Sipe Sipe (Cochabamba), Oct 28 (EFE).- Climbing hills to throw large stones at the police and armed with dynamites and sticks, the followers of the former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2006-2019) complete a fifteen-day blockade this Monday of roads that intensified in the center of the country in defense of their leader against a possible arrest warrant.
The ‘evistas’, as those related to the former president and official leader are known, block roads, mostly in the central region of Cochabamba, to demand that the Government of Luis Arce stop what they consider “a political persecution” against Morales, for an accusation and investigation for human trafficking and statutory rape, for alleged “rape” of a minor during his Presidency.
Dozens of young people and women, mostly Quechua, guard the passage of transport and people day and night with sticks of more than one meter, according to EFE. At midday under the intense sun, they cover themselves with hats and when they see journalists, the men cover their faces. face with their shirts.
The streets are covered with brown stones from side to side, and the ‘evistas’ only allow people to pass on foot or on motorcycles, the latter must overcome obstacles or push themselves over the stones to continue the path.
On Friday the ‘evistas’ clashed with the Bolivian Police during an “unblocking” operation; the agents threw tear gas into the hills, but due to the height the protesters were not affected.
While the ‘evistas’ threw stones that rolled from above and threw dynamite, the explosives injured a police officer in the leg, who had to undergo surgery to have his limb reconstructed.
After the scuffle and the authorities removing stones with a tractor, the protesters returned to the road and intensified the blocking points, causing the police operation to fail.
Journalists who have come during these two weeks to report on the blockades in the Sipe Sipe and Parotani regions reported attacks by protesters, and some were hit with stones.
Morales’ defenders do not want to talk to local journalists and according to reports from the press unions, they are increasingly hostile to those who carry cameras and microphones.
In the Cochabamba region, the most affected by the blockades, the neighborhood and social sectors decided in a meeting to forcibly “unblock” the roads if the Government of Luis Arce does not act soon against the blockades.
And in cities like La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, fuel is scarce due to the obstruction of roads, and the lines at the gasoline and diesel pumps extend up to 10 blocks.
In the case of food, the situation varies by city, while in La Paz, chicken is scarce because it cannot be transported and the price of what is available rises, while in Santa Cruz, a region of great agricultural production, chicken cannot be transported. go out and there is an oversupply, which causes prices to drop and much of the product is ruined without being sold.
The ‘evista’ sectors announced that starting this Monday they will intensify their pressure measures, following Evo Morales’ complaint of an “attempted assassination” against him on Sunday morning.
Morales indicated that the Arce Government tried to assassinate him in an armed attack where his vehicle was shot 14 times and its pilot was injured with a bullet wound to the head.
However, the Minister of Government (Interior), Eduardo del Castillo, accused the former president of attacking with bullets a group of police officers who were carrying out a routine anti-drug control in the Tropics of Cochabamba, the political and union bastion of the coca grower leader and the ruling party. Movement to Socialism (MAS).
Del Castillo called Morales a liar and said that the videos he showed of the alleged armed attack are “edited.”
All this happens in the midst of a struggle for the Bolivian ruling party, and the distancing of President Arce and Morales for control of the MAS and the Executive.
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