Growing Demonstrations in Bolivia Demand Resignation of President Paz

In Bolivia, this Monday, organizations grouped within the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB) and their supporters continued protests and blockades across various regions of Bolivia against the neoliberal measures of the Rodrigo Paz government. These measures include renewed attempts to privatize large sectors of publicly owned assets and to reduce funding for social programs.

“The package of decrees and laws promoted by the executive branch—focused on the privatization of strategic resources, economic liberalization, and the reduction of the state’s role (DS5503)—combined with inflation, government mismanagement, broken promises, the attempt at agrarian reform, and the constant underestimation of the popular bloc as a political actor, has strained institutional stability to the breaking point,” stated Bolivian political scientist and researcher Valeria Duarte Galleguillos. “The demands of social organizations no longer revolve solely around the repeal of specific laws; today, the mobilization directly demands Paz’s resignation.”

The renewed demonstrations occur after organizations unanimously rejected the government’s call for dialogue the previous day during a national expanded meeting.

In support of the action, a massive workers’ march covered 25 kilometers from the city of El Alto to the vicinity of Plaza Murillo, seat of the public powers in La Paz, to demand President Paz’s resignation and express their condemnation of what they describe as an attempt to restore the neocolonial state.

The workers’ organizations repudiated the government’s campaign of judicial persecution, evidenced by the standing arrest warrant against their principal leader, Mario Argollo, which the judiciary declined to suspend.

For this reason, grassroots organizations are maintaining 80 blockade points across six of the country’s nine departments, with the greatest concentration in Cochabamba, where there are 32 roadblocks, and in La Paz, where there are 19, according to data from the Bolivian Road Administration.

The shutdown of land transport is generating a severe food shortage and price increases in La Paz and El Alto. Additionally, a six-day fuel shortage prompted protests from hundreds of drivers who had been waiting in lines of up to four days and who independently blocked traffic to demand an immediate fuel supply.

The social tension, now exceeding 30 days, has intensified following the annulment by the Legislative Assembly—controlled by the right by a margin of 93%—of the law limiting the declaration of a state of emergency. This move leaves the executive free to deploy the armed forces to repress social protest in the face of resistance from the COB and other unions, organizations, and social movements.

Dialogue ruptured and the government’s justification
Mediation efforts carried out jointly by the Catholic Church, the Vice-Presidency of the State, and the Office of the People’s Advocate are at a standstill.

The Office of the People’s Advocate issued an alert warning that the confrontational language, threats, and insults used by various government spokespeople are undermining any possibility of rapprochement with the workers’ and transport leadership.

While the country’s main cities suffer severe shortages of food, fuel, and essential medical supplies in public health centers, the Paz administration attempted to defend its heavy-handed measures.

The government stated that constitutional emergency mechanisms represent the last democratic resort for preserving internal order, arguing that negotiations have been completely exhausted.

Bolivia: 4 Weeks of Protests Demanding Resignation of President

 

 

(Telesur)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/CB/SL