The Government of Bolivia prepares a new extension of the state of emergency

The Government of Bolivia announced that it will present a new decree to extend the state of emergency, according to Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo, who told local media in Cochabamba, ABC Color reported.

Oviedo said the procedure the Legislative Assembly will follow to consider the extension still needs to be defined. He also said there is citizen and parliamentary consensus to move ahead with the measure, according to that outlet.

On Thursday, the Justice Plural Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved a draft resolution to extend the state of emergency for 90 days in response to announcements of mobilizations by some social sectors and on the grounds of safeguarding the country’s economic reactivation.

According to ABC Color, lawmaker Alejandro Medinaceli, from the ruling Christian Democratic Party, explained that the initiative must first go through the full lower house and then through a joint session with the Senate convened by the Presidency of the Legislative Assembly. Those steps, he said, will take place next week.

The measure had been decreed on June 20 by President Rodrigo Paz, following agreements with sectors such as the Central Obrera Boliviana to break road blockades that lasted seven weeks between May and June. Those protests, driven by the Federation of Peasants of La Paz and the COB, also had the backing of groups aligned with Evo Morales.

According to ABC Color, the blockades caused shortages of food, fuel and medical oxygen in some cities. The conflict left at least 16 dead, 13 of them due to a lack of timely medical attention, in addition to economic losses of more than $3,000 million.

Sources

• ABC Color

About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.