The governor of Santa Cruz, the Bolivian city where the protests for the celebration of the census in 2023 are concentrated, has demanded this Friday to the departmental commander of the Police «not to protect shock groups» of the ruling party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), which has carried out violent acts.
In response, commander Jhonny Chavez has asked to lower the tension between the demonstrators and the police. «At this moment, violence generates more violence, the Police will comply with its constitutional mandate. I have agreed with the brother governor that we are going to lower the tension to avoid human losses», he assured according to the local media ‘El Deber’.
Likewise, he has assured that the work of the corps is to «contain» the demonstrators for the census and those in favor of the MAS, a work he has assured to be fulfilling. Chavez has committed to investigate any of these actions with the specialized units and has asked the population to let them pass when they are deployed.
On the contrary, Governor Luis Fernando Camacho has regretted that there have been arrests of young people and that, on the contrary, they are accompanying the «violent groups of the MAS» who have vandalized and destroyed houses and buildings in their protest this Friday morning.
Minutes before these declarations, the installations of the Single Union Federation of Peasant Workers (FSUTCB) had begun to burn, where, according to the same media, hooded people, supporters of the Government, who had been the protagonists of violent scenes in the morning, were taking refuge. The police guarded the access to the institution, but it was overrun by the demonstrators for the 2023 census, who set it on fire with firecrackers.
Afterwards, another group headed towards the headquarters of the Central Obrera Departamental (COD) of Santa Cruz, allied to the Government party, where another police contingent was located. The agents used tear gas in order to push them back, and some witnesses denounced police abuses in which several young people were allegedly assaulted.
