Bolivia, semi-paralyzed by roadblocks by followers of Evo Morales

PEACE — With several roads blocked, Bolivia is semi-paralyzed by the protests of peasants who for nine days have been asking for “the cessation of judicial persecution” against their leader, Evo Morales, investigated for alleged abuse of a minor when he was president.

The road closures cut off Cochabamba from La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Sucre and Santa Cruz. In La Paz, the capital and seat of government, the protest has raised the prices of the basic basket and long lines form around the gas stations.

This Wednesday, public transport drivers interrupted traffic on dozens of routes in the city to complain about fuel shortages.

“We can no longer work (…). Some have slept in line all night,” said Juan Mamani, a 53-year-old bus driver.

President Luis Arce’s government blames Morales supporters for preventing the distribution. Hundreds of tankers are stranded on roads taken over by protesters.

The silence of the prosecutor’s office regarding the “arrest” it announced against Morales, investigated for “rape, human trafficking and smuggling,” further tightens the knot that immobilizes Bolivia.

Confronted by the presidential candidacy of the ruling left for the 2025 elections, Morales accuses his former minister Arce of trying to “outlaw” him by opening criminal investigations.

Although the protests began with the intention of avoiding the possible capture of the Aymara leader, they now demand that Arce find a way out of the crisis derived from the lack of dollars and fuel.

Dialogue in deadlock

“Bolivia’s political culture in general is too caudillist (…). All of this makes this a scenario where agreeing, dialoguing, agreeing, is almost impossible,” explains Daniel Valverde, professor of political science at the René Moreno University. .

The groups close to the coca leader sent a letter to Arce to demand, in addition to the “cessation of judicial persecution” of the Aymara leader, his recognition as an official candidate and the repeal of a package of regulations.

“We are not going to give in to those who want to set the country on fire to protect themselves from personal accusations against which they must show their faces,” Arce responded.

The blockades went from four to 21 points since the beginning of the protests.

So far, clashes have been reported in Parotani, Pojo, Epizana and Caracollo, in Cochabamba. In Puente Ichilo, in Santa Cruz, about 700 police officers unblocked the road with tear gas on Tuesday.

Uneventful file

The trigger for the blockades was the announcement by prosecutor Sandra Gutiérrez that she was preparing an arrest warrant against Morales for the alleged abuse of a minor with whom she had a daughter. But then he did not comment on the investigation again.

The former president assures that it is “another lie”, since the same case was investigated and filed in 2020.

His supporters demand that Arce stop the investigation against him, even though it is in the hands of a supposedly independent prosecutor.

“There are too many indications that the institutions, and in this case the Public Prosecutor’s Office, must be in an internal struggle, trying to measure. Because if an arrest warrant is issued, we must recognize that the situation is going to be difficult for the government.” regarding the mobilizations, says Valverde.

Stagnant economy

While farmers are also protesting the difficult situation the country is going through, the blockades push the economic crisis to the limit.

The economic losses due to the blockades, which began on October 14, reach at least 81 million dollars, as reported by the Ministry of Economy to AFP.

The two main economic centers of Bolivia, La Paz and Santa Cruz, are separated by Cochabamba, the third region in production that serves as a transit area.

“When this highway is interrupted, the connection between the most dynamic centers of the country is cut and that has a strong impact on the economy,” warns José Luis Evia, former member of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Bolivia.

The economic context is not the most favorable: the country recorded year-on-year inflation of 6.2% in September, the highest since July 2014.