LatinNews Daily - 28 November 2022

* After 36 days of unrest, anti-government protests and strikes in Bolivia’s eastern department of Santa Cruz have been called off by their main organiser, the departmental business lobby Comité pro Santa Cruz (CPSC). The CPSC’s president, Rómulo Calvo, said that “from this moment, we will take a break, lifting the strike and the roadblocks without suspending our struggle – we remain in an emergency.” Calvo’s announcement came the day after Bolivia’s congress approved a law on 25 November agreeing to hold a delayed national census on 23 March 2024. Anti-government protesters in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s main economic hub, had ground the department to a standstill over the past month over the postponement of the census, which was originally supposed to be held this November. Opposition leaders argue that the delay to the census represents an attempt by the left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government to load the dice ahead of the 2025 general election, as the census results will determine the number of congressional seats allocated to each department.

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