The Fight

People with disabilities are among the most discriminated against in Bolivia. Fed up of being ignored, a group of them marched across the Andes to the seat of the Government in La Paz, asking to speak with President Evo Morales. They are met with riot police, barricades, tear gas and water cannons.

Headed by a group of determined leaders such as; Rose Mery, Marcelo, Feliza and Miguel, the protestors set camp in the streets, a block from the main Plaza where the Government palace is located. For the first time in Bolivia’s history, the police erect 3m high barricades, station tanks and hundreds of riot police to stop the protestors in wheelchairs from entering the plaza.

Violent confrontations flare up between police and the people with disabilities, including the use of pepper spray and water cannon on the protestors. The government refuses to discuss their request for a pension of $70 a month and the protestors suspend themselves from the city's bridges in their wheelchairs.

As public pressure grows, can Rose Mery and her fellow wheelchair-bound protestors win their fight?

Read our article about the changes the protests have caused since this film was shot - https://www.theguardian.com/global-de...

Directors, producers and editors: Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw
Co-producers: Fernando Barbosa and Andrea Monasterios
Executive producers for the Guardian: Charlie Phillips, Lindsay Poulton and Laurence Topham
This video is produced in collaboration with the Sundance Institute Short Documentary Fund supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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