(La Paz) The demonstrations which have lasted for 20 days in the region of Santa Cruz (center), stronghold of the opposition and economic engine of Bolivia which is calling for a population census, have left four dead and 178 injured, according to a report official presented Thursday.
Posted at 7:06 p.m.
There are “four people who died […]a case of gang rape […] and we have 178 injury reports,” Secretary General of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada told a news conference.
Only one death had so far been announced by the authorities, that which occurred on October 22 during the outbreak of demonstrations to demand an early census.
The census is used to recalculate the distribution of seats in Parliament and public resources. However, the region of Santa Cruz, the economic locomotive of Bolivia and the most populated, governed by the right-wing opposition, considers itself disadvantaged by an obsolete census dating from more than 10 years ago.
Two deaths are the consequences of street fights between pro-government supporters and opponents. The other two occurred in accidents on barricades erected to block roads.
The close associate of left-wing president Luis Arce urged the judicial authorities to “act quickly so that justice is done and that these events never happen again”.
The demonstrators demand that the census be carried out by 2023, while the government believes that the technical conditions are not met before 2024, a year before the next presidential election.
Government and opposition initiated a dialogue that failed this week.
The city of Santa Cruz, which has nearly 2 million inhabitants, is isolated from the rest of the country with roadblocks on all communication routes.
Because of these blockages, the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) decided on Thursday to put an end to the Closing Tournament, while there were still six games to play, and no championship title will be awarded. On the other hand, a classification has been fixed to decide the teams participating next year in the continental cups, the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, the European equivalent of the Champions League and the Europa League.