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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://orinocotribune.com/de-facto-government-minister-murillo-we-must-put-a-bullet-in-protesters-calling-for-anezs-resignation/">https://orinocotribune.com/de-facto-government-minister-murillo-we-must-put-a-bullet-in-protesters-calling-for-anezs-resignation/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">De Facto Government Minister Murillo:
We Must “Put a Bullet” in Protesters Calling for Añez’s
Resignation</h1>
August 13, 2020 </div>
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<p>This Tuesday, new protests are taking place in Bolivia
to demand the resignation of the de facto president,
Jeanine Áñez, and the holding of democratic elections,
postponed twice with the excuse of Covid-19.</p>
<p>While roads continue to be blockaded by the Central
Obrera Boliviana (COB) and sectors allied with the
deposed president, Evo Morales, hundreds of followers of
the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) are heading
peacefully to the town of El Alto, in the department of
La Paz.</p>
<p>In this context, the Bolivian Government Minister,
Arturo Murillo, affirmed on Monday night, in an
interview on CNN, that “the politically correct thing
would be to shoot” the protesters who have been
protesting against the postponement of the elections by
the dictatorship controlled Supreme Electoral Tribunal
until October 18.</p>
<p>The official did not rule out the use of military force
to dislodge the demonstrations. He said the government
will try to reach an agreement to remove the blockades,
but warned that failure to do so will activate the
military: “There will be no other way to act but with
the toughest hand, with the law in hand,” he said. And
he added that he is “trying to avoid a civil war in the
country.”</p>
<p>After that, Morales himself spoke through Twitter
trying to decompress the tension, amid complaints about
apparent attempts to ban the MAS, which the polls show
as a potential winner of the [presidential] election.</p>
<p>“We must not fall for provocations that want to lead us
to violence. Only with the people in power
democratically and peacefully will we be able to resolve
the crises and that means elections now, with a
definitive and immovable date,” said the leader from his
exile in Argentina.</p>
<p>Despite Morales’ call, local media reported the
presence of some armed groups at the road blocks. With
flags of the Whipala, which symbolizes the struggle of
indigenous peoples, they demanded democracy and the
immediate resignation of Áñez.</p>
<p>According to the Minister of Defense, Fernando López,
in statements to the Bolivia TV channel, the situation
does not imply “any risk for the operational potential
of the Armed Forces and the National Police.”</p>
<p>The pickets are held in the cities of Cochabamba, Santa
Cruz and La Paz, where the Bolivian government and
parliament headquarters are housed, and are complicating
the distribution of food and health supplies amid the
health crisis due to Covid-19 in the country, according
to the government.</p>
<p>The elections had already been postponed from May to
September due to the health emergency, and last month
the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced October 18 as
the “fixed” date for the general elections.</p>
<p><em>Featured image: File photo.</em></p>
<p><a
href="https://www.laiguana.tv/articulos/780749-ministro-anez-bolivia-meter-bala-manifestantes/">(La
IguanaTV)</a></p>
<p>Translation: OT/JRE/EF</p>
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