Cuéllar: “If the president did not dare to define the date (of the census) it was because he was aware that the INE had nothing”

One day after President Luis Arce announced that March 23, 2024 had been determined as the definitive date for the Population and Housing Census, the representative Inter-institutional Committee for the Promotion of the 2023 Census, Vicente Cuéllar, was interviewed in “What a Week!” of EL DEBER Radio, where assured that before starting the technical tables in Trinidad (Beni) last weekend, the Government only had two options to define the census query: October 2023 (which was the proposal of the Santa Cruz delegation) and March 2024.

Cuéllar explained that at the national meeting to find a solution to the conflict held on October 28 in Cochabamba, the delegations from Beni and Pando explained the need for the survey is not carried out in the last months of the year for chestnut harvesting.

“Initially, we thought that there were only a few, but in reality they informed us that they were entire families. Therefore, the Government was conditioned to take two alternatives: do the census on October 18, 2023, as we (the Santa Cruz delegation) proposed after making some adjustments or March 2024Cuellar explained.

Likewise, the rector maintained that “if the president (Luis Arce) he did not dare to define the date, it was because he was aware that the INE had nothing. In Trinidad we were able to show that the INE had not made any progress. I don’t know if they withheld information from Arce. With the technical tables, the only thing they managed to do was gain time to work quickly on a proposal that we still don’t know about.”

According to the principal, If now the Government has dared to set a date, it is because it already has a parameter for the Population and Housing Census to be carried out.

“That is why I say that those who won from that technical table were the INEin these they were able to collect the supplies to correct the great deficiencies that they had in their technical proposal”, explained Cuéllar.

Regarding the town hall, scheduled for this Sunday night, Cuéllar avoided giving explanations. He said that the convener is the Pro Santa Cruz Committee and the person in charge of the organization, but he did express his fears about what could happen after the violence unleashed this Friday.

Santa Cruz celebrates this Saturday its 22nd day of indefinite unemployment, the longest and most radical measure in its history. The expectation is set in this call after Arce’s announcement that the census will be held in 2024 and not in 2023 as requested by this strike, which was also determined in another council, that of September 30.

Since the start of the indefinite strike due to the 2023 census in Santa Cruz, two dialogue tables and a technical table have been installed. The first two took place in the capital of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, respectively. The last one was a technical meeting with the INE, in Trinidad.