Bolivia Out of Santa Cruz To-do
Members of the Bolivian administration declared themselves neutral in the conflict between the regionalist elite and farmers of eastern Santa Cruz Province, although they exhorted the farm workers to abstain from blockading that city.

Development and Micro-company Minister Celinda Sosa and Vice Minister of Coordination with Social Movements Alfredo Rada agreed that the government is not involved in that conflict, and denied that the Executive has encouraged the farmers.

The government is not inciting any blockade of Santa Cruz as a response to the partial regional strike in that province and three others, Sosa asserted.

She highlighted the importance of the annual International Santa Cruz Fair, which will begin on September 20, when the Farmers Federation and the indigenous organizations are planning to start closing access roads to that eastern city.

She added that the Executive could not guarantee there will not be a blockade, while the farmers´ protest unleashed denouncements of repression, threats, and new attacks against the government by traditional party members, regionalist leaders, and managerial sectors.

Those affected are also demanding that the government repress the farmers, and vice minister Rada warned that the Executive allowed the rightwing strike, with road blockages and acts of force last week, and cannot take actions against the farm workers or apply another standard for them now.

We cannot say that what was right yesterday is wrong tomorrow, he said before asserting that the conflicting actions in Santa Cruz are typical contradictions of democracy, and announcing that the government will be impartial faced with the possible conflict.

Rada urged the agrarian organizations from Santa Cruz to be calm and consider the progress in a dialogue among political groups in the Constituent Assembly.