The road blockade affects five regions in Bolivia, has caused, in three days, losses of at least 100 million dollars and has aggravated the rupture between the factions of the ruling party, led by the former president and head of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS). , Evo Morales, and President Luis Arce. Both are contesting the candidacy for the Presidency by that force in 2025.
At the moment, there are 14 points of blockades that affect traffic, especially on the roads that connect the region of Santa Cruz (east), the economic engine of Bolivia, with Cochabamba (center), Oruro (west) and Potosí (southwest), affecting internal routes that go to Peru and Chile. There are also cuts in the southern Tarija, according to the latest government reports.
According to transport unions, there are 3,000 trucks stranded and thousands of people injured on the roads without being able to travel.
Morales, who governed Bolivia between 2006 and 2019, and Arce, who has been president since 2020, have been in conflict for several months in their dispute for the presidential candidacy, but this time the former's followers have taken the fight to blocking roads.
“What the 'evismo' wants (to cause) are deaths, they are injured people and, as a national government, we protect the greater good, which is life,” accused the Vice Minister of Citizen Security, Roberto Ríos, in reference to protesters who They are using dynamite to damage the roads.
Parliamentarians and social leaders related to Morales demand the resignation of the high court judges who in December extended their mandate after the failure of the Legislative Assembly to call judicial elections for this year.
The Government has accepted that the magistrates continue in their positions, despite the fact that, according to jurists, analysts and opponents, this is an unconstitutional measure.
But, the decision that ignited the new phase of the political conflict was the resolution of the Constitutional Court to rule against re-election, indicating that it is not a right, which would disqualify Morales' candidacy for 2025.
According to the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, the political objective of the protests is not judicial reform, but rather “it is linked to excessive power ambitions and the imposition of a single candidacy” in the ruling party with Evo Morales.
On network ”.
The two sides disqualify each other by calling each other “right-wing” and “traitors” to the principles of the MAS.
I cannot understand how sisters and brothers who previously fought with us, who have been part of our achievements and triumphs as the Indigenous Peasant Movement, who have suffered the repression and persecution of the neoliberal right that used the police and the military to…
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) January 24, 2024
“I fear that these leaders are wearing out people's patience.”
Political scientist Ana Lucía Velasco, professor at the Bolivian Catholic University, said that beyond the judicial issue, “the road blockade and this political impasse are the result of several months of a totally open rupture in the MAS,” without being able to predict which of the leaders will prevail over the other.
In statements to France 24, he expressed his concern about the risk that the political struggle between 'evismo' and 'arcismo' will lead the conflict to an extreme scenario in which they begin to “lament injuries, deaths and people begin to get tired ”.
“I fear that these leaders are ending the patience of the people,” he added, and then pointed out that the majority of citizens are increasingly “tired of the social conflict” that prevents the population from living their lives normally.
In his opinion, the two leaders are making a show of force, but they seem to have a “shortsighted bet” because “they are playing with other people's lives”, the population is experiencing an economic crisis and there is still a long time before the elections. 2025.
“Losses exceed 100 million in three days and are increasing”
Regarding the losses, the general manager of the private Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE), Gary Rodríguez, told France 24 that it is difficult to make an exact report, “but that it is possible to assure that the losses of the last three days easily exceed the “100 million dollars and growing.”
“However, another loss, of an intangible nature, is the image of uncertainty that Bolivia projects abroad, as a country once again in turmoil,” added Rodríguez, whose institution carries out studies on the reality of the private sector.
According to the Government, losses could potentially reach 128 million dollars a day with damage to economic activity and employment.
The IBCE manager added that the country's economy grew 2.3% in the third quarter of 2023, but “stability hangs by a thread since, although inflation that year was 2.21%, the blockades increased prices due to the decrease in supply in the markets and speculation.”
Furthermore, he added, the context of the Bolivian economy is complicated by the shortage of dollars, “the fragility of fuel supply”, the reduction of the Central Bank's reserves to 1,709 million dollars, a level from 20 years ago, and the increase in informality (over 85%), among other factors.
“Expectations are becoming negative, something that is dangerous,” concluded Rodríguez.
The Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs of Bolivia (CEPB) said on social network X that “blockades seriously affect trade, production, transportation, employment, the provision of goods and investment.”
The employers' association added that the “problems must be resolved with dialogue, consensus and democratic openness and not with radical positions or measures that harm the economy so much.”
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