Evo Morales and five of his followers began the hunger strike in Cochabamba

At the end of the afternoon of this Friday, November 1, the Minister of Health, María Renée Castro, reported that 19 police officers and a photojournalist were injured product of the confrontation of the blockades related to former president Evo Morales, and police and military personnel, on the Parotani bridge (Cochabamba), where the confrontation broke out to clear the blocked roads.

Of the 19 uniformed men, 14 were admitted to the National Health Fund (CNS) and five discharged, after receiving medical assistance in the Suticollo area. Castro emphasized that a police officer was injured in the foot by a gunshot from the protesters.

“We don’t have any serious police, fortunately; We have some who have multiple contusions, others (affected) by splinters and a police officer who fell into a cactus ravine and had to remove the thorns. It is nothing serious, we had imagined a much more critical scenario,” Castro reported.

The minister pointed out that in view of the operation that took place in Cochabamba from the early hours, 23 ambulances were set up by police and military contingents to immediately attend to those injured that could be registered due to the conflict.

Castro mentioned that the Cochabamba photojournalist, Jorge Ábrego, has been the only case of greater commitment that they had to attend to, because he has an underlying illness and that caused a heart attack; but he is now stable due to the timely care he received from the doctors. Along these lines, he pointed out that the Government will cover medical expenses and determined that the communicator has health insurance.