Bolivia: Arce holds “fruitful” meeting with unions after strike over anti-laundering law

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “We held a fruitful meeting with the Confederation of Workers Unions, in which the leadership of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz among others took part,” the president said on his social networks.

In the meeting, government officials explained the regulations and the process of economic reactivation proposed by the government. “We will continue to promote economic reactivation through internal demand,” Arce said.

For over a week, several groups in the country held a nationwide strike in protest of Arce’s government Law 1386, which established a national strategy to fight the legitimization of illegal profits.

Due to intense pressure from these sectors, the government finally submitted the repeal of the law to the Bolivian Congress, thus putting an end to the conflicts in the country generated by the strike.

“We have achieved this victory of the people, (but) it is only a battle, the struggle must continue,” said Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee chairman Rómulo Calvo in a press conference, while stressing that the strike has been “an instrument of struggle” and that “the resistance to totalitarianism must continue with this and other instruments”.

With respect to Calvo, the Santa Cruz Prosecutor’s Office has accepted the complaint filed against him by the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party for allegedly committing crimes of sedition and conspiracy against the government.

Santa Cruz and Potosí concentrated the majority of the anti-government protests. In Potosí a farmer died as a result of clashes between civilians and farmers, while in Santa Cruz there were several tense moments. Despite the announced repeal of the controversial law, protests did not cease in these regions.

The Bolivian government assured that it will work together with the relevant sectors on a new law against the regularization of illegal profits, the draft of which it expects by December.