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Social protests spread from
Cochabamba to La Paz
LA
PAZ, January 15.— Some 5,000 demonstrators in the
Bolivian city of El Alto, near to La Paz, have
demanded the resignation within 48 hours of
opposition Governor José Luis Paredes; the same
demand the coca workers are calling for in relation
to the Cochabamba governor, Manfred Reyes Villa.
 According
to EFE, the Federation of Neighborhood Juntas (FEJUVE)
and the Regional Workers’ Central (COB) in El Alto,
both close to President Evo Morales, led the
mobilization and a popular rally that resolved to
order Paredes to leave his post over his support for
autonomy in other Bolivian regions.
Nazario Ramírez, president of the FEJUVE, told EFE
that if the governor has not resigned by Wednesday,
neighborhood juntas and campesinos will decide on
measures in order to force him to do so.
The
protestors beat, burnt and strung up effigies
representing both Paredes and Reyes Villa.
The
mobilization brought traffic to a standstill for
several hours on the main 12-kilometer highway
between El Alto and La Paz.
Likewise, AFP reported that thousands of Bolivian
coca workers who are sympathetic to President Evo
Morales once again staged a peaceful protest this
Monday on the streets of Cochabamba, still shocked
by the violence some days ago that left two people
dead, to demand the resignation of opposition
Governor Manfred Reyes Villa.
Translated by Granma International |
