Groups of peasants and indigenous peoples associated with Evo Morales This Monday, various roadblocks began in the middle of the country in defense of the former president of Bolivia before the call to to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office for a case of alleged human trafficking and statutory rape. The protesters also protest that they will ask the government to solve problems such as the lack of dollars and fuel and the increase in the cost of some foods, but also to demand that the party congress in which the former president was nominated as “one candidate” be recognised. for the 2025 general elections.
The protest focused on the routes that connect the department of Cochabamba (where Morales spends most of his time) with the cities of Sucre and Santa Cruz. The protesters then blocked the passage with stones and earth. In Parotani, one of the points on the road leading to La Paz, they were overtaken by the police, who used tear gas. Local media reported that five men and one woman were detained and taken to a police station in the nearby town of Sipe Sipe, Cochabamba.
“They plan to disable us”
Within the framework of the first day of protests, Morales again accused Arce’s government of interfering with the legal process to imprison or even kill him to prevent him from becoming the head candidate -sit in 2025. “They plan to disqualify us through judges. processes, and finally. encouraging a level of legitimate violence that leads to events such as the attack on the life of Cristina Fernández“, wrote Morality in your account on the social network X.
At the forefront of the blockades is the Unity Agreement, a group of organizations associated with the 64-year-old former president, which acted “to protect the freedom, integrity and freedom” of Morales, as stated in a manifesto . “This evening, tomorrow, for the next few days, the whole country will be blocked”advertisement Ponciano Santossecretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Bolivian Peasant Workers, in a statement to the media.
“They will affect the economy of the poorest people”
Before the blockades began, the minister of the presidency, María Nela Prada, called Morales to a dialogue with Arce to deal with the economic crisis, despite the fact that the native leader refused the invitation several times. For his part, Santos confirmed that the call to dialogue should not be made to the former president but to the Unity Agreement, which decided to go on the roads. “If you want to communicate, we will have a conversation at the lock-in, wherever you want,” said the farmer leader in an appearance before the media in the city of Santa Cruz.
The Bolivian government said this Monday that the roadblocks are affecting the popular economy that these regions claim to protect. In a press conference the Minister of Economy and Public Finance said, Marcelo Montenegroregretted that Morales had not attended a call to talk on this day and said that this was an “important situation” to discuss the country’s economic situation, which is one of the reasons for the protest by those who were close to the former president. .
“The radical wing ‘evista’ says that it always protects the economy of the people, but These barriers affect the people of the city the most, those who do not have the resources or medium or low income.“said Montenegro. The minister warned that as a result of the restrictions, products such as tomatoes, potatoes, sugar, chicken, eggs and tickets for interregional trips could become more expensive. “Who is responsible for this increase ? Doesn’t that hit the popular economy? Doesn’t it hit those with fewer resources?” he asked.
Changes in police leadership
Arce and Morales have been separated since the end of 2021 due to differences in the administration of the State that deepened due to the need to renew the national leadership of MAS and choose the candidate for the 2025 elections this Monday, the president surprisingly installed a new high command of the police led by General Augusto Russo.
A little less than a month ago Arce had confirmed Álvaro Álvarez as the general chief of the police. A few hours before the new change, “evista” parliamentarians had already expected that General Álvarez would be replaced by Russo. According to this version, published by the newspaper Opinión, the government met with the police chiefs and complained that they had not proceeded with the arrest of Evo Morales, where “the heads of ‘ roll.
“We want a police force that is closer to the people, that listens to their needs and responds with efficiency and compassion, that inspires confidence and respect for all Bolivians. We always protect the institution of Bolivians, and we punish. bad deeds. The Bolivian president recalled that on June 26, when the military captured Murillo Square, the outgoing leader “refused to be part of the coup attempts of former Army General Juan José Zúñiga, and he chose to fulfill the mission of respecting the Magna Carta. and the legally elected government”.
Case under reserve
Morales, the first indigenous person who ruled Bolivia between 2006 and 2019, is being investigated for the criminal offenses of “rape, human trafficking and smuggling”. Last Thursday he did not keep a call from the prosecutor’s office in Tarija department to give his statement, with which the authority could order his arrest. After being the biggest opponent in the government to his former minister Luis Arce, the former president calls the case one more “fake” investigated and filed by the justice system already in 2020, without, according to him, finding anything against it.
The alleged abuse goes back to the time when the coca leader was president, in 2015. According to the complaint investigated by the public ministry, Morales would have engaged in a 15-year-old girl with whom he had a daughter in 2016. The events would have taken place in Tarija, a region in the south of Bolivia. According to the file, the victim’s parents, who were also under investigation, enrolled her in Morales’ “youth guard” “with the sole purpose of obtaining political promotion and benefits in exchange for their youngest daughter.” The former president’s defense claims that the case has already been reviewed and filed in 2020.
This past Monday, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Sandra Gutiérrez, refrained from answering journalists if she would request Morales’ arrest. “As an investigative strategy, we are going to avoid further details about this case,” he said. The father of the accused was arrested on Friday for failure to appear, as the director of the grow coca, as a witness in court He was sentenced to four months in protective custody, according to the Ministry of the Public.
.jpg?ip/crop/w700h366/q80/jpg "Experts warn Do not go to bed while you are still playing on your phone in bed Knowing the reason will give you goosebumps.")