Two of Bolivian President Evo Morales’ top cabinet officials have tendered their resignation after an aggressive national backlash resulted from Sunday’s police intervention of a protest by Indigenous groups. The crackdown by Bolivian riot police over the weekend, using tear gas and clubs, was classified as “violent repression” by witnesses and observers in the press.
On Monday, Defense Minister Cecilia Chacon stepped down from Morales’ cabinet because of her disagreement with the government’s decision to break up the protest—a 600-kilometer (375-mile) march from Trinidad to La Paz. Participants in the march protested a highway scheduled to be built through TIPNIS, the acronym for an Indigenous territory and protected nature reserve.
After the protest fallout on Sunday, a local referendum was called by the government where Amazonian groups could vote on the proposed highway. Still, dissatisfaction over the events was underscored when Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s interior minister and a fierce loyalist to the president, resigned yesterday. Llorenti denied that neither he nor Morales ordered the police action, despite originally defending it. Prior to leading the interior ministry, Llorenti had been the vice minister of coordination with social movements—Morales’ key liaison with Indigenous groups.
Wilfredo Chavez and Ruben Saavedra were sworn in yesterday at the government palace in La Paz to replace Llorenti and Chacon, respectively. Chavez was promoted from vice minister of government coordination, while Saavedra was the head of the Strategic Office of Maritime Access and a former defense minister.
