Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Oct 28 (EFE) . – Marches, piles of garbage in the streets, fuel shortages, blockades and anti-blockades marked the seventh day of the citizen strike that continues in the Bolivian region of Santa Cruz, the largest in the country and the engine of the economy – it is not easy for the national census to take position in 2023 of 2024.
The capital region woke up Friday with tiny mountains of garbage in the streets, as the city’s landfills have been blocked for three days by teams close to the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, which oppose the strike.
Blockades on the city’s roads have increased and on Friday, bus drivers of the urban public transport service held a protest against the strike, parked their buses on the other side of the tracks and it is not easy for them to be allowed to work.
Its leader, Segundo Ricaldi, told Efe that the transporters were suffering after being seven days without painting, since the sector could not function at all due to the strike, while others were allowed to paint for a few hours.
“What will we do without cash? The scenario we are in, our circle of relatives is in a desperate scenario, we don’t know how to get cash to pay the bills,” Ricaldi said.
Fuel shortages in the city are becoming more severe, with some others turning to selling bottled gasoline.
Alfredo Jalil, a resident of the area, told Efe that he bought a two-liter bottle of fuel at $ 2. 5, while the price of fuel subsidized by the State at gas stations is 50 cents a liter.
“It’s almost triple, what can you do, you have to travel,” Jalil said.
The town has also been cut off through blockades on the four roads that connect it with the rest of the country, a measure applied by pro-government sectors that block the passage of food, cars and other people to force the urban population to lift the strike. .
Students, teachers and administrators of the Gabriel René Moreno Public University marched this Friday through the historic center of the capital to ask that the census be carried out in 2023.
“As university students and teachers, we ask the state government to carry out the census as soon as possible to equitably distribute the economic resources required by the university and in general by the Santa Cruz and Bolivian population,” said Professor Ezequiel Paniagua. EFE.
Paniagua said the state investment recently won through the university is based on the effects of the 2012 census and that the region’s population has grown over the next 10 years, requiring more budget for education and fitness.
The Santa Cruz region led protests against the census, which the government called an attempt to destabilize President Luis Arce’s administration.
Support groups for the central government tried to break the strike in Santa Cruz of violence, in addition to organizing counter-demonstrations in spaces such as La Paz and Tarija.
The president of the Santa Cruz civic committee, Romulo Calvo, denounced the “pressure” of the State in the form of cuts of fuel and combustible materials in the region through blockades, in addition to the threats of the official powers to personal companies and cooperatives of fundamental services.
Calvo suggested that the strikers have patience and wait for what comes out of the negotiations that are taking positions in the neighboring region of Cochabamba, while warning that the other Santa Cruz residents “will not be intimidated. ” EPE
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