Bolivian minister denounces the opposition to the strike in Potosi

“Unfortunately, we see councilors and leaders acting there, there are also supporters of Kremos and I will say it by your first and last name, Mr. Ricardo Ramos was a candidate for Kremos,” said the Minister of Public Works. Services and Housing, Edgar Montano.

The headline indicated that the party of the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, is behind this mobilization as it seeks to impose a coup similar to the one that led to the resignation of former President Evo Morales on November 10, 2019.

Montaño stressed that, as in 2019, Comcebo declared a 72-hour strike starting Monday to demand the approval of the lithium law, a measure added to the road blockade, which since the previous week had caused a lack of communication in the country. various areas of the department.

Among the demands for business, the minister argued, many are in progress, and the required lithium law must comply with the corresponding process in the Plurinational Legislature, which is already in place.

He stated that three road projects await legislative authorization for their implementation: the Potosí-Sucre dual carriageway, the Potosí-Ororo dual carriageway and the motorway to Sucre.

“They are also asking for the Uyuni-Hito 60 route and – as he made emphatically clear – they have allowed us to seek funding for sections IV, V and VI. Actions have been taken to CAF (Latin American Development Bank), and the commission has arrived this month to give the go-ahead to the issue” .

Montaño stressed that in addition to these projects there is the Tenkoy Highway that will connect Potosí to Cochampa and Oruro, and for its implementation it remains that the provincial and municipal authorities, together with the residents of the three provinces, agree to an agreement on the last line.

With regard to the Uyuni airport in San Luis Potosi, he confirmed that the Senate approved last week the draft regulations allowing the approval of $60.2 million from the Inter-American Development Bank for the rehabilitation and improvement of that terminal along with the one in Tarija. In addition, he indicated that the lithium manufacturing program is underway with the agreement signed on January 20 with the Chinese consortium CBC (CATL BRUNP & CMOC) and that the zinc refinery will be implemented with a guaranteed investment of $350 million.

Montaño reiterated that there was an attack by certain sectors “so that the population would think that the government had abandoned Potosi, when that is completely untrue.”

jf/jpm