MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia repeals controversial Law 1386

Minister María Nela Prada made the announcement Tuesday evening

Bolivia's Parliament finally voted in favour of repealing Law 1386 Tuesday afternoon, which resulted in a general strike called for in Santa Cruz and Potosí being lifted, although some demonstrators wanted to go after additional demands.

“The incumbent president, brother David Choquehuanca, has just signed [it] into law; therefore, as a national government, we announce that Law 1386 has been repealed and that the law that repeals it, 1409, is already published in the Official Gazette of the Plurinational State of Bolivia,” Presidency Minister María Nela Prada announced Tuesday evening during a press conference.

President Luis Arce had announced Saturday that Law 1386 was to be repealed, after meetings with different leaders and Government officials who raised objections to four of the Law's seven provisions.

Demonstrators had launched an indefinite strike until the repeal of the Law became effective and was published in the Official Gazette.

The Upper House Tuesday unanimously agreed to repeal Law 1386, on the National Strategy to Fight the Legitimization of Illicit Profits and Financing of Terrorism.

The bill to repeal Law 1386 had been passed by the Lower House earlier Tuesday, after which it was sent over to the Senate.

Demonstrators had agreed to keep up the strike and press for another package of laws to be repealed as well as the reinstatement of the 2/3 rule for parliamentary debates.

After that decision, Government sources said President Arce's administration believed the actual goal of the pressure against Law 1386 was to stir up the country's political scenario with ulterior motives. Demonstrators had split into two groups in the early hours of Wednesday: those who agreed to lift the strike and those who wanted to keep it up.

Earlier Tuesday, there were several incidents as the House of Deputies discussed one of the controversial paragraphs within Law 1386, which was deleted, thus clearing the way for the approval of the entire bill, albeit without support from opposition parties.