A confrontation between police and followers of the former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2006-2019) left more than a dozen agents and journalists injured this Tuesday, during an operation to clear the blockades that remain in Mairanaa town in the eastern region of Santa Cruz.
The police arrived this morning to Mairana, 133 kilometers from the city of Holy Cross on the old highway towards the central region of Cochabamba, to clear the route and regain control of the police unit that was taken over by Morales loyalists the day before.
Initially, the agents managed to free the road with the use of tear gas, but the protesters regrouped and attacked the agents with stones and dynamite.
During the confrontation, an agent was surrounded by protesters who beat him until he was lying on the floor with several wounds on his body, as seen in a video broadcast by local media.
The Police reported in a publication on their social networks that there are thirteen injured officers who were taken to the city of Santa Cruz, most of them with injuries from the beatings.
After being passed, the agents had to turn back to return to Santa Cruz and during the exit, several journalists were attacked. One of the communicators of a local television channel was hit by a stone and suffered a head injury.
The former Bolivian president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) denounced that “the blockades generated by Morales and his followers are becoming one of the most dangerous conflicts for the work of journalists” in the country.
Morales’ followers have maintained an indefinite road blockade for 16 days to demand that the Government of Luis Arce withdraw the judicial proceedings for human trafficking and rape against the leader of the ruling party Movement to Socialism (MAS).
The pro-government sectors close to Morales consider that these investigations are part of a political persecution to prevent the former president from being a presidential candidate in 2025.
Since it became known about a possible arrest warrant, the former president has not left the Tropics of Cochabamba, his political and union stronghold.
The residents of Mairana reported that the people blocking the road are not from the region and asked them to leave the place.
“There are children and elderly people who suffer from the blockades, we want them to leave”one of the residents told local media.
The vice president of the Departmental Legislative Assembly of Santa Cruz, Mavy Pedrazaendorsed the resident’s complaint and noted that it has been a “really conflictive” day.
«They have transferred people from other places; We know that they have brought people from Ivirgarzama (in the Tropics of Cochabamba) to blockade in the name of Evo Morales’ rights. “Today they attacked our people.”Pedraza said in a press conference.
Morales and Arce have been estranged since the end of 2021 due to a struggle for control of the MAS and the Bolivian Executive. EFE (I)
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