Autonomy Revolt | Rebelión por la Autonomía

By El Deber:

Civic leaders demand greater autonomy in institutional statement

Cívicos reclaman mayor autonomía en pronunciamiento institucional

Santa Cruz civic leaders call for more autonomy / Photo: CpSC

The CpSC also called for eliminating the Vice Ministry of Autonomies and creating the Presidential Delegate for Autonomy in each department

The Pro Santa Cruz Committee (CpSC) demanded that the national government release autonomous powers and establish in each department the Presidential Delegate for Autonomy, an entity that would make viable the 50-50 proposal put forward by President Rodrigo Paz Pereira.

Through a statement read by civic leader Stello Cochamanidis, the CpSC declared that the 50-50 proposal “is the antidote” against a centralist model that, “like a systemic disease,” suffocates the regions.

“Our only dignified way out is the Liberation of Autonomous Powers. It is time to break the chains of the 28 national laws and 11 supreme decrees with which the MAS regime kidnapped our development during the last decades,” Cochamanidis said.

The civic leader added that the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) must “work in unity to break the chains of exclusive powers” that to date remain imprisoned because the economic crisis will be resolved by reactivating Bolivia from the regions, which is where production originates.

The statement also pointed at the Vice Minister of Autonomies, Andrea Barrientos, affirming that the resources do not belong to the Government but to the regions that produce them.

“Santa Cruz does not need permission or instructions to manage what rightfully belongs to it. Treating the regions as incapable is an insult to the history and political maturity of this department. Autonomy is not a gift; Autonomy was wrested from centralism,” he added.

For all these reasons, the civic entity declared Vice Minister Barrientos “persona non grata” and demanded her resignation or dismissal.

“Otherwise, Santa Cruz does not recognize her authority and will not sit at any table where she intends to represent the National Government.”

Regarding the Vice Ministry of Autonomies, civic leaders demanded the closure of this office because “it is unacceptable that a vice ministry that spends millions of bolivianos annually has not achieved a single real advance in powers or resources” for the regions during the last decades.

Finally, in its place they propose the creation of the Presidential Delegate for Autonomy in each department “exclusively” to make the 50-50 viable and to liberate autonomy.

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