MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia: Evo followers keep blocking roads and seize one airport

Bolivia: Evo followers keep blocking roads and seize one airport

Blockades by supporters of former President Evo Morales are disrupting the transport of 346 fuel tankers carrying 8.9 million liters of gasoline, diesel, and LPG, forcing them to use alternate routes.

These actions, primarily in Cochabamba and Oruro, are part of protests demanding President Luis Arce Catacora's resignation and supporting Morales' candidacy. In Arica, Chile, 60 million liters of fuel (20 million gasoline, 40 million diesel) have begun unloading for shipment to Bolivia, but the blockades and a recent storm have delayed distribution, causing long queues at pumps.

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is coordinating with authorities to use alternative routes and increase pipeline deliveries to mitigate the issue.

Additionally, over 1,000 Morales supporters violently seized the Chimoré airport in Cochabamba, damaging infrastructure. Minister of Public Works Edgar Montaño condemned the takeover and Morales' actions, accusing him of causing economic losses.

Despite these disruptions, Bolivia passed its second International Civil Aviation Organization audit, maintaining its category 1 status for international flights.

”More than a thousand people of the Evo Morales wing have violently taken, for the second time, the Chimoré airport (...). They have broken padlocks, entered the airport and obviously caused damage in this airport,“ Public Works, Services and Housing Minister Edgar Montaño explained while referring to Morales as ”the enemy of all Bolivians,“ who ”is making us lose economic resources.”

On a brighter note, he highlighted his country's passing the second audit of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which guarantees the category 1 status. “Luckily, we passed the second ICAO audit, which guarantees all Bolivians to fly anywhere in the world. Now, the envious of the evista wing will not be able to say that we are going to enter the black list, that we are going to lose category one,” he argued.