The blockades organized by sectors related to former President Evo Morales celebrate their third consecutive day this Wednesday. At 9:30 in the morning, there were seven blockades on routes that connect Cochabamba with Santa Cruz and the west of the country, according to the report from the Bolivian Road Administrator.
The demonstration is in support of the coca grower leader who runs the risk of being apprehended by Justice, after he did not appear to testify before the commission of prosecutors investigating him for the crimes of human trafficking and statutory rape. Morales is accused of having impregnated a teenager in 2016, when he was head of state.
The social organizations that support it have conditioned the dialogue with the Government and the suspension of the protests on a series of actions. The peasant leader Ponciano Santos stated in a press conference that “if Luis Arce wants dialogue” he must first repeal the decree that declares an indefinite environmental pause and prohibits burning, recognize the congress of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) that ratified Evo Morales as leader of the party, publicly declare that the coca grower leader is qualified to be a candidate for the Presidency in the 2025 elections and lift the judicial proceedings against him.
On the other hand, he stated that for the dialogue to take place, President Luis Arce must go to one of the pickets installed on the roads. “If you are not a coward or a traitor, come to a blocking point for dialogue,” he said. The Government had summoned Evo Morales and five other leaders to a meeting on Monday afternoon but they did not attend.
To the conditions indicated by Santos, is added a list of 18-point union demands, among which are mentioned the stabilization of the prices of the family basket, the supply of fuel and dollars in the country and the cessation of “judicial persecution and the abuse of power”, among other points.
The Government, through the Vice Minister of Communication, Gabriela Alcón; has responded that the electoral authorization of the coca grower leader and the validation of the party’s evista congress are not the responsibility of the Executive Body. “The blockade promoted by Evism has political and personal purposes, focused on the search for impunity and the defense of an unconstitutional candidacy. This blockade will only strangle the economy of the Bolivian people,” Alcón said at a press conference.
Meanwhile, organizations related to arcismo have asked the Government to intervene in the blockades to guarantee free transit and avoid the increase in prices of the basic basket, which have already been affected. In response to this request, Government Minister Eduardo Del Castillo stated that each picket will be intervened “according to the requirements.”
Crack in the MAS
The mobilization occurs at the most acute moment of the internal crisis of the Movement Towards Socialism represented in the leadership of Evo Morales and Luis Arce, who dispute control of the party and the 2025 candidacy.
The former president reported that between September 21 and October 9, eight judicial proceedings were opened against him, which he considers a lawfare campaign by the Luis Arce administration to eliminate him from the political scene through the manipulation of the Justice.
The cases are mainly related to the march carried out in protest with the Government and they accuse it of public instigation to commit a crime, economic damage to the State, attack on the freedom of work and others. There are also accusations of corruption and sexual violence against minors.
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