BOLIVIA: Authorities negotiate with police union leaders to end week-long strike as officers continue to protest over better wages

Record ID: 340864

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Authorities negotiate with police union leaders to end week-long strike as officers continue to protest over better wages
  • Date: 27th June 2012
  • Summary: TEACHERS MARCHING OUTSIDE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE TO SUPPORT POLICE OFFICERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LEADER OF TEACHERS' UNION SUPPORTING POLICE OFFICERS, MIGUEL ALVAREZ, SAYING: "Hunger and poverty is uniting all of those who feel hungry in our land; all of those who are being exploited in our country. Every time workers ask for food, better wages or pensions, the government h
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bolivia, Plurinational State Of
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Police,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4557FJ7QA4M6DFPXMRV4C3CSR
  • Story Text: Bolivian government officials held talks with police union leaders on Tuesday (June 26) as striking policemen continued to march outside the presidential palace to demand higher wages for lower-ranking officers.
    The rally at the main square of capital La Paz outside President Evo Morales' palace entered its fifth day after a pay agreement on Sunday (June 24) was rejected by the officer rank.
    Morales, a leftist leader who is Bolivia's first indigenous president, has faced increasingly thorny social conflicts in the past year in the Andean nation, but ruled out deploying troops to end the police rebellion.
    As a result, many stores and banks decided to close its doors until the end of the strike, which has been receiving the support of other worker unions.
    Teachers joined the officers' march to protest against Morales.
    Miguel Alvarez, one of the teachers' union leaders, said Bolivian workers needed better conditions.
    "Hunger and poverty is uniting all of those who feel hungry in our land; all of those who are being exploited in our country. Every time workers ask for food, better wages or pensions, the government has become used to labeling us as right-wing activists seeking a coup, and even as agents of the North American embassy. Evo Morales discredits every battle led by the workers," he said.
    Morales has accused his political opponents of being behind the violent mutiny in which dozens of police officers have been hurt and several police stations destroyed.
    But he vowed to avoid a repeat of a police protest in 2003 that was quashed by the military, causing dozens of deaths.
    Rolando Villena, the head of a human rights organization in Bolivia, said he was concerned that police mutiny would end up involving other sectors of society.
    "There are signs indicating that this might end in a social upheaval and this concerns us greatly. As a human rights institution, we call on rationality and common sense in accordance to the political constitution of the State and its current norms. This must go through the obedience of laws as individual and collective human rights are vulnerable," he said.
    As part of the deal, the government had agreed that the wages of the country's roughly 32,000 police officers should match that of other public-sector employees with a minimum monthly wage of nearly $300 dollars. It also included improved pension benefits.
    But until a final agreement is not reached, fear of violence has spread throughout the country.
    Many shop owners like Sebastian Mamani decided to continue working despite security concerns.
    "We are vulnerable; anything can happen. Since we dedicate ourselves to business, this is our source of income and since there is no police, the thieves are simply lying in wait. There is no security at all," he said.
    Some banks were taking in a limited number of customers and keeping their employees behind bars to prevent robberies.
    Morales often blames social protests on political rivals bent on destabilizing the natural gas-exporting South American country, which has a history of coups and violent social conflicts.
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