In a local weather of accelerating pressure and as new accusations emerge in opposition to Evo Morales for alleged sexual abuse, Bolivian police deployed round 2,00zero troops this Friday to clear the streets that the previous president's followers have blocked for 19 days to forestall him from dealing with a legal investigation.
In sure areas, protesters resisted with dynamite thrown from the hills, whereas a gaggle of troopers reported being “kidnapped” by the indigenous chief's bodyguards.
The police mobilized tractors to clear the streets of particles, whereas part of the navy police supported the actions.
Though this time the police discovered an sudden ally behind them: All Saints' Day, a standard spiritual vacation within the Bolivian Andes. Many protesters have left the streets to have a good time; others are concentrated in Parotani, 347 kilometers southeast of La Paz, a strategic path for the union of the cities of the east, with the west and south of the nation, which has been the case in current days probably the most controversial stronghold between the protesters and the police.
A number of law enforcement officials arrived there to confront the protesters, who, making an attempt to drive the officers away, threw dynamite from the hills.
Final week, round 30 policemen had been injuredconsidered one of them was hit by a dynamite explosion. Greater than fifty protesters had been detained, however the “blockades” regained management of the streets after safety forces moved in.
Rigidity within the area of Coca, the stronghold of Evo Morales
Essentially the most crucial state of affairs happens within the coca rising area of Chapare. Morales' political stronghold and refugethe place the followers maintain him surrounded and threaten to take over the police and navy barracks, demanding the closure of court docket circumstances in opposition to the previous president.
“Persistence and tolerance have limits, due to this fact the state and the federal government had the constitutional obligation to take motion to ensure free motion,” Protection Minister Edmundo Novillo stated on the X community.
In the meantime, a gaggle of troopers reported this Friday that that they had been taken “hostage” by Morales' followers inside their navy installations within the Tropics of Cochabamba and requested the federal government of Luis Arce to not unblock the roads as a result of their lives “are in peril.” “.
In a video broadcast by Bolivian media, a gaggle of troopers standing in entrance of navy installations despatched a message to the federal government “to not unblock the Parotani freeway”, within the central area of Cochabamba, as they’re surrounded by greater than 2,00zero individuals. evistas', as the previous president's loyal sectors are identified.
Police fired tear fuel at protesters, who responded with dynamite on the streets of Bolivia. Photograph: AP 
Supporters of Evo Morales resist the police operation with dynamite. Photograph: EFE “They’ve reduce off our water and electrical energy, they’ve taken us hostage, we ask for a fast answer, don’t intrude within the blockade factors because the lives of my instructors and troopers (are in peril), please my basic (.. .) we’re relations , we’re dad and mom, youngsters, brothers of entire households”, requested Arcen, a soldier, who didn’t determine himself.
Troopers of Cacique Juan Maraza's Navy Regiment in Villa Tunari in Cochabamba, a area that’s Morales' political and commerce union stronghold, stated “their ensures have been reduce”.
The battle erupted three weeks in the past when a the prosecutor's order for arrest for Morales for him alleged abuse of a minor beneath 15 when he was nonetheless president in 2016.
On Sunday, October 27, the 65-year-old politician He reported that he was shot in his car when he was addressing a radio program in that space. Authorities minister Eduardo del Castillo gave a special model: he stated that Morales resisted the management of an anti-drug patrol and gone
New accusations in opposition to the previous president
In the midst of pressure, and when CONFRONTATION among the many followers of Morales and his former ally Arce, the gender secretary of the workplace of the president of the central area of Cochabamba, Tatiana Herrera, denounced the previous president this Friday for 5 different circumstances of human trafficking and rapewhich is meant to have occurred within the final 5 years within the province of Chapare.
5 households in Chapare, who this week had been purported to arrive within the metropolis of Cochabamba to current their complaints of acts of rape and human trafficking and abuse, haven’t been in a position to arrive due to the blockades,” Herrera stated at a press convention in La Paz, the place he arrived to coordinate actions with the federal government.
In keeping with Herrera's criticism, the ladies of those minor households in these years had been taken from the Tropics of Cochabamba to the town of La Paz by way of “intermediaries who’re those who handle the syndicates in Chapare”.
“Typically, the ladies left with out their dad and mom' consent,” stated Secretary Gjinore.
Custom and protest
In keeping with Andean traditions, at midday on November 1, spirits return to the world of the residing to share meals with their family members. Tables with meals, bread and drinks are added to welcome the “spirits” who go away at midday on the second day, after a household banquet.
A whole bunch of vehicles with meals, export items and gas are caught on the street. Enterprise associations speak about losses of thousands and thousands of dollars, the Minister of Rural Growth, Yamil Flores, estimated the losses from street closures at 970 million dollars.
La Paz and different cities They lack the meat that comes from the east, and costs have risen, exacerbating the financial disaster that hits Bolivians. Final week, producers dumped flowers, milk, greens and fruit on the roads that had rotted because of the blockade.
Some sectors, together with the mayor of La Paz, Iván Arias, have requested the federal government to declare a state of emergency in Cochabamba, hardest hit by the protests.
The federal government has prevented sending within the military en masse to clear the streets. Opponents say the federal government reveals weak point in coping with the battle in the midst of an economic system in crisis with rising cost of living and lack of gas.
Thus far, there isn’t a official details about injured or arrested individuals.
Morales accused his inheritor and successor President Luis Arce of “constructing” a court docket case to take away him from the 2025 presidential race.
Arce accuses Morales of “boycotting” his administration to worsen the disaster for “private” causes and introduced that his authorities won’t enable impunity. The combat between the 2 leaders tore aside the Motion In direction of Socialism (MAS), which is dealing with probably the most severe disaster threatening its political hegemony in its 18 years of rule.