April 28, 2023, 7:15 AM
April 28, 2023, 7:15 AM
The blockades of highways, avenues and streets scheduled for yesterday, Thursday, by the country’s trade unions were sporadic and in many cases did not come to fruition because an emergency meeting of The national leadership resolved on Wednesday night, an intermediate room until the Government formalizes in writing the withdrawal of bill 280 on terrorism, as Vice Minister Jorge Silva pointed out. In the Legislative they affirm that the norm is only suspended and that the designers must carry out the withdrawal process.
“The federations requested that a fourth intermission be decreed in the blockades because the president (Luis Arce) would have publicly committed to withdraw bill 280. The interim period will be until the government demonstrates with a document, but the state of emergency is not lifted, which means that we will continue to mobilize if the president does not show the documentation of having officially withdrawn the bills”, the national executive of the unions, Jesús Cahuana, informed this medium.
On Thursday, the blockade of some borders and interdepartmental highways, in addition to urban centers, was scheduled. However, Yesterday morning there was normality and mobilizations in the cities of Cochabamba, La Paz and Potosí. In Santa Cruz there were sporadic blockades that lasted until 7:00 p.m.
Édgar Álvarez, union leader of Santa Cruz, pointed out that there was a “different and innovative” protest, other than a civic strike to avoid inconvenience and harm to the population. “Different blockade points were carried out that did not cause harm to the population, but we did make ourselves heard in the protest and in the rejection of these bills that are harmful and detrimental to society.”
He described the measure as “successful” and announced that This Friday there will be a march with a part of the merchants of the Barrio Lindo Fair. Álvarez added that the people of Santa Cruz will continue to mobilize until it is shown that bills 280, 304 (which has already been withdrawn) and 305 are withdrawn. He reported that a national enlargement will decide the following measures.
Suspension or withdrawal of the 280
On Tuesday, the Vice Minister of Defense of User and Consumer Rights, Jorge Silva, reported that State President Luis Arce ordered at least 20 days ago the “withdrawal” of bill 280 of “strengthening the fight against the legitimization of illegal profits” in which the Government proposes raising the penalty for terrorism from 20 to 25 years in prison. The proposal has two articles, but modifies the Penal Code with a legislative development, precisely, regarding the scope of this crime.
“Inform them that by order of President Lucho Arce, this bill has been withdrawn from the Plurinational Legislative Assembly exactly 20 days ago, therefore, there is no package of laws. Bill 280 is not currently in the assembly as long as the socialization process is not finished,” said the official.
However, since the Legislature reported that the project was only suspendedIn other words, its treatment can be activated at any time and only designers can carry out the withdrawal process in writing.
The deputy of the MAS Ninoska Morales explained that the norm It is suspended until the Executive fulfills the commitment to disclose the legislative initiative with all the sectors involved and possibly affected by the modifications of the Penal Code.
“Project 280 would have to be withdrawn by the Minister of Economy and Justice who are the designers of this law. It has not been withdrawn and for now it has been suspended for socialization with the sectors. Law 280 cannot be addressed until the law is fully socialized and that can take a long time. We have socializing more than 100 laws, this may be one of the laws that can never be definitively socialized with the acceptance of the sectors. We cannot deal with it or work on it in a Commission, let alone reach a plenary session”, the parliamentarian clarified.
According to the procedure, the designers must present the minutes of “socialization” before the Legislative Assembly to verify that all sectors have been summoned and that there is acceptance of the regulations to be dealt with.
The deputy of Comunidad Ciudadana Miguel Roca recalled that on April 6 when the Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, had to appear to defend his proposal before the Constitution Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, he only requested the suspension and there was no way to vote for the withdrawal of the norm as requested by the trade unions through a letter that was read by the opposition parliamentarian.
“If you remember the session ended a bit conflicted because (the deputy Juan José) Jáuregui closed the session very suddenly because we demanded that they vote for the withdrawal to archive it, “explained Roca and said that the suspension is temporary because it can be dealt with at any time by the MAS” between roosters and midnight ”.
The President of the Senate, Andrónico Rodríguez, suggested to the Government to evaluate if it is opportune to promulgate project 280 against terrorism. “It is important to listen to the demands or suggestions that unions have,” he emphasized.
Observations
The explanation phase of the contents of bill 280 with various sectors continues. In that framework, yesterday Vice Minister Jorge Silva and his partner for Pensions and Financial Services, Iveth Espinoza, arrived in El Alto to develop the second expanded with the Alto unions.
The union leader close to the MAS, Rodolfo Mancilla, pointed out that They have observations on three modifications of articles proposed by bill 280 in your second article.
“There are some (modifications of) articles 71, 133 and 185 that must be withdrawn. Although it is true that Gafilat, an international body, asks all governments to sanction terrorism, drug trafficking and illicit profits, then we fully agree and mobilizations cannot be criminalized with jailyou can’t threaten with confiscations either,” said the leader.
The observations of the altos focus on the modifications to the Penal Code son Confiscation of Assets and Resources (Article 71 Bis), Terrorism (Article 133) and Legitimation of Illicit Gains (Article 185 Bis).
The merchants proposed an alternative wording of the three crimes and they asked the authorities to respect articles 47 and 334 of the Political Constitution of the State and Law 1455 for the Protection of Retailers, they also asked to guarantee not to criminalize the protest.
