By Jorge Petinaud Martinez
Chief correspondent in Bolivia
While the Technical Commission for the Population and Housing Census is on track according to official sources, protagonists of the coup that forced the resignation of former President Evo Morales three years ago are announcing further pressure measures.
“We work in a friendly atmosphere with a fruitful professional exchange. It’s quite a heated debate at times, but the general climate is pleasant, with a broad willingness to engage in dialogue,” affirmed Deputy Minister for Planning David Guachalla.
He reported that after installing the work team on November 5, with the task of setting the date of the census exercise, in 10 hours of work, 350 of the more than 700 activities included in the schedule of the previous phases were prepared by the National Institute of Statistics (INE ).
Guachalla accused the rector of the Autonomous University Gabriel René Moreno, Vicente Cuellar, of looking for an excuse to leave the Technical Commission.
He based his suspicion on the behavior of Cuellar, who after a two-hour break said that he was leaving the meeting because he had not been given the documentary evidence of the work carried out by the INE.
An hour later he returned to the facilities of the Autonomous University of Beni José Ballivián, where the Commission is meeting to deliver a letter to the Minister for Development Planning, Sergio Cusicanqui.
In it, he requested “a simple photocopy of the detailed proposal and full documented timetable prepared by the INE for conducting the census,” as well as information on the budget earmarked for carrying out each of the activities.
Referring to the issue, Presidential spokesman Jorge Richter warned that “they are there to screw up, to tarnish and to politicize, look at the statements they have been making all along, people like the rector ( Vicente Cuellar) as Mr (José Luis) Santisteban who is accredited”.
The spokesman added in statements to public broadcaster Bolivia TV that these people use these spaces to speak politically.
During a recent public intervention, Santa Cruz Gov. Luis Fernando Camacho addressed “Dr. Cuéllar,” warning him that anyone who backs down regarding the 2023 census and the Santa Cruz indefinite strike “will face a civilian death in Santa Cruz.” ‘ and is considered a ‘seller’ to the government.
According to Richter, the delegation from the Santa Cruz Inter-Agency Committee is trying to “create delays in the work of the commission” in order to prevent “a consensus on a final date” for the national survey.
According to him, the aim of these measures is to “further aggravate the conflict in the days that follow” in order to achieve the main objective of “undermining the constitutional order”, as happened in November 2019.
COUP REARTICULATION
At the same time, on November 5, in support of the strike, five representatives of civic committees from La Paz, Tarija, Pando, Oruro and Beni arrived in the city of Santa Cruz and met with the President of this unelected structure from Santa Cruz, Romulo Calvo.
In the end, Calvo announced at a press conference that all these actors in the November 2019 coup will promote a nationwide strike starting on November 7th.
Other actors in this coup spoke in the same vein, such as the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy, the Yunga coca farmers, the speakers of the National Medical College and the International Heavy Transport Chamber.
For their part, MPs from the opposition parties We Believe and Citizen Community threatened to prevent President Luis Arce from delivering his speech to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly to mark the second anniversary of his arrival on 8 55 percent of the vote for the presidential chair.
Regarding the coup plans, the presidential spokesman pointed out that according to the alleged specification of the “census procedure, there is an interest in undermining the constitutional order” because these areas of power “feel pushed back by the validity of the plurinational state” and want to restore the old republic.
However, Richter warned: “Anyone who wants to subvert the constitutional order must know that unlawful behavior always has consequences.”
He confirmed that the government would not allow the November 2019 coup to be repeated because there were “a set of rules” that would be enforced.
arb/jpm