CarwilBJ's avatarCarwilBJ's Twitter Archive—№ 37,978

          1. Nearly three weeks into a blockade campaign by Evo Morales' faction of the MAS party, Bolivian President Luis Arce has activated the military to join police in clearing the roads.
        1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
          Road blockades are an incredibly powerful political tool in Bolivia, and operate by interrupting economic life, transforming discontent into crisis.
      1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
        Effectively organized blockade campaigns alternate with other shows of mass support, building a broader coalition and giving the region a break to refuel and transport food.
    1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
      This blockade campaign, though, has not widened Evo's political coalition, but instead activated many, especially urban residents and those with stranded goods, against him.
  1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
    A broad range of actors from poultry farmers to shopkeepers to factory workers to mayors to the far right are all calling on Morales to stand down from blockades.
    1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
      Yesterday, Evo Morales called on Arce's cabinet and public officials to resign in solidarity with him. This appears not to be happening.
      1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
        There have been several episodes of gunfire and many police/protesters confrontations with injuries already. Crowds have sacked the coca growers headquarters and taken over a Chapare airport. Tension is high.
        1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
          Past militarized blockade clearing operations have quelled local blockade campaigns without deadly violence. But other deployments have initiated massacres.
          1. …in reply to @CarwilBJ
            There are multiple reasons to fear violent escalation today, and multiple actors beyond Morales and Arce involved. All eyes on what may be a pivotal weekend.