LA PAZ, Jan. 12. – Thousands of citizens from different sectors mobilized this Thursday in the cities of Trinidad and Tarija to defend democracy and oppose the coup attempts, while repeating the call for justice for the massacres committed during the validity of the 2019 coup. Telesur reports.
Arguing to defend the freedom of the Santa Cruz putschist Luis Fernando Camacho, supporters of the so-called Cruceñismo and the so-called Citizens’ Committees seek to destabilize the country, following the riots that began in October November 2019, Evo Morales was involved the fallacious argument that election fraud was not committed.
Camacho was pre-emptively arrested on December 28 for his leading role in the events, making him one of the defendants in the Coup I case, a trial in which former usurping President Jeanine Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Although it has been more than a year since Camacho, along with others involved, was alerted by the justice system, his moves appear to be slow, which could lead to the mobilization of right-wing and terrorist allies of the coup who want impunity for those involved. The first to hesitate are the accused.
Camacho, who was the head of the Santa Cruz Citizens’ Committee at the time, is being investigated for the crime of terrorism to the degree of authorship and had previously evaded a court subpoena four times.
Although his followers claim his detention is unlawful, it is covered by an arrest warrant issued by La Paz departmental prosecutors in October 2022, the attorney general’s office said at the time. Actually, Camacho should have been released earlier.
Prosecutors have argued that both he and other actors involved “usurped powers not equal to them, usurping public functions without this subject and his co-authors and accomplices being officials at all, much less demonstrating that he is an authority with the power to command members of the police force. “Two fundamental institutions of the country,” the release said, alluding to Camacho’s calls for repression in 2019 and his sponsorship of violence and paramilitary groups he sponsored, such as the so-called Cruceñista youth to Union, responsible for crimes and persecutions.
Now the rallies supporting the prosecution of Camacho and other perpetrators of gross human rights abuses are being carried out peacefully. In Tarija, Bolivian flags and the wiphala were waved in a show of unity against the destabilizing actions promoted by Santa Cruz’s self-proclaimed “citizenship,” Telesur reported.
The Central Obrera Departamental (COD) of this department led the mobilizations attended by thousands of people in defense of President Luis Arce’s government, the office was expanded.
COD Tarija President Carlos León stressed that various social and commercial organizations took part, noting that “the march serves in defense of democracy and as a call for justice for the deaths of Senkata and Sacaba”.
“All organizations of the department are speaking out ahead of the new events taking place in the country, especially in Santa Cruz,” added the union leader.
Several rallies were also held in Trinidad in support of the Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for Peoples’ Sovereignty (MAS-IPSP) government.
For their part, the Bolivian authorities have condemned the threats and attacks made by the coup leaders against journalists and communicators, particularly those broadcast by the state broadcaster in the Santa Cruz region.