Amalaya the problem was only Jhonny

That the mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra has decided to go all out against the 48-hour strike called by the Interinstitutional Committee, which was formed in Santa Cruz to demand that the central government carry out the National Population and Housing Census in the first semester of 2023, has unleashed a crisis in the municipal government that not only affects Jhonny Fernández. It also has a negative impact on the already beaten national democratic system, and not just the local one, as many maintain, either due to ignorance or a political game that bets on showing Santa Cruz, once again, as the bad guy in the movie. An ignorance or a game that many feed, and not just Fernández.

Of course, for now, after the first repercussions seen in the Santa Cruz capital, the hardest hit is Fernández. It is enough to see the wave of indignation unleashed against him, whether on social networks or in the street, to which are added the first resignations of some of his closest collaborators and even the mayor’s own reactions that ceased to seem only signs of arrogance or triumphalism, to be perceived as signs rather of fear, not to say panic at the possible early closure of their management. It cannot be interpreted in another way, for example, the press conference called to denounce attacks against him, but pointing out his pregnant daughter as a victim.

But beyond the direct impact that the mayor is suffering, both in his image and in his management, already the target of a string of corruption complaints -to which is now added the one caused not only by his rejection of the strike, but by the mobilization of their bases and even of municipal officials to break the measure-, there is also the one that provokes in addition to the entire citizen and political movement that was reactivated in Santa Cruz to demand a Census in 2023. There is no doubt that with the unchecking of Fernández and its alignment with the strategy of the central government, which has kicked off the Census for 2024, the fight to bring it forward becomes much more difficult than it is now. And of course it also complicates the articulation of a national and not just regional pressure.

The only one that gains from this situation is the central government, which is not willing to give an inch, not even to dialogue and negotiate deadlines. It wins not only in its bet to postpone, for now, the Census for 2024, but also spaces in the dispute over power and territorial control in the capital of Santa Cruz, adding points to those already accumulated in the seizure of land and territory in other municipalities. crocodiles. Thanks this time to the restrained adhesion of Fernández, and not to the popular vote. A adhesion to which the MAS will not repay with gifts or political support in the event of a recall, but quite the opposite: it will take advantage of that and any other situation to hit Jhonny’s management even more, seeking to capitalize on this crisis and become local government.

An extreme not impossible, if we consider how the government party acts in its quest for total power and political control. A performance that finally affects not only Santa Cruz, but the entire country. That Fernández has not measured this impact, or that he demonstrates with his actions that he cares little about it, is inexcusable, although not surprising. Whoever says they are surprised is lying or has been living on Mars. Jhonny was a candidate and managed to seize local power thanks not only to the sum of votes (well or poorly done), but to a kind of underground alliances, created and consolidated between political operators and economic agents who are not interested in the democracy and even less the Census. Here lies the underlying problem, and not just in what Fernández does or does not do.