Protests in Bolivia: blockades persist and six police officers injured following operations in La Paz
Blockades remain active this Sunday in La Paz and El Alto following Saturday clashes that left 47 detained and at least five injured, according to the Ombudsman's office.
Blockades in Bolivia persist after Saturday operations with 3,500 personnel
According to pagina12.com.ar, blockades reinstalled on the main access roads to La Paz and El Alto continue this Sunday, following two weeks of mobilisation against the Government of president Rodrigo Paz. Saturday's clashes between protesters and security forces left 47 detained and at least five injured, according to the Ombudsman's office.
A convoy combining some 3,500 police officers and military personnel was deployed on Saturday to disperse demonstrations and unblock roads in La Paz, El Alto and the La Paz-Oruro highway. Bolivian media report that the protest sites are being maintained with vigils this Sunday. According to data from the Bolivian Roads Administration, the La Paz department registered 15 blockade points during Sunday morning.
Saturday's operation allowed the passage of 100 fuel tanker trucks that had been stranded on the roads. The two weeks of protests and blockades have generated supply shortages and rising prices for products in the Bolivian capital.
Two deaths attributed to the operations
The executive of the Departmental Federation of Peasant Workers of La Paz Túpac Katari, Vicente Salazar, attributed two deaths in the municipalities of Ingavi and El Alto to the unblocking operations. Salazar rejected any dialogue with the Government to pacify the conflict and called for continued protests. "Our people are not to blame for seeking redress," he declared.
Dialogue underway, partial agreement with teachers
The Government held another dialogue round on Sunday with representatives of social sectors from La Paz and El Alto. On Saturday an agreement with teachers was announced: although they did not obtain the salary increase demanded, an annual bonus of 2,400 bolivianos was agreed upon.
However, the Executive has failed to demobilise workers, peasants, indigenous groups and transport operators. The main mobilised organisations—the Bolivian Workers' Centre (COB) and the Federation of Peasants of La Paz Túpac Katari—demand salary increases, reject the privatisation of public enterprises and call for the resignation of president Paz, whom they consider incapable of resolving the country's political and economic crisis.
The COB warns about privatisations
The national executive of the COB, Mario Argollo, maintained that the Paz Government intends to impose privatisation in Bolivia, which could generate price increases in electricity, drinking water, liquefied petroleum gas (GLP) and natural gas for vehicles (GNV). Along with representatives of mining and manufacturing sectors, Argollo called for strengthening the protests.
"It is not out of madness that we are asking for this incapable president and his entire ministerial cabinet to leave; it is because they have not provided clear solutions to the country," said Argollo last Thursday.
In a video distributed on Saturday on social media, Argollo also denounced that the Government seeks to "silence" the COB leadership through criminal lawsuits, and expressed solidarity with those detained during the protests in El Alto and La Paz. "We call and urge the population, for what we are fighting for. It is not for one sector, it is for a large sector of society that will be harmed at some point by the measures that the central Government is trying to impose today," he stated.
March of Evo Morales supporters approaches La Paz
A march of supporters of former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) arrived near La Paz this Sunday after six days of walking. They plan to join on Monday in the capital with the sectors maintaining the blockades and protests demanding Paz's resignation.
"We will reach kilometre zero to join the mobilisation until this incapable, fascist president resigns," said union leader Juan Yupari to local media, referring to Murillo square.
New mobilisations planned for Monday
This Sunday it was also learned that the Single Peasant Workers' Union Federation of the Province of Omasuyos Ponchos Rojos and the Bartolina Sisa Women's Federation instructed the 39 agricultural centres to mobilise on Monday in Ballivián Square, in El Alto.
Ombudsman's office calls for dialogue
The Ombudsman's office reiterated its call for dialogue and stated that it is analysing with the Catholic Church the possibility of opening a mediation space to reduce conflict and promote national reconciliation. The spokespersons of the mobilisations, for their part, rejected the interference of external forces and condemned actions against popular groups, demanding that the Armed Forces and Police refrain from repressing the protests.
Source: Google News BO — Crime