Largest Bolivian region tries to return to normality after 36 days of strike

The citizens of Santa Cruz, the largest region bolivianwere trying to return to normality after the strike that lasted 36 days and was suspended this Saturday after a bill on the population and housing census was approved in the Chamber of Deputies.

The announcement of the suspension of the strike was made known after noon by the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Rómulo Calvo, before which many people left the street blockades where they have kept vigil daily since last 22 october.

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Some people left the rubble, flags, wires, branches and garbage bags used to blockade on the site, which was not an impediment for cars and motorcycles to return to the streets of Santa Cruz, capital of the region of the same name, according to EFE. .

Other neighbors did remove these elements, either with brooms or by moving them to the edge of the sidewalks to finally allow the free movement of vehicles and people.

Santa Cruz, the largest region and economic engine of Bolivia, celebrated 36 days on strike this Thursday. (EFE/ Juan Carlos Torrejón/)

DISCONFORMED

The approval of the norm in the Lower House left some Santa Cruz with little taste, since the initial objective of the strike was not achieved, which was that the census be carried out in 2023 and not in 2024, as defined by the Government of Luis Maple.

“The strike leaves much to be desired, at first it was for an objective, the census in 2023, and then it was dissolved, things changed and it ended up being to enact a law,” Harold Vaca, a neighbor who He lives in the center of the city of Santa Cruz.

Vaca considered that the conflict “could be avoided from the beginning by enacting the law” and, in his opinion, Santa Cruz had profits and losses.

“It is a bit of both, because somehow Santa Cruz put pressure, made itself seen, made itself heard through the strike and on the other hand it also lost a bit because the idea was not that (…) it was the census in 2023 ″, he indicated.

Photograph of a blockade in a street, in Santa Cruz (Bolivia). (EFE/ Juan Carlos Torrejón/)

According to local media, a group of masked people supposedly dissatisfied with the suspension of the strike came to Rómulo Calvo’s house to throw stones and set off firecrackers.

Other radical groups refused to lift the blockades and are demanding that the civic leaders call a council to define whether or not to suspend the strike.

COUNT

The census was to be carried out this month, but in July the government of Luis Arce postponed it until 2024 arguing “technical problems”, which provoked the protest, especially in Santa Cruz.

Several days of the strike were marked by violent clashes between sectors related to the Government that rejected the protest and the groups that complied with it, which also accused the Police of acting with bias in favor of the pro-government supporters.

Several people remove rubble that was used to block the street, in Santa Cruz (Bolivia). (EFE/Stringer/)

This week the leaders of Santa Cruz accepted that the survey be carried out in 2024, acknowledging that the regional proposal to do it in 2023 was no longer “technically” sustainable due to the expansion of the conflict, which was finally resolved with the approval this morning of a law that must now be be considered in the Senate.

When announcing the suspension of the strike, Calvo affirmed that “democracy won” and that there is no longer only “a petty and uncertain decree”, but that a law on the census was achieved.

He also announced that the people of Santa Cruz will monitor the actions of the national government until September 2024, when the redistribution of state resources is planned based on the results of the census, and the 2025 elections.

Source: Elcomercio