival that capital, which hosts a large part of the more than 500,000 Bolivians living in the neighboring country.
During their tour, the exhibitors presented small gifts to the President, while many came to greet him and take photos with him.
Bolivian television that day highlighted Arce’s gift to his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernández: an ekeko (god of abundance) dressed in the uniform of that country’s soccer team, carrying in one hand the World Cup won for that team in Qatar-2022, and on the other side miniature bills with the image of Lionel Messi.
IN BOLIVIA
The President-in-Office and the Minister of the Presidency, David Choquehuanca and María Nela Prada respectively, attended the inauguration of the miniature fair installed at kilometer zero of the government city of Plaza Murillo this Tuesday.
Along with other high-ranking government officials, they toured the various artisan stalls and gave away miniature bills to the hundreds of people from La Paz who greeted them.
In statements to the press, Prada said that this celebration “reaffirms the richness of our roots, the richness of our cultures that is the Alasitas Fair and we are happy to share it”.
He emphasized that it is “a party in which we put all our hearts and minds, our strength in what we want to achieve, which is Alasita, and our God of abundance will surely make it come true”.
The Authority pointed out that thanks to the policies applied by the current government, Bolivia is experiencing sustained economic growth in the context of reactivation.
And Prensa Latina confirmed this reality in the queues and crowds of buyers of all kinds of miniatures on Avenidas Arce, 16 de Julio, Central Urban Park, the largest in Murillo and San Pedro squares.
The same number of visitors marked the panorama of Avenida Camacho and Mariscal Santa Cruz and in different areas where the population buys these artisanal creations.
This massive consumption shows that the Arce government’s productive community social economy model is fulfilling the function of a large ekeko that is currently boosting the purchasing power of Bolivians.
The Alasitas Fair (meaning “buy me” in Aymara) is a La Paz city tradition that dates back to ancient traditions of this original community; For this value of Bolivian cultures, in December 2017 UNESCO declared the ritual tours in the city of La Paz during the Alasita as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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