Bolivian government and subnational authorities to analyze economy and health

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Deputy Minister Ruiz said he expected the governors of the country’s 9 regions to attend the meeting to be held on Tuesday morning at the Casa Grande del Pueblo, the country’s seat of government.

Ruiz said that this meeting will help to improve coordination at all levels, a request of Bolivia’s president Luis Arce.

The two topics to be analyzed are the economic reactivation, the Economic and Social Development Plan, a policy challenged by several sectors for allegedly contravening autonomies, in addition to the national vaccination plan, as well as the strengthening of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Let’s hope that this forum will allow us to achieve important levels of coordination,” Ruiz emphasized.

He added that the subject of federalism, which has been proposed by opposition leader and governor of the eastern Santa Cruz Luis Fernando Camacho, will not be addressed.

A week ago, Comunidad Ciudadana opposition deputy Alberto Astorga advised Camacho against attending this meeting in La Paz for fear of being arrested, following the arrest of the former Potosí civic leader Marco Antonio Pumari.

Camacho is one of the main defendants in the “coup d’état” case, an ongoing investigation due to a complaint filed by a former deputy of the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), in which he is accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy for events in the 2019 political crisis.

There is a 6-month preventive detention order against Pumari in the Uncía prison in northern Potosí issued last Saturday as part of the investigation into the burning of a departmental electoral court and a patrol car in 2019.

Bolivia’s president Luis Arce was due to head the Autonomy Council meeting, but on Monday he traveled to Cuba to take part in the 20th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), which will address issues such as the bloc’s response to the pandemic and economic matters.