First modification:
Unions, civic committees and opponents of the government of President Luis Arce demonstrated this October 11 in different Bolivian cities in rejection of the so-called law Against the Legitimization of Illicit Profits, Financing Against Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. For its part, the Central Obrera Boliviana announced a protest on Tuesday against the “destabilizing attempts of the right.”
This Monday, October 11, massive demonstrations were registered in Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba and other smaller ones in cities such as Oruro, Potosí, Tarija and Sucre.
The different civic movements that called the protesters mobilized in protest against the regulations Against the Legitimation of Illicit Profits, Financing Against Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
During the day there were transport blockades, clashes with the authorities and even tear gas had to be dispersed in the crowd in order to withdraw the protesters.
The controversial illicit profit bill in Bolivia provoked different positions and rejection among the opposition, since they believe that it will give special powers at the request of the State to start a political persecution, while others think that it is about demanding “justice.”
In return, several sectors related to the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) will carry out what they called a “wiphalazo” this Tuesday, in reference to the indigenous Wiphala flag, to march in “defense of democracy” and the government of President Luis Arce.
The leftist government vs. the opposition
Groups related to the Government of Arce defined the strike this Monday as a “damage to the economy”, blaming the governor of Santa Cruz, the opposition Luis Fernando Camacho, and the civic committees of the chaos that occurred in this city, which was where the most unemployment was felt.
Estefanía Morales, head of the MAS-IPSP bench in Deputies, told the Bolivian Information Agency that the strike called by Camacho and citizens of Santa Cruz was a “total failure at the national level.”
Regarding the bill against the legitimization of illicit profits, the deputy assured that it does not affect union members, journalists, butchers or evangelical congregations, as had been rumored in recent days.
Critics of the bill consider that it will give special powers to different instances of the Government to carry out a political persecution and, in addition, they say that it violates confidentiality clauses or professional secrecy in several sectors.
I salute the commitment of the Bolivian people: they do not want to be an accessory to the coup, they defend democracy; He is not an accomplice of separatism, he defends the unity of the country and does not want to harm the economy; That is why the strike of the Bolivian right failed.
– Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) October 11, 2021
But, according to the newspaper La Razón, “said fear was caused by an intense disinformation campaign about the scope of the bill, which had as a counterpart, again, a very limited information capacity of the Government.”
For its part, the Bolivian government insists that the legislation seeks to meet international standards against illicit enrichment and that, in the case of source secrecy in the media, it will not be affected.
Since Luis Arce became President of Bolivia in November 2020, war has been declared between the ally of former President Evo Morales and the opposition movements, defeated in the general elections last year. The leftist government has not hesitated to label Monday’s strike as an attempt by its opponents to destabilize the administration of Arce, who said that his opponents seek to create conditions “for a coup.”
With EFE and local media
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