December 2, 2022, 4:00 AM
December 2, 2022, 4:00 AM
The arrest of the sub-governor of the Ñuflo de Chávez province, Daniel Velásquez, which occurred on Wednesday night, and the initiation of proceedings by the Prosecutor’s Office against the Santa Cruz authorities who led the civic strike for the census, keeps on alert to the sectors of Santa Cruz and opposition politicians. The grouping We believe he denounced that the Government activated a prosecution plan for the people who fought in the streets for 36 days, while the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy (Conade) assured that the regime of President Arce activated a plan to try to silence the voices of opposition.
Deputy Walthy Égüez, from the opposition alliance Creemos, assured that They will not leave any citizen at the expense of the political persecution that the Government intends to implement against the people of Santa Cruz who spent more than a month in protests to demand the completion of the National Population and Housing Census, which allows the redistribution of economic resources to the municipalities of the country as of 2024 and the reallocation of parliamentary seats in the next general elections, scheduled for 2025.
President Luis Arce issued Supreme Decree 4824 on November 11, which establishes that the census will take place on March 23, 2024.. Meanwhile, the Legislative Assembly sanctioned the Census Law on November 29, which establishes that the redistribution of resources will take place as of September 2024 and the census data will be sent to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in due time for it to work in the redistribution of legislative seats for the 2025 general elections.
As a result of the arrest of Deputy Governor Velásquez and the proceedings announced by the Attorney General’s Office against the Governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho; the president of the Civic Committee, Rómulo Calvo, and the rector of the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University (Uagrm), Vicente Cuéllar, Conade issued a statement in which it demands: “the cessation of judicial persecution against our civic leadership and our authoritiesunless the Government, having lost its way in this battle in which Bolivia won, intends to convulse the country and force the people to take to the streets again in repudiation of the abuse of power and intimidation that they intend to do against Santa Cross”.
The Conade mentioned in its statement that The government, in its desire to subdue Santa Cruz, “used policemen brought from other departments, paramilitaries, infiltrated policemen, foreign advisors who were experts in urban guerrilla and used all the anti-riot artillery against innocent people who were only exercising their right to protest, as established in the Political Constitution of the State”.
The State Attorney General, Juan Lanchipa, reported on Wednesday that three complaints were admitted against Camacho, Vicente Cuéllar and Rómulo Calvo, for acts of violence registered during the 36 days of unemployment.
Lanchipa said that there are three processes activated by various crimes and that those involved will be summoned to declare in the next few days, either in La Paz or in the capital of Santa Cruz, where the causes lie.
By your side, the deputy governor of the Ñuflo de Chávez province was apprehended on instructions from the Public Ministry, accused of alleged attacks on representatives of the Guarayo people during the civic strike.
The second vice president of the Committee for Santa Cruz, Stello Cochamanidis, described as It is unheard of that the Government persecutes those who demonstrate peacefully and constitutional, while the violent ones are free of process.
New relationship with the State
The constitutional lawyer and legal adviser of the Inter-institutional Committee José Luis Santistevan, said yesterday that the The Government promoted the rupture of the social pact, by using the Police, prosecutors and judges to intimidate and persecute to the citizens.
“It is intended to stigmatize and politicize all citizen rights and guarantees that representative democracy contemplatesthrough the Political Constitution of the State, such as the councils, the protests and the citizen mobilization in the streets”, said Santistevan in the Influyentes program of EL DEBER Radio.
He mentioned that the indefinite civic strike was approved by millions of people who participated in the town hall on September 30 and that it had observers from the TSE.
For the lawyer, the handling of justice by the Government must be among the main points of the new relationship between Santa Cruz and the State.
