Santa Cruz begins 24-hour strike and road blockade against the arrest of Governor Luis Fernando Camacho

The main civil organizations of Santa Cruza prosperous agricultural region in eastern bolivianbegan a 24-hour work stoppage and a road block this Friday, in repudiation of the arrest of the local governor and former presidential candidate Luis Fernando Camacho.

The measures, which began early on Friday, are a new episode of the crisis that began in 2019 with the resignation of the then president Evo Morales and they have as a background the desire for autonomy of the territory with respect to the national government, based in western La Paz.

SIGHT: Bolivia: Protesters burn the Santa Cruz Prosecutor’s Office after the arrest of Luis Fernando Camacho

“Departmental civic strike of 24 hours is declared starting at zero hours on Friday, December 30, 2022, demanding the immediate release of the governor of the department”said a resolution on Pro Santa Cruz Committeeagglutinator of these groups, after an assembly.

The president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, Rómulo Calvo, arrives at the headquarters of that regional entity to participate in the Assembly of La Cruceñidad after the arrest of Governor Luis Fernando Camacho. (EFE/Juan Carlos Torrejon). (Juan Carlos Torrejón/)

In addition, he reported that supports the decision of a provincial civic committee to block the roads that connect the region with the rest of the countrysupposedly to prevent new “kidnappings” of citizens, leaders or authorities of the department.

Hours beforethe Bolivian prosecutor’s office requested six months of preventive detention for the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camachowhile the legal team of the politician arrested on Wednesday, under the charge of “terrorism”, denounced obstruction of justice.

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camachowho was third in the 2020 presidential election, is detained in La Paz after the police captured him in Santa Cruz in an operation with tear gas that his relatives described as a “kidnapping” and in which, according to them, there were shots.

The governor of the Bolivian region of Santa Cruz, the opposition member Luis Fernando Camacho (c), enters the offices of the Special Force to Fight Crime in La Paz, Bolivia, along with plainclothes police officers. (EFE/Javier Mamaní).

If the prosecution’s request is accepted, Camacho would be sent to a jail in El Alto, a municipality near La Paz, Prosecutor Omar Mejillones said in the document, who warned of an alleged flight risk because the detainee “does not have a habitual address” and has “different passports.”

Mejillones indicated that, in addition to the terrorism charge, Camacho has several open processes for crimes such as breach of duty, resolutions contrary to the Constitution, drug trafficking, insulting patriotic symbols, discrimination and racism.

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The arrest is related to the 2019 overthrow of former President Evo Morales.from the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) party, the same organization as the current chief executive Luis Arce, an event for which the former president remains in prison jeanine anezaccused of orchestrating the blow.

That year, after a series of protests against alleged electoral fraud by Moraleswho had been in power since 2006, the Armed Forces withdrew their support and the ruler fled to Mexico thanks to the asylum offered by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

camachoformer leader of Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committeea conservative block that has led the demands for autonomy for years, came to ask for Morales’s resignation through a letter that he delivered at the presidential palace.

ACCUSATION AGAINST CAMACHO IS “INVENTED”

Earlier on Thursday, Camacho’s legal representatives denounced obstruction of justice after his arrestwhich has raised tension between the government and the politician’s base in the eastern region where there were violent protests.

“The Bolivian justice system, kidnapped by the MAS, does not allow our leader’s lawyers to Luis Fernando Camacho do the respective procedure to present an action for freedom”, dixed the governor’s team through his Twitter account.

In a video, one of his representatives, who did not identify himself, explained that The judiciary argues that it cannot receive the constitutional appeal because the headquarters of the prosecutor’s office in Santa Cruz was burned in a protest by supporters of the governora lawyer and right-wing civic leader, 43 years old.

Aerial view of the building and parking lot of the Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor’s Office after being set on fire during the protests carried out by supporters of Luis Fernando Camacho. (RODRIGO URZAGASTI / AFP).

However, hours later, deputy María René Álvarez, from the governor’s political alliance, we believesaid that the appeal had been filed in a court in La Paz.

After the arrest, dozens of protesters went Wednesday to the airport of the capital of the border department with Brazil and Paraguay to prevent him from being transferred by air to La Paz. Then they burned the prosecutor’s office and dozens of vehicles in its surroundings.

Supporters of the opposition leader from the Santa Cruz region, Luis Fernando Camacho, remain on the runway of the Viru Viru airport, on December 28, 2022. (STRINGER / AFP).

already with camacho In the Andean city, where the headquarters of the national government is located, his communication team published a statement in which the politician says that the accusations against him are untrue and that he is proud to be part of the fight for “freedom and democracy” in bolivian.

The prosecutor’s office has denied that the arrest was a “kidnapping” or that he was politically motivated, while Morales affirmed on Wednesday that the detention will bring justice after three years.

In response to the request for preventive detention, the former president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), second in the elections won by Arce, told Reuters on Thursday that the flight risk argued by Mejillones is “nonsense” and also rejected the main charges against the Santa Cruz governor.

“The figure of a coup d’état is invented, spurious and non-existent, much less the figure of terrorism”he declared.

Source: Elcomercio