THE PEACE — Supporters of Evo Morales announced a 72-hour truce starting this Wednesday in the road blockades that began 24 days ago in Bolivia, in rejection of the government and in support of the former president, investigated by justice.
“We are pausing with vigil for 72 hours,” said Humberto Claros, General Secretary of the Single Trade Union Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia, in a statement broadcast by Kawsachun Coca radio, linked to Morales.
According to the leader, the protesters temporarily suspended the protest for “humanitarian reasons.”
Claros mentioned that they have “four dead” among their ranks, supposedly due to clashes with the police, who have been trying to clear the roads with the support of the military since last Friday.
However, the government denied the version about the deceased, while the Ombudsman’s Office assured that it “does not have any complaints” of fatalities during the clashes at the blocking points.
Claros, meanwhile, also reported “at least 100 injuries” and “more than 200” detainees from the protest movement.
The Ministry of the Interior reports 127 injured people, 92 of them police officers, and around 180 detainees.
The temporary suspension of the blockades coincides with the operations of the public force to free the roads taken by the followers of Evo Morales.
“We have managed to reduce the blockades in our country to a minimum,” Government Minister Eduardo Del Castillo said at a press conference this Wednesday.
free way
The Bolivian state Highway Administrator reported that as of Wednesday night there were no road closures in the country, while at the worst moment of the crisis there had been more than 20 blockades, mainly in the department of Cochabamba (center), a stronghold politician of Evo Morales.
On Friday, Morales called to declare a truce in the demonstrations and since then he has assured that he has been on a hunger strike, to pressure for a negotiation with the government of his former minister Luis Arce.
The protest began in defense of the 65-year-old former president in the face of what his followers consider a “judicial persecution” for the criminal investigation he faces for the abuse of a minor that he denies and that allegedly occurred in 2015, when he was president.
However, peasants and indigenous people are now protesting the economic crisis derived from the shortage of foreign currency that mainly affects the import of fuel that the Bolivian State distributes on a subsidized basis.
Morales and President Arce are fighting for control of the ruling left and the presidential nomination for the 2025 elections.
