Deal Reached, Blockades Lifted | Acuerdo y fin de bloqueos

By Erbol:

COB and Government Agree to Repeal DS 5503, Lift Road Blockades and Pressure Measures

The Government and the COB reached an agreement in El Alto. Photo/screenshot

The Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB) and a government commission reached an agreement this Sunday to repeal Supreme Decree 5503, while keeping in force other economic measures such as the removal of the state subsidy on hydrocarbons, the increase of the national minimum wage to 3,300 bolivianos, and the payment of social bonuses. The Executive requested a 24-hour period to promulgate the new decree that will replace DS 5503.

In exchange for the government’s commitment, the executive secretary of the COB, Mario Argollo, together with union leaders, ordered the lifting of pressure measures and road blockades that were to intensify starting this Monday in demand of the repeal. Nevertheless, the labor federation and its affiliated organizations declared a state of emergency until President Rodrigo Paz promulgates the new supreme decree.

The agreement also establishes that the remaining economic measures will be addressed in a subsequent decree, the drafting of which will include the participation of social organizations.

Argollo emphasized that the understanding reached is the result of the exercise of union democracy, which allowed the participation of all organizations affiliated with the COB in the dialogue held with the Government, during a meeting conducted at the headquarters of the Tupac Katari Federation in the city of El Alto.

For his part, the executive secretary of the Miners’ Federation, Andrés Paye, urged mobilized rank-and-file members to lift the blockade points, stating that “the people never go against their own people” and stressing the need to allow free circulation so that the population can continue with its activities.

Along the same lines, the executive of the Tupac Katari Federation of La Paz, Vicente Salazar, submitted the content of the signed minutes to consultation, receiving majority backing, after which he asked those mobilized in the 20 provinces of La Paz to lift the pressure measures.

At the close of the meeting, the COB leader thanked the ministers of state for their willingness to engage in dialogue and reiterated that the union organizations will remain in a state of emergency, awaiting President Rodrigo Paz’s fulfillment of the commitment to repeal DS 5503 through the promulgation of the new supreme decree.

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