October 23, 2022, 4:00 AM
October 23, 2022, 4:00 AM
The strike continues after a first day of indefinite unemployment that was forceful. There was violence in the first hours in some areas, but it was consolidated by the scarce presence of residents in the streets and the total absence of public transport. The Government tried to deactivate the extreme measure without withdrawing Decree 4760 that postpones the census until 2024 and, in this way, the dialogue broke down.
The breakout came after a bumpy negotiation that took place at various intervals. At 8:45 the talks were installed, but no progress was made because a request arose to “pacify” the neighbors after the death of a citizen in the town Puerto Quijarro border crossing and the irruption of shock groups related to the MAS at the entrance to Los Lotes, in the Sixth Ring Road of the capital of Santa Cruz.
It also transpired that the arrival of some INE technicians was missing. The strike began with almost no blockades, the neighbors came out little by little and installed blockade points.oqueo in which the Santa Cruz and Bolivian flags abounded; they also put up banners and allegories alluding to the census in 2023.
In the points where there was violence: Los Lotes and Santos Dumond Avenue, people related to the government and even Councilman José Quiroz were seen leading one of the groups of “unblockers.”
at 1:00 p.m. the debate was reinstated, which began with claims to the National Institute of Statistics (INE) because it did not show progress since 2021, when it was declared that the census was a “national priority”, at the mercy of Decree 4546. That norm established applying the great survey this November 16, but that will no longer be possible.
The Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, proposed a “complementary regulation” to “construct the date” of the survey, but then considered that it was not convenient to annul the observed decree that is at the heart of the conflict.
The proposal generated susceptibility among the professionals of the Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene Moreno (Uagrm). Demographer Melvi Vargas lamented that the technical contribution proposed by her institution “has been underestimated” by the government authorities. The specialist said that there were several “inconsistencies” on the part of the INE and that it is the Government’s obligation to admit and correct them in order to move forward. He stated that, when he requested information, they sent him to read the web page of the Institute and, after insistence, they sent him “press releases”. Vargas stressed the importance of having official information to support the Government in carrying out the next census.
“Is there the will of the government to carry out the census in 2023? That is the question. The Government has to attend, just as it attends to sectors that are related to the MAS, we, the people of Santa Cruz, we are as Bolivian as they are and I do not accept that there is discrimination in Bolivia and that they only want to attend to the demands of corporate groups of the MAS, ”said the vice-rector of the Uagrm, Reinerio Vargas. “If we are in this strike; This is a consequence of the lack of timely information. There have been 17 unanswered communications,” affirmed the academic authority, who asked the Government to assume that responsibility for the failed census.
The rector of the Uagrm, Vicente Cuéllar, pointed out that it was possibleto “advance the dialogue” if the dates that are concerned in Decree 4760 were abrogated. The norm establishes that the census will be carried out on an undefined day between May and June 2024, although Minister Prada announced her willingness to debate the date, but, she remarked, “in a complementary way” to decree 4760.
The spokesman for the Presidency, Jorge Richter, thus challenged the Interinstitutional Committee and the University to present “a technical support that guarantees a quality census. The position is the same as in August, when the Government activated the “socialization” tables in which it showed the schedule of activities to reach the day of the survey and the processing of the results.
After 3:00 p.m., the members of the Census Committee requested an intermediate room and reinstalled the trading desk around 17:00. Once there, the legal adviser of the Interinstitutional CommitteeJosé Luis Santistevan, read the decree project that, in addition, establishes the incorporation of the university community for the development of the statistical process.
The norm proposed by Santistevan is based on Decree 4546, which declared the realization of the great survey “of national priority” and established its financing mechanism. In addition, it underlines that the completion date is in 2023. However, Decree 4760, promulgated by Luis Arce on July 13, postponed this activity until 2024.
“Carry out the census activity in 2023, so that the results are known by April 2024 and the redistribution of resources is carried out” and repealing Supreme Decree 4760 are two of the main proposals of the draft decree. The plan was rejected by Minister Prada, who observed the technical support of the document and ruled out that this dialogue table has the capacity to establish a specific date.
The position triggered the breakdown of the dialogue. Luis Fernando Camacho, governor of Santa Cruz, was the first to leave the meeting. “It is a lack of respect for my people”, he said as he left the Divprecon government facility. He was followed by the civic, in the midst of a brief and harsh altercation with the Deputy Minister of Autonomies, Álvaro Ríos, who was part of the delegation of the Executive Branch.
The heated exchange of words was carried out by the vice president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, Stelo Cochamanidis and Ruiz.
The government authority asked the citizen not to leave; he even ordered her to sit down. “You are not going to send me! If I want to, I’ll stop”, he replied.
— “Submit the proposal, but do not leave” and the civic continued: “Let’s solve the decree, as you decided politically, let’s solve it politically and from there let the technicians work.”
The discussion continued. “Don’t run away,” Ruiz told him and the civic responded: “Your boss was the one who escaped (alluding to Evo Morales), I go out and show my face”.
Having said this, he left the room together with the legal adviser of the Interinstitutional Committee, José Luis Santistevan, who also presented Santa Cruz’s proposal, which was rejected by the national government.
Rector Cuéllar stayed and tried to calm down. The government representatives handed over his proposal and agreed that it would be submitted for analysis.
Sources close to the meeting reported that Richter announced the formation of “an analysis commission” to the Santa Cruz proposal and that triggered the rupture.
After that, the government’s response was no longer conciliatory and pointed to a new scenario of political debate that could mark the second day of the strike.
“That they take responsibility for their actions and their results”, Prada warned the Santa Cruz leaders at the time of pointing out the death of a resident in Puerto Quijarro. It happened after the breakdown of talks.
The death of Juan Pablo Taborga in Quijarro put on the table complaints about the use of public officials in the shock groups. According to the victim’s wife, the deceased was a merchant and a welder, but his sister, Selva Taborga Cuéllar, stated that he was a municipal official.
“Lies is what they say, he worked for the Mayor’s Office, I am a witness to it, my brother was humble the mayor made him work late and apart from that he forced him to show up at the events he organized”posted on his Facebook account, distorting the publication circulating on social networks where it is intended to make believe that he came out to defend his right to work as a merchant and civics are held responsible.
The strike began yesterday when the 21-day period granted by the Santa Cruz council on September 30 expired. That assembly demanded that the great survey be done in 2023 and that the first population results be published 120 days after the operation. All this so that the Government can apply the criteria of distribution of resources of the tax co-participation based on the new demographic reality.
The results of the census will also impact the redistribution of seats in the Legislative and electoral mapping.
To avoid the start of the protest, on Friday night, Prada proposed bringing forward the census until April 2024 and, with that deadline, deliver the results 180 days lateruntil October of that year. It was not enough and Governor Camacho said yesterday that, as this adjustment could be made, the Government should show “will” to make its position more flexible, taking into account “the mandate of the council” of September 30.
Cuéllar was the last to leave the stage where an agreement was attempted. Before leaving, he was given the Government’s proposal embodied in a new draft decree. “I don’t think this table was a waste of time. The doors of dialogue are open; We are going to analyze the Government’s proposal and we hope that they will also read our approach”he claimed.
Later, there was a meeting at the house of Rómulo Calvo, the president of the Civic Committee, which is under house arrest.
“We present a proposal and it is not because of intransigence, it is out of respect for a mandate that was decided at that time”Camacho insisted on the possibility of the dialogue continuing.
The rector and the vice-rector after the meeting with the Government: Photo: Fuad Landívar
