Sectors related to the former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2006-2019) maintain
25 blockade points
this Monday , after eight days of protests, and
demand the resignation of the judges and advisors
of the country's high courts who
extended their mandate.
The majority of the blockades (22) are
in the central region of Cochabamba
, mainly in the towns of Sacaba, Quillacollo and the tropical zone of that department, the Vice Minister of the Interior Regime, Jhonny Aguilera, reported in a press conference.
Evo Morales holds coca leaves during an event to commemorate National Acullico Day.
Photo: EFE/file
Cochabamba is the region through which
the country's main highways
link the west with the east and is also
Morales' main political bastion.
Vice Minister Aguilera explained that
32 police officers were injured
in the protests and 21 protesters were arrested.
Evo's candidacy, the underlying question
The annoyance of the former president's followers is also because the Constitutional Court issued a ruling at the end of last year stating that
indefinite reelection "is not a human right"
and that it is only possible for a "single time" continuous or discontinuous.
This affects Evo Morales' presidential candidacy in 2025 since he governed Bolivia
three times
(2006-2009, 2010-2014 and 2015-2019).
Aguilera reiterated that the road blockade is due to "personal electoral interests (of Morales) that
seek to reverse judicial and constitutional decisions
that have been made in the past."
This Sunday, the former president denounced that the Government of
Luis Arce seeks "absolute control"
of Justice to "cover" the alleged irregularities in the lithium projects, something that the Executive denied and considered a "last minute" argument by Morales. to garner support.
Evo Morales denounced that Luis Arce's government seeks "absolute control" of Justice.
Photo: Aizar Raldes / AFP
This Monday, the heavy transport pilots gathered in the town of Vinto, neighboring Cochabamba, and
began a march to that city
to ask for a solution to the conflict.
Road blockades caused
increased costs for some products and shortages of others,
as well as fuel shortages.
The Government points to Morales as the main person responsible for the strike, although the leader of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) said that from the beginning he was against the blockades and that his followers do them "spontaneously."
For this Monday, in La Paz, Vice President David Choquehuanca
called on the legislators of the ruling party and the opposition
to dialogue to find a solution and launch a new call for the judicial elections.
In December of last year, the Constitutional judges
extended their mandate,
that of the magistrates and advisors of the main courts
to avoid a "power vacuum"
until a new judicial election is held.
The preselection process for the elections in 2023 was paralyzed on two occasions due to measures ordered by constitutional chambers.
The 2009 Constitution establishes that
judicial elections by popular vote
must be held every six years, with the prior selection of applicants made by the Legislature.
With information from EFE