The Bolivian Ministers of Defense and Education, Marcelo Salinas and Beatriz Garcia, resigned on Tuesday June 2 after more than a month of demonstrations and roadblocks across the country demanding the departure of conservative President Rodrigo Paz, indicated to Agence France-Presse (AFP) government sources.
Workers, farmers, miners, transporters and teachers are demanding measures to address the serious economic crisis the country is going through. In response, the government has not ruled out declaring a state of exception in order to use the army to repress the demonstrations.
Around a hundred roadblocks currently identified
“Yes, this information is confirmedâ€declared on condition of anonymity a source from the Ministry of Defense, questioned about the resignation of Marcelo Salinas. Bolivian media claimed that the resigning minister had been replaced by Ernesto Justiniano, vice-minister of Controlled Substances and Social Defense. The press service of the Ministry of Education also announced the resignation of its minister, Beatriz Garcia.
A week ago, Parliament removed a provision that limited the president’s powers to declare a state of emergency. This can now, in addition to deploying the army in the streets, restrict freedoms of assembly and movement. On May 20, after several weeks of historic mobilizations, Rodrigo Paz had already announced a reshuffle of his government. An announcement considered too timid by the Central Bolivian Workers (COB) which then called for “bringing together the demands of various social organizations” to further strengthen the movement.
« It doesn’t matter if lives are sacrificed, the goal is for Rodrigo Paz to leave the government; we are not going to allow him to impose his neoliberal model », he confided giving la foulée à Âl’Humanité René Soliz Villca, one of the leaders of the Trade Union Confederation of Intercultural Communities from Bolivia (CSCIOB).
Around a hundred roadblocks are currently recorded across the country, almost double the number two weeks ago, according to official data. These blockades have caused shortages of food, medicine and fuel in La Paz, the neighboring city of El Alto, as well as other cities across the country. To discredit the movement, the government of Rodrigo Paz – supported by the United States of Donald Trump – accuses the former socialist president Evo Morales (2006-2019), targeted by an arrest warrant in a case of trafficking of minors, of being at the origin of the demonstrations.
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