The Bolivian government on Wednesday asked protesters supportive of former President Evo Morales to lift the road closures that have been going on for 10 days and that have caused food and fuel shortages in the central region of Cochabamba.
In addition,
the country has accumulated losses of 600 million dollars
as a result of the blockades.
But Morales
has conditioned the end of the protests
on the judges - including those who
rejected his eventual presidential candidacy
- concluding their mandate and calling elections for magistrates in the Legislature.
Blockade on the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway.
Photo: Duty
“Out of humanity we ask that an intermediate room
be provided
so that people who are stopped at the blocking points and trucks can pass and, likewise, fuel can reach the different departments,” said Jaime Mamani at a press conference, Vice Minister of Social Defense and Controlled Substances.
The same request was made by banana producers, poultry farmers and pig breeders, among others, while heavy transport marches in Santa Cruz, the country's economic engine.
“We can't take it anymore
,” said heavy transportation leader Juan Yucra.
The government reported on Wednesday that in the 10 days of protests
the country lost more than $600 million.
Why are they protesting?
Coca growers and peasants related to Morales began the measure of force last week in rejection of the extension of functions of the judges of the Judicial Branch after in December the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP)
dealt the former president a severe blow
to his claim to run next year for the presidential elections.
In the markets of La Paz,
food prices rose
as a result of
a shortage
, mainly of chicken, beef and various vegetables.
Members of the transportation sector demonstrate during a march against the blockades.
Photo: EFE
The government of President Luis Arce has reported that
by air
it is trying to mitigate the lack of products arriving from Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
He also reported that he is importing a greater amount of fuel.
Meanwhile, Morales published on his X account, formerly Twitter, that the "government must
immediately make possible the call for judicial elections
and the termination of functions of the extended magistrates."
To the approval of the law to call the elections of the Judicial Body in the shortest possible time, the cessation of functions of the extended magistrates, whose functions ended on December 31, 2023, must also be added
. to the…
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) January 31, 2024
On Tuesday, he denounced that the police carried out
a “repression against innocent and humble women”
in the southern region of Oruro.
There are 24 blockades
in the country
, 20 in the strategic region of Cochabamba, which has the main roads that connect the east with the west.
Mamani denied that there had been strong repression and pointed out that the points were reduced compared to Tuesday.
Meanwhile, legislators from the ruling party and the opposition are working on a bill
to call judicial elections
, but there is still no information about the continuity of the extended magistrates.
At the beginning of the year,
the judges extended their functions
after the Legislature failed to reach an agreement to call elections for magistrates.
In Bolivia,
the judges of the Constitutional Court are elected at the polls
, whose candidates must be previously selected in the Legislative Assembly by two-thirds of the votes.
With information from the Associated Press