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Bolivia’s unrest cripples ordinary people’s lives in capital: Report

Sunday, 17 November 2019 5:49 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 18 November 2019 4:30 PM ]

People walk at the Rodriguez Market looking for meat in La Paz, Bolivia, on November 16, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

With political chaos gripping Bolivia after the forced resignation of the country’s President Evo Morales, people in the Andean nation are standing in long lines on the streets of the capital La Paz to provide their families with food and other basic needs.

Official reports said on Sunday that the unrest triggered by protests after the leftist leader’s departure had crippled the country's highways and denied population centers access to lowland farms in Bolivia, giving Bolivians a hard time securing chicken, eggs and cooking fuel.

In a recent move, a massive Hercules military plane was forced to land in the La Paz’s highlands with a cargo full of meat products to bypass the barricaded highways.

Tensions began in Bolivia after Morales won the country’s presidential election on October 20. The opposition rejected the outcome and claimed that there had been fraud in the electoral process.

That sparked violent street protests in the Latin American country, in what the Morales government called a coup.

PressTV-Latin American allies of Morales slam ‘coup’ in Bolivia

Leftist governments and prominent figures in Latin America slam an opposition-led “coup” against Bolivia’s Morales, who was forced to resign amid post-election protests.

However, under pressure from the military and his political opponents, Morales announced his resignation from his post and was granted asylum in Mexico.

Protests against his resignation entered a new phase on Tuesday, when former deputy speaker of Bolivia’s senate, Jeanine Anez, declared herself acting president in a legislative session that failed to reach a quorum because it had been boycotted by legislators from Morales’ left-wing party.

PressTV-Bolivia's self-proclaimed interim president appoints cabinet

Bolivia’s self-proclaimed interim president swears in new government ministers following the forced resignation of president Evo Morales.

The total number of fatalities in the post-election unrest in Bolivia now stands at 23.

The United Nations (UN) has issued a statement censuring the killing of the protesters as “an extremely dangerous development,” and expressed concern that situation in Bolivia could "spin out of control if the authorities do not handle it sensitively and in accordance with international norms."

UN envoy Jean Arnault said a team are set to hold meetings with politicians and social groups to end the violence and push for "free and transparent elections."

As president, Morales helped lift millions out of poverty, increased social rights, and presided over 13 years of stability and high economic growth in South America’s poorest country.

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