November 27, 2024, 4:00 AM
November 27, 2024, 4:00 AM
While thousands of high-tonnage vehicles, interdepartmental service buses and trucks of different capacities made long lines at the city’s diesel pumps, the avenues that are part of the 23 kilometers of the Second Ring were taken yesterday by dozens of citizens upset by the crisis that hits the entire country.
The peaceful protest concluded with the dissemination of a manifesto that demands a total change in the country’s economic model, as well as the change of the helmsman with the “advance of presidential elections” which, however, will be held in nine months.
In fact, that document released at the end of the day, urges political parties bet on unity to achieve a change in the economic model.
“The cry we raise is not a cry of defeat, but of hope, which are the urgent changes that society is crying out for. Today we urge the opposition parties to unite for Bolivia, enough of seeking personal approval and forgetting about the people. “Today the new Bolivia begins!” reads in the referenced document to the upcoming electoral process.
The citizen protest was convened by leaders of several social organizations such as heavy transport, one of the sectors hardest hit by the lack of diesel, unions, as well as the same Committee for Santa Cruzwhich had been criticized by several political actors, in addition to the current governor Mario Aguilera and several personalities such as former civic presidents who joined the activity together with the rector of the Gabriel René Moreno University (UAGRM), Vicente Cuéllar, and other neighborhood institutions and the same leaders of the roundabouts who are preparing a town hall meeting for December 4.
Under the motto “For a new Bolivia”, the organizers highlighted, in the manifesto, the need for “a profound change” in public policies, pointing out that the current political model has led the country to economic dependence, stagnation and increased inequality.
In this document presented during the mobilization, emphasis is placed on “the elimination of the YPFB monopoly” and they demanded the opening of the hydrocarbon sector to private investment, promoting a competitive and sustainable market that guarantees fuel supply. In this context, they rejected the validity of Decree 5271, which authorizes private marketing of fuel, but only for one year.
“This damages confidence for investors, while evading the constitutional responsibilities of the State by transferring powers to the private sector without establishing guarantees for their correct implementation,” he says.
In this way, they demanded economic reforms that allow the economy return to the certainty of having dollars for transactions. Furthermore, they protested the increase in fiscal deficitan aspect motivated by the burden of salaries of public employees that the country bears, explained the rector of the Uagrm, Vicente Cuéllar during the mobilization that took place yesterday.
In this context, the document refers to the “advance of national elections”. The organizers consider that the government of President Luis Arce “has demonstrated an inability to administer the State”
At the closing of the event, the organizers stressed that this mobilization It is a call to hope and not an act of resignation. “Today the construction of a new Bolivia begins, a Bolivia that prioritizes the people and their future,” concluded the spokespersons for the protest.
Meanwhile, in the area of the Christ the Redeemer monument, citizens responded and came, with family and groups of friends. It was notable that at this point observed two groups of divided authorities in which attendees did not know which way to go to congregate and express their discomfort about the economic situation.
On the one hand, under the papal altar the representative of Creo, Richard Ribera, a group of his followers and a person who was on top of a truck was stationed as if directing the protest, even criticizing the civic leadership and calling for them to get rid of political colors. Next to the burned Prosecutor’s Office building were the representatives of the Committee, the Cruceña Parliamentary Brigade, in addition to the union and medical sectors.
The first vice president of the Civic Committee, Stello Cochamanidis, stressed that the Government managed to Citizens are in the streets demanding solutions to help the country, when it is “the Government’s obligation.”
“We made use of the right to protest in a citizen manner. Now we are working with all the institutions, which are legitimate, to seek unity and the right to demonstrate. It will not be the first action,” Cochamanidis emphasized.
Meanwhile, the former president of the pro-Santa Cruz Committee, Rómulo Calvo, stated that the response of the citizens was positive and with the message to the Government not to continue living “the agony of the crisis” and the refusal to continue standing in lines for fuel and the increase in food prices, in addition to the lack of access to the official dollar exchange rate. “The tables convened by the Government are sterile, its decrees do not lead to any port. This protest reflects the fatigue of the people of Santa Cruz and other measures will come,” Calvo told the newspaper EL DEBER.
For her part, the president of the Cruceña Parliamentary Brigade, Laura Rojasstated that assistance was given not by ideologies or parties, but for families, each person’s bread and the dignity of each worker that has seen the decrease in their daily subsistence conditions, especially in Santa Cruz where the entrepreneurial attitude predominates rather than the state canonries.
He indicated that the ‘Ring’ should not happen as an isolated act and that the Arce administration should listen to the message of the citizen who cannot wait any longer for solutions. “It is time to listen to the people, to put aside indifference and make decisions that restore economic and social stability,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the businessman from Santa Cruz Branko Marinkovicsaid that his presence in the mobilization was as a producer affected by the lack of diesel and dollars. He predicted that Santa Cruz will unite institutionally around the Committee, but that it cannot allow parallelism in the entities in the style of MAS.
Advance actions to unify the citizen clamor At this moment that is key.
“The crisis will deepen in the country, I do not believe that the Government will provide solutions, it is not in its chip and the protests will increase. We must keep the protests peaceful and move towards a democratic solution,” said the former civic president.
From La Paz, the Government ratified the principles of the economic model and listed several measures to overcome the complex economic moment.
In this panorama, the Minister of Economy, Marcelo Montenegro, confirmed that the fuel subsidy is guaranteed and will “shield” resources to guarantee subsidized fuelthrough initiatives that ensure foreign exchange with “a boost to exports and import substitution.”
“We are going to do all the work to, as we have always done, protect the resources for the import of diesel and gasoline or crude oil, if necessary,” he said in a press conference in which he explained and defended the content. of the General State Budget that budgeted Bs 15,156 million to subsidize hydrocarbons, one of the policies that was questioned in yesterday’s mobilization because that measure generated energy dependence and lack of dollars.
Among the initiatives to guarantee foreign exchange is the entry into operation in 2025 of the Mutún Iron Plant and the El Alto biodiesel plant, while in terms of exports there is the early sale of meat to Chile and chia to China, where Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa, she said, is fine-tuning details for an important quota.
According to YPFB data, More than 9 million liters of diesel are dispatched daily to resolve the demand for transportation and agroindustrial. “We guarantee that the national government will continue to support this subsidy,” the Minister of Economy remarked yesterday.
The Minister of Public Works, Edgar Montaño, later assured that “opposition politicians such as Vicente Cuellar, Romulo Calvo and Zvonko Matkovic are assuming “a destabilizing political measure” against the government after announcing the “Ring”.
“Rather, the population of Santa Cruz should pressure for the Legislative Assembly to approve the credits. Why don’t they complain against Evo Morales? He is the one who has blocked the entry of diesel for 24 days. “They don’t say anything to him,” claimed the minister, who accused the organizers of generating the conditions of violence for interrupt the constitutional mandate of President Arce.
Representatives of professional institutions came out peacefully to express their rejection of the way the country’s economy is managed.
The Minister of Public Works sees a destabilizing interest and complained to the organizers for not requiring parliamentarians to approve the credits that are accrued.
The manifesto urged the parties to search unit and stop looking at individual interests to project the future.
