The reelection of Juan Carlos Huarachi as general executive secretary of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) until 2024, divides the waters. Sosimo Paniagua, General Secretary of the Departmental Workers Central (COD) of Santa Cruz and representative of the factory workers, observed that Huarachi’s re-election has been determined in a national meeting, when according to the COB statutes, it must be in a National Congress where said election must be held.
Paniagua noted that, in this sense, the presence of Huarachias the highest authority of the country’s workers, is illegal and runs the risk that in a new national expansion another authority will be chosen.
In turn, the general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Bolivia, Toño Siñani, criticized Huarachi’s prorogation for a third term, something that damages the leadership structure of the workers, in time to warn that if it continues With this situation, the creation of a parallel COB that defends the interests of the workers and not that of the ruling party will be sought.
In this sense, Paniagua regretted that Huarachi is more concerned about the stability of the Government of Luis Maple and not by the workers that each time they see the quality of work worsen, while -according to their criteria- some COB leaders dedicate themselves to partisan work.
Along these lines, Siñani described the top union leader as being servile to the government of the day and to that of former president Jeanine Áñez, who endorsed her second term in the COB and in which they participated with a vice minister in the Ministry of Labor.
The Federation of Urban Teachers of La Paz is another sector that rejects the way in which the reelection for the highest position of the COB was carried out. René Pardo, representing the education sector in La Pazremarked that the validity of the leaders of the COB has ended, and that the legal thing was to convene an ordinary national congress.
Pardo specified that in the extended one -carried out in Cobija- on February 17, 2022, and which lasted until dawn on the 18th, the issue of re-election or election of new authorities It was not included in the agenda and that there were other issues to be addressed, such as the preparation of the 2022 petition, where the percentage of the salary increase for this management is included.
Huarachi’s opinion was sought, but the calls made were not answered. However, given the observations of the Single Trade Union Confederation of Rural Workers of Bolivia (Csutcb), which demanded his resignation in order to later call elections, Huarachi admitted that his mandate was extended with the endorsement of the Áñez governmentbut remarked that it was only a “legal process” and that the peasants were not organic.
management for workers
Siñani considers that the COB, in 2022, must work, if the Government does not, in coordinate with other institutions the fight against smuggling. An illegal activity that damages national enterprises.
For Paniagua, the issue of health and education must be added to this request because they are sectors that are lagging behind.