Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

Bolivians Protest, in Support of Doctors and Teachers, Against Government Bills 280 and 305

El Deber, April 16, 2023

Bolivian doctors protest the Government bills 280 and 305, Announce a national march for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 deber

 

The deadline that doctors gave the Government to withdraw bills 280 and 305 expires; Announce a national march for Tuesday 18

Doctors' March/Archive

In a statement, the doctors called on their peers to take to the streets

Tanya Imaña Serrano

ESCUCHA ESTA NOTA

April 16, 2023, 11:01 AM

This Sunday 16 is the deadline that the country's doctors gave to the Government, to annul bills 280 and 305; if this does not happen, they announce a national march – which will be held in each department – for this Tuesday, April 18.

In the same way, they demand that the Government repeal Law 065 and annul the transfer of contributions to the Public Pension Manager, as they seek to manage their resources. In addition, the doctors question that a merit contest was not held to choose the head of the Manager that will replace the Pension Fund Administrators (AFP).

The Medical College of Bolivia issued a statement in which it asks the Government to convene the sectors of the Alliance of International Unity for Bolivia "to work on laws that benefit our people."

Pronouncement of the Medical College

The alliance was formed last week and it includes, in addition to doctors, trade unionists, retirees, transporters and other sectors. Last Thursday they gave the "unpostponable and non-extendable" deadline for the Government to annul the projects of the 'gag' laws, as rules 280 and 305 have been identified.

The doctors also express their support for urban teachers, in rejection of the implementation of the contents of the curriculum. Educators have decided to pause their protests for the next week, but announced that they will return to the streets the week of April 24; They did not rule out a 72-hour stoppage.

The deadline that doctors gave the Government to withdraw bills 280 and 305 expires; National march announced for Tuesday 18 | The Duty (eldeber.com.bo)

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Activists close Santa Cruz roads against bills 280 and 305, and in support of teachers and doctors

Mother India roundabout blocked by activists/Photo: Fuad Landivar

This Sunday there are 12-hour blockades at roundabouts. At the national level, citizen platforms present their requests

Tanya Imaña Serrano

Deber, April 16, 2023

Activists hold demonstrations for the annulment of bills 280, 304 (which was withdrawn on Friday) and 305, from the beginning of this Sunday, until noon, in roundabouts of the Santa Cruz capital. For 12 hours, the accesses will be cut in 21 roundabouts of the second ring.

"We stopped in support of the 24-hour Mother Indian Resistance initiative; (who support) teachers, doctors, the department of Potosí, the Cochala Youth Resistance and in support of all political prisoners," says a call that was disseminated on social networks.

They also ask for the annulment of Supreme Decrees 4905, 4906 and 4907, referring to: the budgetary allocation of additional resources for the protection of agricultural production; the freezing of funds and other assets of persons linked to terrorist actions, and that commercial companies with bearer shares submit information to the Business Control Authority (AEMP), respectively.

The activists of the Mother India roundabout, in their own call for a 24-hour protest, asked to take precautions, because there will be no passage in their area, during this Sunday. They protest against bills 280 and 305, and DS 4906; but also against the contents of the educational curriculum, the deficit of items in education and health, by the Manager (Public Pensions) of the Government that will administer the pension funds of the workers and against what they consider: "servile justice to the Government".

Citizen platforms of the country

On Saturday, a meeting of representatives of different Bolivian citizen platforms was held in Santa Cruz, in what they call the National Integration Committee of Citizen Platforms 21 F, which demands:

Social control for the purification of the electoral roll; a "serious and independent" reform of the judiciary, the release of all political prisoners "illegally and despotically imprisoned for exercising the right to protest and embodying the democratic aspirations" of Bolivians; that the validity of the educational curriculum be stopped, because they consider that they seek to politically indoctrinate students; the repeal of Bills 280, 304 and 305; the validity of the independence of the powers of the State and full respect for the Political Constitution of the State and human rights, in addition to "the imperative need to create a new alternative (to the Government) at the national level".

Activistas cierran vías cruceñas en contra de proyectos de ley 280 y 305, y en apoyo a maestros y médicos | El Deber

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Four mafias control northern Chile and three of them have contacts with Bolivia

At the border there are fairs of electronic products and devices

The Aragua Train, the Northern Mafia, Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel are the criminal gangs that fight spaces in northern cities of Chile and that have contacts with Bolivian groups, especially for drug and human trafficking.

El Deber, April 16, 2023, 4:00 AM

Jose closes his business at 20:00 every day. He does it quickly, because he is afraid of being mugged. In the city of Iquique, as in several cities in northern Chile, fear was installed by the mafias that arrived, most composed of foreign citizens. There are four criminal gangs that are dedicated to drug trafficking, hired assassins, extortion, aggravated robberies and human trafficking. Three of them have ties to Bolivia.

"The situation is not like before. Businesses, for the most part, close at eight (at night), before we were selling midnight without problems. The fear of assaults forces us to close," lamented José, a Chilean citizen who has a business selling groceries and groceries.

In the center of Iquique the big stores -known as mall- close at 20:00 for security. So do restaurants and other small businesses. But liquor stores and some nightclubs, where members of criminal gangs frequent, remain open. In the tourist area of Iquique, which borders the beach, there is more security and businesses work until midnight.

In northern Chile, at least four criminal gangs dedicated to different types of crimes were installed, according to a police report from the neighboring country. The Aragua Train and La Mafia del Norte are composed of Venezuelan citizens. In addition, there are the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The two Venezuelan mafias and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have ties to criminal groups in Bolivia. The first two are mainly engaged in human trafficking and smuggling for sexual exploitation, but also have connections to drug trafficking. The Mexican cartel is purely dedicated to drug trafficking from Bolivia to Chile.

"We must bear in mind that in this continent there are three of the five most dangerous organizations in the world: the Aragua Train, Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel. All these organizations already have influence or presence in Chile," said Chile's Undersecretary of the Interior and Public Security, Manuel Monsalve.

The Chilean authority stressed that these criminal gangs have replaced the typically recorded individual crime to carry them on a large scale. "The crime that was previously committed by a person is now carried out by sophisticated organizations that plan on a large scale drug trafficking, immigrant trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling or cybersecurity crimes," he said.

Chilean report

The report of the Investigative Police (PDI) of Chile establishes that the three criminal gangs have contact with similar groups in Bolivia because of the border connection with Chile. It does not name the names of Bolivian organizations, but lists the Colchane-Pisiga and Chungará-Tambo Quemado border crossings as the routes they use to move drugs and people from Bolivia to Chile.

In July 2019, the Bolivian Police detected the presence of the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and Tijuana. These organizations were joined by the Calabrian Ndrangheta, one of the most bloodthirsty Italian mafias.

Currently, the Police speak of the presence of cartel emissaries in the country, but rule out that there are structured organizations on national soil. Regarding the Aragua Train, the force of order has the information that they operate with drugtrafficking and human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The Aragua Train operates in Bolivia. This Venezuelan mafia managed to install a barracks that works in the town of Pisiga, on the border with Chile. However, its members are in at least four capital cities: Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro.

In these cities this criminal gang "kidnaps" Venezuelan women who are on the streets selling candy, washing windshields or begging. They are then taken to Chile to be subjected to sexual exploitation. In order for them to be recovered, they contact their partners to pick them up on Chilean soil, but with the condition of taking drugs to northern Chile.

The Aragua Train is a criminal gang of Venezuelan origin. This organization took over northern Chile and engages in the trafficking and trafficking of women for sexual exploitation as its main source of income, even more than drug trafficking.

The other Venezuelan gang is the Mafia del Norte, which began operations in the central Chilean city of Chillán and then spread north. Today, they fight spaces with the Aragua Train in the cities of northern Chile and are dedicated to hired assassins and drug trafficking, mainly.

"The Mafia of the North, here in Chillán, we are hunting, we are hunting, we are active, there, brother." "In the film mi taita, you know and we are pure Venezuelans, willing to show our face," are two messages recorded by members of this band on social networks showing long-range weapons.

ThePDI report also mentions that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel uses roads with the Bolivian border to introduce drugs into Chile. In that country, this Mexican gang has representatives who commit crimes of kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking from Bolivia.

Cuatro mafias controlan el norte de Chile y tres de ellas tienen contactos con Bolivia | El Deber