MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Situation getting critical in parts of Bolivia due to Evistas' road blockades

“The humble and indigenous peoples continue to be the vanguard of struggle,” argued Morales

Road blockades by supporters of former President Evo Morales have caused food shortages in 32 hospitals, homes and shelters in 4 departments across Bolivia, it was reported Thursday. Ombudsman Pedro Callisaya Aro said the situation affecting at least 14 healthcare facilities as well as several shelters running out of supplies was “alarming,” particularly for children and adolescents, the elderly and hospitalized patients.

“We have carried out an ombudsman verification in 32 centers that have to do with homes, shelters for the elderly, homes for children and adolescents, and second and third level hospitals in four departments. The results are really alarming,” the official explained.

In the case of Cochabamba, situations were identified such as those of the San José home, where they no longer have dry rations of rice, the meat supply is about to run out and they do not have milk and oil to feed the elderly who live there. In the El Buen Pastor home, also in the department of Valluno, they have no fruit and the vegetable stock is about to run out, added Callisaya, who went on to described other specific critical situations.

In this scenario, he called on the parties involved to find a solution. “We, as the Ombudsman's Office, are going to bet on the establishment of these spaces for real, sincere, transparent and public dialogue. Not only with the invitation to a public conversation session in a certain place, but generating the conditions for this dialogue to take place effectively. Otherwise, the open call becomes a mere formality,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Morales insisted on social media that the 11-day blockades were part of an indigenous rebellion against the economic crisis. “The blockades and protests taking place in several national highways are a rebellion of the indigenous movement, accompanied by the legitimate social movements and with the support of their bases, to defend the homeland from its serious economic and institutional crisis,” he stated.

He went on to argue that “the humble and indigenous peoples continue to be the vanguard of struggle, as they were in other stages of history such as independence, the recovery of democracy and the defense of the democratic and cultural revolution.”

Morales' detractors maintain that the actual goal was to guarantee impunity for Morales in the trafficking case against him in Tarija.