LatinNews Daily Report - 25 March 2013

POLITICS | End to unrest. On 22 March the government led by President Evo Morales announced that it had reached a deal with the La Paz Túpac Katari peasant federation. The deal includes the removal of blockades erected around La Paz on 19 March, blocking the main routes in and out of the capital, isolating La Paz from the rest of the country. Under the 10-point agreement the government pledged to: address demands for land; improve health and education services; and promote productive development in the region.  Also on 22 March the regional assembly in Oruro revoked a recent law changing the name of the regional airport to Evo Morales from Juan Mendoza (the locally-born first Bolivian pilot to take flight). That move ends a four-day local protest strike against the name change. The Morales government was keen to put the protests to bed before starting the annual round of minimum wage talks with the country’s main umbrella union, the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB).