RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Pressure on the interim government in Bolivia is growing. Despite the military-controlled curfew, protests against the government’s measures in the fight against Covid-19 and the associated restrictions on freedom of speech and movement are increasing in the country. Leading members of the interim government blame ex-president Evo Morales, who is in exile in Argentina, and the Movement for Socialism (MAS) for the protests.
Since May 10th, protesters in K’ara K’ara in the south of the country’s fourth largest city Cochabamba have been blocking an access road to a landfill site, thus violating government regulations. The protesters are demanding the lifting of the curfew, the holding of presidential elections, and the resignation of the self-proclaimed interim president Jeanine Áñez and her Minister of the Interior Arturo Murillo. Violent clashes with the police occurred. Despite dialogue with government representatives, the roadblock continues. As a result, hundreds of tons of garbage have been left on the streets of Cochabamba. Murillo blamed the protesters for destabilizing the country and threatened them that they “will die either from the coronavirus or in prison for violating quarantine and restrictions due to the pandemic”.
Javier Issa, the government’s deputy Minister of the Interior announced at a press conference on Friday that “in the event of failure in dialogue, state force will be deployed”. Behind the mobilizations are well-known MAS leaders who, in the midst of the pandemic, are instrumentalizing the protests for their own political goals. “Our secret service has established that all these demonstrations are financed and coordinated by MAS members,” Issa said.
Although this is the largest protest to date in K’ara K’ara, it is far from being an isolated incident. In recent weeks, five other states have seen staged protests, in some cases on a massive scale, in the streets against the government and the quarantine measures. Due to the poor supply situation, people demand to be able to return to work or at least to be provided with food. The de facto government accuses the protesters of political motivations.
On an institutional level, the interim government finds itself under pressure. The Human Rights Commissioner, Nadia Cruz, lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court on Thursday because she believes that the de facto government’s decrees 4231 and 4232 are unconstitutional. According to Cruz, the government’s decision to introduce genetically manipulated seeds in Bolivia violates the right to food security. Furthermore, the measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic violate the right to freedom of expression and thus a fundamental principle of the Bolivian constitution.
Decree 4231 of May 10th provides for penalties for the spread of information “of any kind” that calls for insubordination or disobedience to orders of the interim president in the fight against Covid-19. According to Cruz, the vague wording could lead to arbitrary political action. Even Morales’ opponent and presidential candidate Carlos Mesa criticized the decree as an “authoritarian decision that violates fundamental constitutional rights”.
Cruz justified her decision to lodge a constitutional complaint by stating that only parliament has the constitutional authority to restrict fundamental rights in certain cases, with due regard for reasonability and prudence. Therefore, the executive may not decide such restrictions without prior consultation with parliament, she added. On the same day, as a result of massive criticism, the government withdrew the controversial decree and deleted the paragraph on the spread of information.
In early April, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had already reprimanded government orders against the pandemic for being incompatible with the constitution.
A dispute has also erupted between parliament and the de facto government over the new date for the presidential elections. While the government wants to further delay the elections, in early May the parliament had called for a date within the next 90 days. MAS,the party with a parliamentary majority, called for an online protest on May 10th in order to hold the elections as soon as possible.
Former Foreign Minister Diego Pary appeared before the press on Friday and accused the self-appointed interim president of “failing in the fight against Covid-19”. He admitted that he was in agreement with the quarantine measures, but that they “must be matched with social and economic aid for the people”. “The only thing this government manages to do is to blame MAS and Evo Morales for all failures in the country,” Pary said in response to criticism from the press. This was in response to a letter from the de facto government on May 12th to Morales, who is in exile in Argentina.
In the letter, the former president is asked to refrain from appealing to political violence and the division of the country. In addition, he and MAS’ top candidate for the presidency, Luis Arce, are accused of “wanting to regain power” and “defending the coca plantations in Chapare as a paradise for drug trafficking”.
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