Bolivian Movements Condemn State Repression and Arrest of Peasant Leader<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAt a press conference, the president said, \u2018If Evo is man enough, let him come to La Paz.\u2019 If he gives me guarantees, I\u2019ll go there, and if not, if Paz is man enough, let him come to Lauca \u00d1 to discuss social issues. We are not only going to talk about demands, we are going to teach him how to govern,\u201d Morales said before hundreds of supporters gathered in the Chimore municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since October 2024, Morales has remained in the Tropics of Cochabamba, where Indigenous peoples have been protecting him to prevent him from being arrested in connection with a criminal case involving alleged \u201chuman trafficking.\u201d In this legal action, the former president is accused of having had a relationship with an underage girl in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morales accused Paz of being a \u201cpuppet\u201d of U.S. President Donald Trump, who he said would support the right-wing leader at a time when protests against him have already continued for 41 consecutive days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see who really has his days numbered,\u201d the former Bolivian president said in response to Paz, who continues to describe Morales and the protesters as \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d whose days are numbered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo even went so far as to describe nationwide protests as an \u201cattempted coup d\u2019etat\u201d financed and operated by narco-terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early May, the Bolivian Workers\u2019 Central (COB) and other farmers\u2019 organizations began protests and road blockades to demand Paz\u2019s resignation, arguing that he has been implementing structural adjustment policies that have hit the most vulnerable social sectors particularly hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 8, Paz signed the Law Regulating States of Exception to allow the Armed Forces to participate in the repression of the massive protests. For it to become fully operational, the law must be complemented by a decree that has not yet been issued and that will have to be validated by Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paz Is Forced to Release a Farmers\u2019 Leader<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOn Wednesday, farmer Vicente Salazar, the principal leader of the unions blocking roads in the Bolivian highlands, was released just hours after his arrest following a demonstration in his support held in La Paz, the Bolivian capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presidential spokesperson Jose Galvez acknowledged that Salazar had been detained but said the government released him because there was a \u201cwrit of liberty\u201d in his favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after midday, Salazar was taken to a police office near Plaza Murillo, where the headquarters of the executive and legislative branches are located, after participating in a march organized by his union, the Tupac Katari Federation of Peasant Workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bolivian Workers\u2019 Central (COB) and supporters of former President Morales also participated in the demonstration, including new groups of protesters who arrived from Potosi and the Tropics of Cochabamba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before beginning the march from the city of El Alto, Salazar told reporters that right-wing President Paz \u201chas two paths left: his voluntary resignation or leaving amid social upheaval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously, the Paz administration issued arrest warrants for Salazar and COB leader Mario Argollo, accusing them of alleged terrorism and public incitement to commit crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of May, however, a court nullified those arrest warrants, although the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz later explained that the suspension of the warrants was temporary while the Prosecutor\u2019s Office corrected observations made by a lower court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, in the sixth week of the conflict, road blockades remain in place in six of Bolivia\u2019s nine departments, particularly in the Andean and central regions, where shortages of food, medicine and fuel have been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Office of the Ombudsman has recorded episodes of extreme violence against protesters that have left at least three people dead. Social media posts have documented repressive actions in which police officers are accompanied by paramilitary forces that attack demonstrators with machetes and clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
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