Bolivia: The Secretary General calls for calm in the face of the protests over the detention of the governor of Santa Cruz

The governor of the Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, was detained on Wednesday by the national police and on Thursday a court ordered him preventive detention for four months while an investigation is being carried out into the events that led to the departure of President Evo Morales on November 10, 2019.

The arrest of Camacho, leader of the opposition to former President Morales and the current national government of Bolivia headed by Luis Arce, raised protests by his followers, which have turned violent and have included blockades of roads and airports, and attacks on public buildings.

The General secretary of the UN, António Guterres, expressed concern about the events and called for calm on all the political and social actors in Bolivia, urging them to exercise “maximum restraint”.

In a statement from his spokesman, the head of the UN reiterated “the importance of adhere to the rule of law and to guarantee due process as well as transparency in judicial proceedings.”

Background

Camacho had a active role in anti-government demonstrations that left dozens dead and hundreds injured in October and November 2019 after the presidential elections in which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared President Evo Morales the winner with a sufficient advantage to avoid a second round of voting.

On Sunday morning, November 10, President Morales announced that new elections would be held, but later those responsible for the Army “suggested that he resign” so that the country could be pacified.

Evo Morales resigned from the Executive and denounced a coup, in addition to attacks against his ministers and their families, as well as against his own. He is currently in asylum in Mexico.

The Bolivian government remained headless for several days until on November 13, the vice-secretary of the Senate for an opposition party, Jeanine Áñez, she was proclaimed interim president of the country without having the required quorum by law. Evo Morales’s party, Movimiento al Socialismo, maintained the parliamentary majority.

As governor of Santa Cruz, Camacho this year backed a series of protests since late October demanding that the national government carry out a delayed census from 2022 to 2024. His idea was that the census would give his activity-rich province agricultural, more tax revenue and more seats in Congress.

After his arrest, Camacho was transferred to La Paz, the capital of the country.