Militarize Bajo Paraguá

The oppressors continue to do their thing in territories that do not have a State presence. It is time for the Government to demonstrate coherence: either it protects nature and all Bolivians properly or sincerely protects land invaders, who are nothing more than irregular armed groups.

In the last few hours, an indigenous community in the Bajo Paraguá area, near the Noel Kempff Mercado Park, reported that about 50 people came to their land with sticks and stones, with the purpose of blocking to prevent the passage of a contingent of police. which led to arrests for land invasion and burning in the area.

The Chiquitano representative María René Álvarez was part of that commission and, for hours, her team of collaborators could not contact her.

The situation is too serious and recurring. The Las Londras case is in the collective memory, which occurred almost three years ago, in which journalists, agricultural workers and police were taken hostage and tortured by a group of armed and hooded oppressors, whose leaders and members remain in impunity. and they continue to operate in the same way in several provinces of Santa Cruz.

Now the aggravating factor is that this department is experiencing the worst environmental disaster in history. The forest fires caused have burned seven million hectares in its territory. The fire is now uncontrollable, not even the rain can put it down. Furthermore, the national, departmental and municipal authorities working to extinguish it have been reporting that, although the flames are extinguished in one sector, they discover that there are new burns in other surrounding places.

There were also complaints that drug trafficking groups prevented the fire from being extinguished in some areas. Firefighters, apart from risking their lives in the face of fire, must face armed groups that threaten them.

These are the evidence, others are the speeches, starting with those of national authorities who are determined to minimize the magnitude of the environmental disaster we are facing.

It is time for the national government, which has the power to provide guarantees for the security of all Bolivians, to assume a real, clear and frontal policy to put an end to these irregular groups, which deserve the maximum sanction for all the outrages that have occurred. committed in Santa Cruz territory.

To this end, the fact that these pushovers are mixed with interculturalists and peasants who claim to be from the ranks of the Movement Towards Socialism, some Evistas, others Arcists, should not be an obstacle.

The matter is very serious. Threatened police, an ambushed deputy, ambushed indigenous people and even displaced people from their territory should be more than enough to put an end to this problem.

The interest of Bolivians should be the highest priority of the Government, which already has to militarize the area, in order to capture the members of these irregular armed groups, which can get out of control and become terrorist factions.