Members of the Special Federation of Intercultural Communities of San Julián and Guarayos, union organizations linked to former Bolivian president Evo Morales, threaten to kill businessmen who own properties in the Santa Cruz region.
The group’s leader, Sixto Canaza, is currently serving a sentence under house arrest, after kidnapping police officers and journalists in the Las Londras sector two years ago. Despite his arrest, he remains active in intimidating land owners.
The invaders came to occupy a private area of 1,800 hectares during the soy harvest season and, after selling their production, declared themselves landless farmers. Amid clashes with farmers in Santa Cruz, two people who were part of the organizations died and, since then, threats have increased in the region.
After the episodes, allies of the leftist Bolivian president released a statement in which they condemned to death land-owning businessmen “settled in the Las Londras sector”.
“The Special Federation of Intercultural Communities, Agricultural Producers of San Julián Norte, together with the communities of the central Pailitas, the children of the intercultural family of the Northern Federation, have resolved to sentence the business owners of land in the Las Londras sector to death.”
One of the members of the San Julián union organization, Nicolás Ramírez Taboada, even declared: “Now we are going to take up arms and we are going to create a space of respect.”
Faced with the violent attacks, the leader of the Pro-Santa Cruz Committee, Fernando Larach, spoke out about the inaction of Luis Arce’s government to avoid an escalation in the territorial dispute. “Where are the government ministers, the deputy Minister of the Interior Regime, the departmental prosecutor and the departmental commander to arrest this man? This is an egregious crime. When will the Las Londras case be resolved?” he asked.
With the worsening of the land conflict in Santa Cruz, the Bolivian justice system decided to open an investigation to investigate the actions of armed groups against landowners in the region.
Presidency spokesman Jorge Richter stated that the government does not tolerate the existence of armed groups, “because that is what the Constitution dictates when it states that only the armed forces and the police have the right to carry and use weapons in the country “.
Minutes after the statement, another threat emerged from an armed group that had set up shop in San Carlos, also in Santa Cruz: “If you get here, bear the consequences”, said the message issued by other members of the organizations. The case is under analysis by the National Prosecutor’s Office.
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