“The Bolivian Police arrested nine people, and a white truck owned by Mr. Efraín Marcelo Ortiz was also identified, which was transporting subjects to fight Bolivian and Santa Cruz people,” confirmed the Government Minister, Eduardo del Castillo, in reference to the clashes that occurred on Tuesday in the municipality of La Guardia.

The Bolivia TV state channel reported from the scene that the paramilitary organization Unión Juvenil Cruceñista used firecrackers and other high-power pyrotechnic devices, clubs studded with nails, and sharp and cutting instruments during the confrontations.

Hundreds of its members were trying to lift the blockades set up on an entrance road to Santa Cruz by residents of the area who were desperate for being more than 10 days without work or mobility due to the strike decreed by the governor, Fernando Camacho and his followers.

Under the slogan “let’s all stop (go on strike)”, the sector resorted to extreme measures when it learned that the industries of the big businessmen continue their operations.

Del Castillo reported that the police forces were able to obtain information from the cell phones of the nine detainees and identified “those who carry and finance these groups used against the people of Santa Cruz.”

The Minister described that since the beginning of the protests, the Bolivian people have been in mourning because a citizen lost his life. “We need to say enough to violence, we cannot tolerate that they continue to send groups with the sole mission of generating violence,” he said in this regard, and called for dialogue.

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