LatinNews Daily Report - 25 April 2014

POLITICS | More military officers sacked. On 24 April Bolivia’s armed forces (FFAA) ordered the dismissal of a further 702 lesser ranking military officers for “sedition”. Like the 13 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) dismissed the previous day and the four others sacked on 21 April, those fired yesterday had been calling for a reform to tackle “discrimination” within the FFAA. The dismissals point to an escalation of the crisis faced by the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government led by President Evo Morales. In a press conference yesterday FFAA commander-in-chief, Víctor Baldivieso, said that “discrimination is not a pretext for sedition and promoting a coup d’ état”.  Yesterday 1,000 NCOs marched on La Paz (500 had done so the previous day) while the wives of the NCOs announced demos would take place in the cities of Sucre, the capital of Chuquisaca department, and Tarija. There have also been demos in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. President Morales, who has yet to respond to the unrest, is coming under increasing pressure from his support base to act. Yesterday the main workers’ union confederation, Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), called for a solution to the conflict because “it is putting democracy at risk”; while Albino García Choque, the leader of the national confederation of cooperatives (Concobol) expressed support for the NCOs. However, some MAS supporters buy the government’s line that the political opposition is behind the protests. The leader of one of the three main peasant farmer organisations, Confederación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas, Indígenas Originarias-Bartolina Sisa (CNMCIO-BS), Juanita Ancieta, has critised the striking officers.

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