Bolivian government annuls controversial law and asks to suspend strike and blockades

The Bolivian Government promulgated this Tuesday the norm that annuls Law 1386, which nine days ago led to an indefinite strike of merchants, transporters, civic committees and sectors of opposition to the Government, who had indicated that said regulation violated citizen freedoms.

The Minister of the Presidency, Marianela Prada, reported that the incumbent president David Choquehuanca “has signed and promulgated” the rule that repeals Law 1386 on the National Strategy to Combat the Legitimation of Illicit Profits and Financing of Terrorism.

The cancellation procedure announced last Saturday by the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, Absent for a trip to Brazil, this day was consummated in Parliament, first with a session of the Chamber of Deputies in the early morning and then in the Senate, which discussed the matter throughout the day, to be ratified by the Executive.

Prada also pointed out that the abrogation law is already published in the Official State Gazette, a requirement that the sectors mobilized to lift the protests have demanded.

Repeal in Parliament

The parliamentary debate engulfed the ruling party and opponents for several hours in observations regarding the “explanatory statement” of the rule for the annulment of Law 1386, which established that this step was taking place before the gesta of a “second coup d’état” and misinformation which they attribute to sectors of the opposition.

The opposition Citizen Community (CC) and Creemos rejected these statements, considering that the main problem was the lack of “socialization” of the content and the haste that the governing Movement for Socialism (MAS) often applies, which has a majority in both Chambers, to pass laws.

In an appearance before the media after the Senate session, the president of the Upper House, Andrónico Rodríguez, affirmed that “there would no longer be any reason” for some sectors to continue mobilizing and holding protests.

The procedure continued with the presidential promulgation and concluded with the publication in the Official Gazette of the country, as explained by the Minister of the Presidency.

Protests still standing

Despite the repeal of Law 1386 announced by the Government, the protests have continued this day in regions such as Santa Cruz, the main stronghold of the Bolivian opposition and the country’s economic engine, the capital, Sucre, Cochabamba and Potosí.

While some sectors such as transporters and merchants have indicated that they would lift the pressure, others such as civic committees and opposition platforms have added demands that point to the annulment of other laws and the replacement of the two-thirds vote in the legislative debates of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

“The people demonstrated against 1386, but not only because of it, but because of a package of laws,” Luis Fernando Arias, a representative of the medical sector of Santa Cruz, who complied with the ninth day of the strike, told Efe.

For this Wednesday, both sectors of the opposition to the Government and related organizations have announced marches and councils in various regions of the country, some against the package of laws and the replacement of two-thirds of the vote, while others against unemployment and the restitution of the normality of work.

For its part, the Bolivian Episcopal Conference (CEB) called on the authorities on Tuesday to avoid confrontation and enter into a sincere, clean and constructive dialogue on a national agenda and that the opening towards an “autocratic state” is the risk in If projects and laws of dubious constitutionality are approved.

The recent protests in the country have shown the persistent political polarization since the 2019 crisis, which according to the Government was a “coup d’état” and have been aimed at destabilizing the Arce government.