THE COUNTRY: Tibet's forgotten guerrillas

His photos do not illustrate the history books because they fought in forgotten battles on behalf of La Paz. The flags are not left half a state in their memory because their country does not appear on the maps. And there is no statue to the unknown soldier who honors them because they are nothing more than refugees in foreign territory. But a hundred old guerrillas are the memory of Tibetan exile. And the war against China after the occupation. Helped by the CIA. Fighting in the mountains of Mustang (Nepal), almost 4.000 meters high. On top of the world.

The Karma Ranch, of 82 years, late to answer, engrossed with him buy (kind of Buddhist rosary for prayer): "La guerra fue como cualquier otra. They are all the same. People who die and people who kill… Y sobrevive". He and a few thousand Tibetans stood up to the Chinese People's Army, that surpassed them in numbers and weapons, for more than a decade between the years 60 and 70. Now Karma is part of the hundred elderly ex-combatants (around 200 survive in India and Nepal) who spend their last days in the Jampaling refugee settlement, a 30 kilometers from Pokara. "Esperando la vuelta al Tíbet. Para morir en casa", explains while nervously caressing the buy.

"Era demasiado joven para saber que estábamos formando una guerrilla en aquellas reuniones clandestinas. El gobierno del Tíbet desconocía nuestras operaciones y nos pidió evitar un baño de sangre cuando lo supo". Ngawang Sherap's octogenarian hinders his eyes, Two more lines in its rough face. Explain how Chinese spotted the Chinese combat lines because their parents kept him in high areas to alert his people in the western province of ü-tesang. That front had already bent to the tiny Tibetan army for the early years 50. “We exile paying bribes to the Nepalese border authorities. We were 11 families. But we leave many behind, in the Himalayan mountains,” describe Ngawang.

Refugee in Jampaling settlement since returning from war, Ngawang complains about the situation he lives in exile: “This is not freedom. We have nothing here. "We don't even have a place to fall dead.". Ten settlements serve as temporary housing for the more than 20.000 Tibetans taking refuge in Nepal, according to the India-based Central Administration of Tibet. Both the settlements and the Kathmandu Tibetan Refugee Health Office They were created by the Nepali Red Cross to shelter the tens of thousands who fled Tibet. But none of these sites are recognized by the government of Nepal., one of the few countries that have not signed the Convention on the Status of Refugees nor the Protocol.

"El bombardeo en Norbulinka fue una masacre. Chinese aviation was very effective. There were members everywhere. No sé cómo pude escapar", cuenta Chodak Dawa, of 77 years. Chodak barely had 20 years when almost a thousand bombs devastated the Lhasa palace while the Dalai Lama fled to India, causing chaos among his followers and mass exile. Before the conflict, Chodak worked as a street vendor. "Nunca quise formar parte de la guerrilla pero los soldados chinos me encarcelaron y torturaron a la vuelta de un viaje a India", excuses himself.

Nepalese authorities also arrested Chodak four years ago in Pokhara. "Me golpearon por manifestarme y me detuvieron durante horas", explains, irritated by the excessive police presence. Nepalese authorities monitor the settlement on the occasion of 56º anniversary of the uprising against China, the past 10 of March. Nepal has established a policy of isolation towards Tibetan refugees for some time. 20 years, coinciding with the Maoist victory and the political rapprochement with neighboring China. Unlike the hundreds of thousands of Bhutanese refugees welcomed in the country, Tibetans do not have the right to a refugee card. Chodak lives in the settlement with her deaf-mute granddaughter, who does not have access to special services or state subsidies in the absence of a document proving their existence.

"Nos llevaron a Darjeeling –India– for some supposed courses in road maintenance. But a group of Tibetans were waiting for us there to train us in the use of weapons.. Ellos habían sido entrenados por los americanos". On the contrary, of 75 years, He remembers how he and a hundred other men were taken to the eastern border with Nepal for military exercises. months before, a group of six Tibetan guerrillas had received special training in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, in conditions similar to those of Tibet. They were the years of the cold war, and Washington feared the expansion of the communist giant to India. Anzi looks into infinity with his glaucous eyes, almost white with blindness. Like the mountains that saw him fight. "No sé si maté a alguien. But I saw many die next to me. We didn't even know how to handle a gun.. Pero habíamos abandonado a mucha gente en nuestro país", Explain.

The fate of those who remained in Tibet keeps the former guerrillas awake at night. Anzi touches the bullet wound from which he survived while explaining the reasons that lead other Tibetans to commit suicide: "No tienen muchas salidas. Esa gente está abandonada a su suerte y sin libertad alguna". More than a hundred citizens of Tibet have burned themselves to death in protest against the occupation. Most of the immolations have taken place following the celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. In Nepal, The last such incident was in summer of last year. “The Nepalese authorities collect the bodies and disappear them without notifying the families”, Anzi complains..

“We lived in terrible conditions; like animals, in caves, to more than 3.000 meters high. Organized in 15 groups of 100 guerrillas each. “We had to change our location to avoid attacks from the Chinese army.”, Tatop, of 93 years, has difficulty speaking. He needs his wife's help, Somkey, that whispers questions in your ear. They both wrinkle their foreheads when remembering, Cracked like the hills of Mustang, where they met. She doesn't want to give importance, as if the story didn't belong to him. But Zomkyi and other women helped the guerrillas survive, feeding them when they went down to the villages.

Tibetans who arrived in Nepal before the restrictions imposed by the government have to travel in person to renew their refugee card. “It is a tremendous effort to go to the administrative offices. And the bureaucratic wait”, Tatop account. With more than 90 years, has to cross a suspension bridge and climb 200 meters of steep stairs just to leave the settlement and catch a bus. On the other hand, young Tibetans who arrived or were born in Nepal after 1994 They do not have a refugee card and do not have any identification document. They do not exist for the state. A legal limbo that affects your daily life, to your studies and professional development.

“I had nothing but a knife to confront the Chinese army”. Kalsang Tsering, of 80 years, He describes with gestures his first skirmish in the Mustang mountains. Stop shaking the mane Tibetan –cylinder that flutters strings to the sides when moved like a ratchet– and explain: “I heard helicopter blades in the middle of the night and the sound of volleys. “I thought they were bombing us.”. The CIA delivered weapons on several occasions during the 14 years that the armed conflict lasted. But in the late 1960s the United States stopped playing war against China in Tibet., and brought closer economic positions with the Asian colossus. The Tibetan guerrillas were abandoned to their fate.

Also the UN Refugee Agency (ACNUR) stopped helping Tibetans arriving in Nepal. The agency offered them special attention in the first years of exile. Currently it only has a small aid program for Tibetans transiting to India. “One of my grandchildren is a monk and has to dress in civilian clothes to cross the border between Nepal and India to avoid harassment”, explica Tsering, that takes up the mane.

“I didn't want to give up.. We hadn't won anything. But we received the order from the Dalai Lama to stop the war. And the Nepalese authorities forced us to hand over our weapons.”, Wangdu, of 68 years, repeats his frustration like a Buddhist litany –Om mane padme hum– without stopping messing buy. The handful of Tibetans still fighting in Mustang were forced to surrender midway through the years. 70. The superiors were captured by the Chinese army. And the rest relocated in settlements. A few committed suicide. None of the guerrillas questioned or questions the Dalai Lama's order.

a decade later, The Tibetan Government in exile proposed a 'solución intermedia' for a lasting peace with China. No independence, nor total annexation. La demanda actual es 'una genuina forma de autonomía dentro de China', with self-government plots for Tibet. Wangdu draws a crooked smile on his face when he refers to the current situation.: "No tengo ninguna opinión acerca de 'la solución intermedia'. It is a decision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and we follow his principles. Sólo creo que aquello por lo que luchamos fue un esfuerzo inútil". The old guerrillas accept without hesitation the political proposal of their spiritual leader (The Dalai Lama renounced his status as political leader in 2011).

The last Tibetan guerrillas languish peacefully in Nepal and India. While demonstrations and arrests take place in Tibet. The last pamphlet of the Tibetan Youth Congress narrates: "En 2013 Tibetans still living in Tibet took resistance to another level… They refused to raise Chinese flags over their houses, which led to the violent reaction by the government and his arrest. Sources say it was a man named Dayang who started the protest. He has been missing since then. Had 68 años". There are still old guerrillas. And new battles to fight.