Protesters Shot by Armed Civilians in Chaos Gripping Bolivia
Protesters Shot by Armed Civilians in Chaos Gripping Bolivia
(Bloomberg) -- The political chaos roiling Bolivia turned violent this weekend as supporters and opponents of ousted socialist leader Evo Morales clashed in the worst unrest since November.
Three protesters were shot and injured when armed civilians attacked and dismantled a roadblock set up by Morales’ supporters in the east of the country, Bolivia’s Human Rights Ombudsman said Monday.
Groups including labor unionists, miners and coca growers have paralyzed swathes of the countryside in Morales’s rural heartland with such blockades to protest delays to presidential and congressional elections. Bolivia suspended its vote again last month after the country suffered a spike in Covid-19 infections, ignoring objections from Morales’ socialist MAS party who say the delay isn’t legal.
“Most rural areas in the entire nation are blockaded and they’re blockaded by a variety of social movements,” said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivia-based think tank. “Rural people really have had enough. They don’t feel like they’ve been respected.”
Some civilian groups who want to keep MAS from getting back into power pledged to lift the blockades, raising the prospect of further violence.
Bolivia was already on course for its deepest economic slump in decades, and Fitch Ratings analyst Todd Martinez said the blockades could make this even worse by disrupting activity and hurting confidence. The economy will contract by 5.7% this year, according to Fitch, as the pandemic hits demand and prices drop for the country’s natural gas exports.
The first round of voting in the presidential and congressional elections is now scheduled for Oct. 18 rather than Sept. 6. It had originally been meant to take place in May.
Morales won a short-lived victory in last October’s election, but fled the country weeks later amid violent protests. Polls show his ally and former Finance Minister Luis Arce is one of the main contenders to win the upcoming vote.
President Jeanine Anez, a senator who took power after Morales quit, is also one of the three front-runners, as is Carlos Mesa, who was Morales’ strongest opponent in last year’s vote.
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