Union leader “asked for weapons for war” and did so before a minister

The top leader of the “morning” merchants, René Troncoso, once again gave a fiery speech during a public act of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in Santa Cruz. In a video, which began circulating on social networks yesterday, Troncoso is seen asking the Minister of Public Works, Édgar Montaño, “weapons to go to war.” against the institutions that staged the 36-day strike. The union leader was summoned for today by the Public Ministry to testify for one of the processes that are being followed.

“Minister brother, convey to our president, the war has just begun and They have to give us weapons to go to war, because without weapons we are not going to go to war. We have to be prepared, just as they are prepared,” Troncoso said at the public event organized by the MAS urban regional office.

The union leader, who He had announced through a video that he was leaving the union leadership due to diabetes, He criticized that the Inter-institutional Committee and institutions such as the Cruceñista Youth Union (UJC) are being strengthened.

“For each mobilization they have 200 motorcycles, 20 trucks and rockets, and what about us?” questioned the representative of the street vendors who settled on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the ridge of the Barrio Lindo Fair.

The act was held last Monday in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and in addition to the participation of Minister Montaño, Parliamentarians from the government party also attended, like Senator Soledad Flores and Deputy Amalia Antonio.

“Today, I had the pleasant opportunity to share with my brothers from the urban regional office of Santa Cruz and its 15 districts plus Paurito, on these Christmas dates. It is always important to be with our bases, because they are a fundamental part of the political instrument, since it is thanks to the struggle that today we can live in a country with democracy and freedom of expression,” the Minister of Public Works wrote on his official Facebook account. along with photos of the meeting.

EL DEBER tried to contact the national authority, but until the closing of this edition did not answer the calls or text messages.

On October 21, Troncoso, when speaking at the council of sectors related to MAS in the capital of Santa Cruz, said that asked the national authorities to nationalize the Santa Cruz cooperatives and declare a state of siege, this hours before the indefinite strike is declared in the Santa Cruz region.

“We say to those loggers: no to unemployment. In this council we are going to make ourselves respected because the people rule, ”Troncoso said in his intervention before the people who had come to the vicinity of the Chiriguano monument on that occasion.

During the 36 days he was at the head of at least two mobilizations of merchants, in the first the column of marchers exclaimed: “Now yes, civil war”, and in the second, the mobilized clashed with the citizens at the blockade points, whose spiral of violence grew until it ended in clashes in the Chiriguano area.

After the strike was lifted, the “morning workers” from Troncoso, when trying to settle in the ridge, caused several clashes with the residents of the area and municipal gendarmes, and they even invaded private land where the rails used to move the train are located, in the area of ​​the Barrio Lindo fair and fourth ring.

Due to these facts, the Public Ministry has opened two complaints against Troncoso, one presented by the Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and the other by Ferroviaria Oriental.

In the complaint presented by the Santa Cruz commune, where the union leader is being investigated for the crimes of minor injuries and preventing or hindering the exercise of his functions, The defendant must appear today at 1:00 p.m. at the facilities of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) to give his statement.

The general director of Legal Affairs of the Municipal Government of Santa Cruz, Erwin Tapia, said that it seems that Troncoso has some type of protection so that the open processes do not advance in the expected time.

“When has it been seen that after illegal entry into a company like the railway, nothing is done afterwards? So it is very difficult to move forward with the protection that this person has. We are giving all the impetus, but progress is not being made because they don’t want progress,” said the legal representative of the commune.

Regarding the latest statements by the union leader, the councilor for Democrats, Manuel Saavedra, described him as a liar because he says he is ill, but attends political events to incite violence.

“Troncoso said he was sick, but hours later he was seen at a political act of the MAS, of those who protect him, calling again for violence. He is irresponsible for those statements, for encroaching on private areas, for invading public space, for inciting violence and we hope that justice will act, there are four complaints against him,” Saavedra said in time to recall that last week he supplemented his complaint against the leader and that he is waiting for it to be accepted.

In turn, the councilor for the Autonomous Community (CA), Juan Carlos Medrano, said that the Minister of Government, Eduardo Del Castillo, must take immediate action and apprehend René Troncoso because he is committing the crimes of armed uprising and attack against the State.

“He is inciting violence and war. All this in order to be able to subdue, violating the law, the legal norms and the ordering of the municipality of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, because it is looking to keep the green areas and public spaces”, he said.

The senator for the MAS, William Tórrez, believes that what Troncoso said was a “lapse”, but who should clarify this issue is the Public Ministry.

From the regional leadership of the MAS they reported that the union leader has no position in the political group.