December 17, 2022, 5:15 PM
December 17, 2022, 5:15 PM
The death of a policeman, during an anti-drug operation yesterday in the Noel Kempff Mercado Park, provoked outrage and rejection of the neglect of protected areas in the country that are presumably taken over by armed groups dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal mining.
“#Bolivia and our #Protected Areas, taken over by criminal groups and drug traffickers. There is no strategy to fight drug trafficking. Drug trafficking has exceeded all spheres of the #Stategiven the complicity and cover-up of government authorities,” wrote Creemos deputy María René Álvarez.
His words coincide with the questions constantly made by the previous government administration, which despite being from the same party He does not hesitate to reproach the Minister of Government for “protecting drug trafficking.”
These are the effects of protecting drug traffickers. When instead of capturing criminals, they dedicate themselves to persecuting leaders, they neglect their main task, which is to provide security to the Bolivian people.
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) December 17, 2022
A few days ago, the former Minister of Government Carlos Romero denounced that since the Arce administration, illegal drug trafficking is protected and also seeks to implicate the leader of the MAS in this crime.
Romero said that in the coming weeks he will announce the routes that were created to traffic towards Paraguay.
Yesterday the death of 1st Sergeant Walter Huayhua Yujra was confirmed, in an anti-narcotics operation in the Noel Kempff Mercado Park. According to the report, On December 13, a patrol of the GIOE group made up of 10 police officers infiltrated the place.to carry out work of interdiction to drug trafficking, patrolling and raking.
Three days later, on December 16, while on patrol, at approximately 10:00 a.m., they were ambushed by people carrying firearms, who fired at the Felcn troops. The result was a dead policeman and a man of Colombian nationality.
On protected areas and in the framework of the approval of the General State Budget (PGE) 2023, the senator and environmental activist Cecilia Requena claimed that “more is spent on the presidential plane than on protected areas”.
“That as data to show the perverse allocation of resources that we have. It has become clear with several articles that we are scraping the pot. When it has been agreed that YPFB is going to securitize its future income,” lamented the parliamentarian.
Bolivia has 22 protected areas, including the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, which is located north of the department of Santa Cruz, with a small part in the department of Beni. This park was declared a World Heritage Site in the year 2000..