August 8, 2022, 4:00 AM
August 8, 2022, 4:00 AM
The second inter-institutional strike for the census begins in 2023 and, on this occasion, the Government announced that it will use tractors to clear the roads and roundabouts that are blocked in the context of this protest. The Archbishop of Santa Cruz, René Leigue said that this would not have happened if the National Statistics Institute (INE) did its job.
“The fight that is being waged is not for one, it is not for a group, it is not political or for a group of people, it is for each one of us. This would not have happened if the laws had been followed, it is the only thing that we are failing. Ten years have had to work the census and it has not been done “, the prelate affirmed in his homily.
The vice president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Fernando Larach, assured that Nearly 95% of Santa Cruz institutions will abide by the measure, which will now be for 48 hours. “The strike is already coordinated; we have met with all the organizations, except those that have suffered extortion or have political affinity with the government”, he stated.
For their part, the Ministers of the Government, Eduardo del Castillo, and of Public Works, Édgar Montaño, set up their bases of operations to resist the measure and held meetings with social and union organizations. Saturday night, Del Castillo exhibited an agreement reached with the Santa Cruz November 16 Carriers Union. “This organization brings together almost all transportation in the city of Santa Cruz. They are requesting support, because they do not agree with the economic suffocation in the department”, he stated.
In addition, the departmental commander of the Police, Jhonny Omar Chávez, participated in that meeting. an aspect that was observed by civic leaders and the Interinstitutional Committee.
“Together with the Police, the Minister of Government should be in Las Londras and Guarayos, solving land problems and arresting kidnappers of journalists; they are armed criminals who threatened the police. They are roosters here in the city; go to the province, put on your pants and act where it belongs”, reacted Larach.
“I stay here, in Santa Cruz, because it is necessary to clean the avenues, in the fundamental road network. We are going to have tractors, heavy equipment, and I make our phone number available so that they can call us and do cleaning”said Montaño yesterday together with several neighborhood leaders who came to the offices of Bolivia TV, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
In this context, he assured that “the Police must do their job and the Justice must enforce the Political Constitution of the State”, he pointed out.
Last week, citizens affiliated with the Federation of Peasants of Santa Cruz staged at least six blockade points to demand land. That protest left the capital semi-isolated with millionaire losses, according to businessmen and ranchers..
Montaño said that this “cannot be compared to the strike” because the measure by the census, according to his calculations, will cause losses of US$64 million in two days of strike. Days ago, when the peasants’ blockade was active, Montaño indicated that Bs 2 million were lost due to the decrease in the collection of tolls by the Bolivian Highway Administrator (ABC). “It’s not the same,” he pointed out and, in fact, the police did not mobilize in the face of that protest that prevented free transit. There were citizen unblockings, injuries and at least two deaths.
During the meetings with the social sectors, neither Montaño nor Del Castillo referred to the census, but they claimed the right of people to work and circulate.
Yesterday afternoon, a group of citizen platform activists staged a rally at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer monument. announced the installation of common pots to support the fight so that the census is done in 2023 and not delay it any longersactivist Jessica Red pointed out.
EL DEBER visited the Abasto market yesterday, located on the Third Ring Road and Piraí Avenue. There was much more demand than usual. Leonora Tarqui sells meat and He noticed that there were many more people. After being asked if the attention would be maintained during the stoppage, she preferred not to answer.
Buyers went to stock up, taking forecasts of the 48-hour strike.
Fernando Pacheco, Secretary of Health of the Government, informed that for the days of strike (August 8 and 9) the entire health system is being activated, reinforcing emergencies with a contingency plan for any incident.
Pacheco anticipated that, despite the strike, transitory points will be set up so that citizens you can complete your vaccination schedule against the virus in various places in the city, in case you do not have a health center near your home.
Public agencies such as the Personal Identification Service (Segip), INational Taxes and the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (Inra) announced that they will work normally, as will the state-owned Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), that yesterday he had to reschedule several of his flights, precisely, for this Monday “due to weather conditions.”
The Viru Viru International Airport will serve national and international flights on a regular basis, as well as all its connections, the state company Bolivian Air Navigation and Airports (Naabol) announced yesterday. The private sector did not issue any statement, as it did during the strike on July 25when he endorsed the pressure measure.
As for municipal services, Mayor Jhonny Fernández announced that all services will be active, because “the municipal government will not abide by the protest.”
“It is enough that they are pressuring us; whoever wants to work has to work”, he encouraged the mayor this weekend. The authority met with several organizations to encourage the technical table that the INE plans to install on August 15 in Santa Cruz. The Government affirmed that the census process is being “socialized”, although until now the new census schedule has not been disclosed.
The great survey is an essential tool for the fiscal pact, a procedure established in the Law of Autonomies to allocate seats in the Legislative and economic resources of theto tax co-participation based on the number of inhabitants of each municipality and department. The next population and housing census was initially set for November 16 this year, but Decree 4760 postponed it until the first half of 2024, a year before the national elections.
The Government assures that the deferral of the survey was based on a “consensus” with governors, mayors and rectors of public universities. Of course, he assures that he activated a process of “technical dialogue” within the framework of Decree 2470 so that the INE sets the exact date of the consultation, a day between May and June 2024.
The rector of the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University (Uagrm), Vicente Cuéllar, pointed out that he did not find “the political will of the Government” to discuss the census. He recalled that since February, when there was no conflict, he sent notes to request information from the INE about the registration. “They never answered us”, affirmed the authority that presides over the Interinstitutional Census Committee. Cuéllar, together with the rectors of the public university system, met on August 4 with the Minister of Planning, Sergio Cusicanqui, and the specialists of the Institute “That day they have not given us any details of the census schedule, they only exposed generalities”, affirmed the academic authority.
During an interview with the program Qué Semana de EL DEBER-Radio, Cuéllar stated that the measure could be deactivated if the Executive authorities opened the dialogue so that the real reasons for the postponement of the census could be known and, thus, set up a “technical” table to establish the date of the survey.
The Government announced, when the plan was to carry out the census this year, that the census data would be processed in a year.either. With the new rescheduling, the results of that registration would be for 2025, the year in which the country will elect the President of the State.
MOBILIZATION
The civic in the provinces assure that they are going to paralyze activities in demand of the census in 2023. The MAS mobilizes to stop the measure.
SERVICES
The emergency services that are provided by the Government will be available. The Mayor’s Office will not abide by the strike.
