MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivian protests to continue until Law 1386 is repealed, protesters warn

Nobody has given President Arce the right to kill democracy, Calvo said

Bolivian protesters have warned their ongoing indefinite strike declared by the Pro Santa Cruz Committee will not be lifted until the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Congress) repeals Law 1386 on the Strategy to Fight the Legitimization of Illicit Profits.

Social leader Rómulo Calvo insisted Sunday before thousands of followers that the newly-passed piece of legislation has generated a social conflict nationwide because it entailed a “perverse intention of political persecution, of social control to subdue the population, gag people, leave them in misery and oppression.”

Calvo also pointed out that “our struggle continues, the resistance has to be orderly and sustained over time, the most important thing is to continue nurturing unity, the Bolivian people have shown that they are not willing to renounce democracy and freedom, that they will take to the streets to defend with courage.“

He also said it was the “beginning of the end, it was the murder of democracy, the beginning of a new state, of the Communist state, without freedom, without a future, they are poisoning democracy because they want a single party with a single thought. Do we want this for Bolivia?” Calvo asked the crowd.

Calvo also reminded President Luis Arce Bolivians were not just “the coca growers of the Chapare” or other specific areas in the country, that Bolivians were citizens from all over the country and that “no one gave him a license to kill democracy, let alone steal the present and future” of the population.

The social leader also warned that in addition to the laws already under criticism there was still another package of measures worthy of keeping an eye on to evaluate their repeal, such as “Law 1359 of Sanitary Emergency; Law 1387 on the Career of Generals and Promotions of the Bolivian Police; Law 1390 on Strengthening the Fight against Corruption; and Law 1398 of Trade Registry, as well as the newly-passed law on Economic and Social Development Plan 2021-2025.”