Hundreds of thousands voice outrage over Bolivian leader's response to forest fires

Record ID: 1435260

  • Title: Hundreds of thousands voice outrage over Bolivian leader's response to forest fires
  • Date: 5th October 2019
  • Summary: ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRO DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST, ALEJANDRA SERRATE, SAYING: (NIGHT SHOTS) "We reject a possible fraudulent fourth mandate by the dictatorial and illegal binomial conformed by Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera? Yes, I swear!" BANNER THAT READS: (Spanish) "EVO DICTATOR, RUBEN, TRAITOR" PEOPLE GATHERED IN SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE PRO SANTA CRUZ COMMITTEE, LUIS FERNANDO CAMACHO, SAYING: (SOMEONE IN THE CROWD CAN BE HEARD SHOUTING: (Spanish) "SON OF A BITCH" "Not another meter of land to citizens who do not live in Santa Cruz. The land is for those who live and love Santa Cruz. This will be the end of their domination and geopolitical colonization of our department. You Mr. Evo Morales hate Santa Cruz. You hate Santa Cruz, you've shown us many times." CROWD CHANTING (Spanish) "BOLIVIA SAID NO!"
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2019 19:12
  • Keywords: protesters Bolivia's largest city Morales government wildfires razed broad country's forests
  • Location: SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA
  • City: SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA002AZTLT8N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CONTAINS PROFANITY IN SHOT #10
    Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Bolivia's largest city, turning up heat on President Evo Morales as they voiced outrage over his government's response to wildfires that have razed broad swaths of the country's forests this year.
    Protesters in the wealthy, industrial city of Santa Cruz brandished placards at the demonstration late on Friday (October 4) calling for a "punishment vote" against Morales in the upcoming Oct. 20 presidential election.
    Tightening polls show Morales, Latin America's longest-serving leftist leader, may be forced into a second-round runoff with his chief rival, Carlos Mesa, a business-friendly former president.
    For weeks, opposition candidates and protesters have called on Morales to declare this year's surge in wildfires, which have already scorched an area larger than Costa Rica, a national disaster to help facilitate international aid.
    Morales' government has said a disaster declaration could invite foreign meddling in a sovereign issue, echoing concerns voiced by neighbouring Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has sparked a global outcry over his handling of fires in the Brazilian Amazon.
    Santa Cruz, where organizers said as many as 1.5 million people joined in Friday's protest, is home to vast tracts of Bolivia's biodiverse Chiquitano dry forests. They are named for the indigenous people who have inhabited them for hundreds of years.
    Protesters say a disaster declaration by Bolivia would remove bureaucratic barriers to the help needed from abroad to contain fires in the impoverished South American country.
    Authorities did not give an official estimate of the number of protesters on Friday, but a local reporter working with Reuters said about 350,000 people marched through the city.
    (Production: Monica Machicao)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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