Sustained protests in
Santa Cruz de la Sierra over the arrest of Governor
Luis Fernando Camacho continue into the new year. Demonstrators clash with police in the vicinity of the Cristo Redentor monument, while stray fires char portions of government facilities.[1] In an attempt to quell the unrest, Police Command shuts down
traffic across the second ring of the city and begins limiting
freedom of movement for local residents, who are pressured to stay in their homes under threat of
tear gas.[2] In response to
police repression, solidarity protests spring up across the country, including in
Sucre.[3] In other departments, local civic organizations begin plans to organize their own demonstrations, while in
La Paz, the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy announces preparations for
nationwide mobilizations against police brutality.[4]
Criminal justice authorities register the first two incidents of
femicide in the country. The first occurred in
Tarija in the early hours of the morning, while a second incident took place at approximately 3:50p.m. in the small community of Choreti, near
Camiri.[5]
Protests rage on in Santa Cruz as demonstrators clash with police for the sixth night in a row.[8] In the provinces, protesters install new and reinforce existing blockades along roads and highways, including those connecting the region to other departments.[9] Interdepartmental commerce is paralyzed as Santa Cruz's largest meat and grain companies terminate the sale of produce to the interior.[10][11] Elsewhere in the country, new protests against police repression and in support of Camacho spring up in
Cochabamba, La Paz, and Tarija and continue in Sucre.[12][13]
From prison, Camacho suffers significant health
decompensation, including partial
muscle and nerve paralysis.[14] A hearing on whether the governor should be transferred to a hospital is opened at the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of Santa Cruz but is quickly suspended after the judge declines jurisdiction at the request of the Prosecutor's Office.[15]
3 January
As protests continue in Santa Cruz, civic leaders announce a shift in strategy, imploring demonstrators to block the transfer of any and all local resources to the central government. Multiple ranchers' associations in both Santa Cruz and neighboring
Beni initiate boycotts, closing off the transport of grains and food to the rest of the country.[16][17]
At separate ceremonies in Sucre, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and Plurinational Constitutional Court inaugurate the
legal year, while at a third event in the city, magistrate Tereza Garrón is sworn in as president of the Agro-environmental Tribunal.[18]
Foreign deputies
Victor González of the Spanish
Vox party and Fernando Sánchez of the Chilean
Republican Party, who had previously arrived in Santa Cruz to advocate the release of Camacho, are expelled from the country by the national government. The
Foreign Ministry denounced that the two parliamentarians had been acting as a
diplomatic mission despite a lack of authorization from their respective legislatures. An official complaint rejecting the two parliamentarians' "meddling in Bolivia's internal political affairs" is delivered to the Chilean and Spanish embassies.[22]
In the United States, former minister of government
Arturo Murillo is sentenced to seventy months in prison for the crimes of
bribery and
money laundering. As part of a
plea deal reached the preceding October, in which he waived the right to appeal, Murillo's sentence was reduced from twenty years. From Bolivia, Attorney General
Wilfredo Chávez announces the government's intent to request Murillo's extradition back to the country once his sentence in the US is fulfilled.[23][24]
5 January
Following an investigation into Camacho's financial dealings during the
2019 crisis, government prosecutor's amplify the existing suit against the governor, levying charges of bribery and seduction of troops.[25]
After a five-hour meeting with President Arce at the
Casa Grande del Pueblo, members of the
Pact of Unity—a consortium of the country's largest trade unions and social organizations—declared themselves in a state of emergency and announce the initiation of mass mobilizations in all nine departments starting on 9 January.[27]
Imprisoned former president
Jeanine Áñez receives an added four months of preventative detention as part of an investigation into the irregular appointment of public officials in the Bolivian Food Company.[28]
Members of
Chuquisaca's Departmental Federation of Neighborhood Councils initiate protests in Sucre against an increase in bus fares imposed by the San Cristóbal Bus Union.[29]
Following an appeal by the Prosecutor's Office, Judge Jorge Pérez of the Third Criminal Court of Potosí orders house arrest for Governor Jhonny Mamani as part of an investigation into the corrupt purchase of forty-one ambulances. The decision overturns a lower court ruling in December that granted Mamani unrestricted freedom of movement.[30]
Amid controversy surrounding Morales's political activism in Peru, President
Dina Boluarte withdraws her country's ambassador to Bolivia.[31]
9 January
Protesters in Santa Cruz enter their second consecutive week of marches, vigils, and roadblocks in opposition to the arrest of Camacho.[32]
The
Ministry of the Interior of Peru barres nine Bolivian nationals, including Morales and several former vice ministers, from entering the country.[33]
Wilfredo Gutiérrez is sworn in as vice minister of transport, replacing Israel Ticona.[34]
13 April: The
government of Bolivia calls on the armed forces to tighten border controls in order to prevent the smuggling of state-subsidized
fuel.[37]
October
31 October:
Bolivia cut diplomatic relations with Israel.[38]
Sustained protests in
Santa Cruz de la Sierra over the arrest of Governor
Luis Fernando Camacho continue into the new year. Demonstrators clash with police in the vicinity of the Cristo Redentor monument, while stray fires char portions of government facilities.[1] In an attempt to quell the unrest, Police Command shuts down
traffic across the second ring of the city and begins limiting
freedom of movement for local residents, who are pressured to stay in their homes under threat of
tear gas.[2] In response to
police repression, solidarity protests spring up across the country, including in
Sucre.[3] In other departments, local civic organizations begin plans to organize their own demonstrations, while in
La Paz, the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy announces preparations for
nationwide mobilizations against police brutality.[4]
Criminal justice authorities register the first two incidents of
femicide in the country. The first occurred in
Tarija in the early hours of the morning, while a second incident took place at approximately 3:50p.m. in the small community of Choreti, near
Camiri.[5]
Protests rage on in Santa Cruz as demonstrators clash with police for the sixth night in a row.[8] In the provinces, protesters install new and reinforce existing blockades along roads and highways, including those connecting the region to other departments.[9] Interdepartmental commerce is paralyzed as Santa Cruz's largest meat and grain companies terminate the sale of produce to the interior.[10][11] Elsewhere in the country, new protests against police repression and in support of Camacho spring up in
Cochabamba, La Paz, and Tarija and continue in Sucre.[12][13]
From prison, Camacho suffers significant health
decompensation, including partial
muscle and nerve paralysis.[14] A hearing on whether the governor should be transferred to a hospital is opened at the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of Santa Cruz but is quickly suspended after the judge declines jurisdiction at the request of the Prosecutor's Office.[15]
3 January
As protests continue in Santa Cruz, civic leaders announce a shift in strategy, imploring demonstrators to block the transfer of any and all local resources to the central government. Multiple ranchers' associations in both Santa Cruz and neighboring
Beni initiate boycotts, closing off the transport of grains and food to the rest of the country.[16][17]
At separate ceremonies in Sucre, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and Plurinational Constitutional Court inaugurate the
legal year, while at a third event in the city, magistrate Tereza Garrón is sworn in as president of the Agro-environmental Tribunal.[18]
Foreign deputies
Victor González of the Spanish
Vox party and Fernando Sánchez of the Chilean
Republican Party, who had previously arrived in Santa Cruz to advocate the release of Camacho, are expelled from the country by the national government. The
Foreign Ministry denounced that the two parliamentarians had been acting as a
diplomatic mission despite a lack of authorization from their respective legislatures. An official complaint rejecting the two parliamentarians' "meddling in Bolivia's internal political affairs" is delivered to the Chilean and Spanish embassies.[22]
In the United States, former minister of government
Arturo Murillo is sentenced to seventy months in prison for the crimes of
bribery and
money laundering. As part of a
plea deal reached the preceding October, in which he waived the right to appeal, Murillo's sentence was reduced from twenty years. From Bolivia, Attorney General
Wilfredo Chávez announces the government's intent to request Murillo's extradition back to the country once his sentence in the US is fulfilled.[23][24]
5 January
Following an investigation into Camacho's financial dealings during the
2019 crisis, government prosecutor's amplify the existing suit against the governor, levying charges of bribery and seduction of troops.[25]
After a five-hour meeting with President Arce at the
Casa Grande del Pueblo, members of the
Pact of Unity—a consortium of the country's largest trade unions and social organizations—declared themselves in a state of emergency and announce the initiation of mass mobilizations in all nine departments starting on 9 January.[27]
Imprisoned former president
Jeanine Áñez receives an added four months of preventative detention as part of an investigation into the irregular appointment of public officials in the Bolivian Food Company.[28]
Members of
Chuquisaca's Departmental Federation of Neighborhood Councils initiate protests in Sucre against an increase in bus fares imposed by the San Cristóbal Bus Union.[29]
Following an appeal by the Prosecutor's Office, Judge Jorge Pérez of the Third Criminal Court of Potosí orders house arrest for Governor Jhonny Mamani as part of an investigation into the corrupt purchase of forty-one ambulances. The decision overturns a lower court ruling in December that granted Mamani unrestricted freedom of movement.[30]
Amid controversy surrounding Morales's political activism in Peru, President
Dina Boluarte withdraws her country's ambassador to Bolivia.[31]
9 January
Protesters in Santa Cruz enter their second consecutive week of marches, vigils, and roadblocks in opposition to the arrest of Camacho.[32]
The
Ministry of the Interior of Peru barres nine Bolivian nationals, including Morales and several former vice ministers, from entering the country.[33]
Wilfredo Gutiérrez is sworn in as vice minister of transport, replacing Israel Ticona.[34]
13 April: The
government of Bolivia calls on the armed forces to tighten border controls in order to prevent the smuggling of state-subsidized
fuel.[37]
October
31 October:
Bolivia cut diplomatic relations with Israel.[38]