Several thousand supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who began a march on Friday to protest against the economic crisis and demand the resignation of President Luis Arce, arrived in La Paz on Monday, AFP noted.
“We want the government to resolve the crisis once and for all, to regulate the price of the household basket,” said Leonardo Loza, a senator from the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) close to Evo Morales.
He estimated that “more than 5,000” marchers left Friday from the town of Patacamaya, about 100 km south of La Paz. Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, for his part, estimated that the march “brings together around 2,300 people”.
The demonstrators intended to gather at the Place d’Armes, seat of the presidency and the Assembly, but dozens of riot police took up positions there, blocking the entrances.
“Let the government leave because it offers no solution to the crisis and the economy is in tatters,” Rodolfo Machaca, also of the MAS party, the party whose Evo Morales and Luis Arce is competing for leadership with a view to the presidential nomination next August.
According to official data, inflation reached 9.9% in Bolivia 2024, the highest in 16 years, while fuel and dollar shortages affect the entire country. The government subsidizes fuel imports, which has dried up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
According to Minister Del Castillo, three police officers were injured “in an ambush” on the route taken by the demonstrators. He also claimed that two tourist buses were attacked with guns and two people were injured.
This is the second march undertaken by supporters of Evo Morales after a first in September, in which the former head of state participated.
But since then, targeted by an arrest warrant, the former president (2006-2019) remains holed up in his stronghold in the center of the country where the local police refuse to cooperate with the prosecution. The latter accuses him of “human trafficking against a minor” with whom he allegedly had a daughter in 2016.
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