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Bolivian president reports four dead as weeks of anti-government unrest turn deadly

https://sputniknews.com/20221113/bolivian-presidency-reports-4-killed-as-weeks-of-anti-government-chaos-turn-deadly-1104065554.html

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A local Bolivian journalist told Sputnik News that the same forces that helped enact the US-backed coup against Bolivia’s first indigenous president in 2019 are back on the streets, paralyzing the country’s economy once again. Census.

Union headquarters, media outlets and buildings belonging to indigenous-led organizations are under attack as deadly protests in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, enter their fourth week.

Demonstrators, mostly consisting of violent barricades, occupy the streets of a wealthy Bolivian city, and anti-government protests led by the militia Union Juvenil Crusenistas have killed several people. . Offices believed to be affiliated with pro-government forces (including the Santa Cruz Farmers and Workers Sectoral Union, Sectoral Labor Unions, and public television stations) were set on fire or looted.

“So far, four people have been killed, nearly 180 injured and $720 million in lost economic activity,” Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo wrote on Friday. “It’s all for the whim of those who don’t want a democratic, dialogue-based solution.”

He is most likely referring to wealthy businessman and current Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho. It summed up Santa Cruz’s longstanding elitist contempt for the ruling socialist movement, which is mostly indigenous, to call for the 2024 census to be moved forward by a year.

But the call appears to be seen as an effective declaration of war on the central government, which succeeded in restoring democratic rule to Bolivia after the 2019 U.S.-led coup against Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Became. Union Juvenil Crusenista forces loyal to Camacho played a major role in the agitation.

Independent Bolivian journalist Tania Arzamen told Sputnik News that the violence being carried out in Santa Cruz against those deemed MAS sympathizers is even worse than in 2019.

The UJC “locking down the streets not only means they’re not allowing free transportation, it means they’re controlling public space, which is very dangerous.” about it. You don’t even have the right to leave the house,” she says.

“So now you can’t open your shop. They go and break your windows and make you close your shop. They will go around town telling you to close shops and not even allow you to sell things on the street.”

Now their latest street violence has even raised the ire of the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. statement Friday night proclaiming “Condemns new acts of violence in Santa Cruz” by rebels.Sexual Violence; Harassment of #Women’sHouse Staff and Users and Burning of Union Federations [building]”

“There are violent and aggressive controls on the streets and public spaces,” laments Arzamen. “They won’t even let the ambulance through.”

She stressed that there is a “huge class divide” between those who “can afford to strike” and those who “need to get a job and are not represented by those closing Santa Cruz.” I’m here.

“The government has tried three times to talk to these people, but they have failed,” she said. “We’re not talking about people who have legitimate demands. It’s a very strong minority demand.”

For most working Bolivians who want jobs, normalcy may not return until the central government intervenes, as Governor Camacho has been accused of pressuring local security forces not to intervene. There seems to be



https://sputniknews.com/20221113/bolivian-presidency-reports-4-killed-as-weeks-of-anti-government-chaos-turn-deadly-1104065554.html Bolivian president reports four dead as weeks of anti-government unrest turn deadly

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