The assembly of the Bolivian Workers' Confederation (COB), meeting this Sunday in La Paz, has resolved to extend the protest blockades against President Rodrigo Paz and not to attend the dialogue table promoted by the Executive.
"The workers are going to continue with the pressure measure. It has been decided to maintain the pressure measures. So far there is no possibility. Dialogue has been ruled out," explained the head of the Urban Teaching Staff of La Paz, José Luis Álvarez, in statements collected by the newspaper 'El Deber'.
According to Álvarez, the stance adopted responds to the discontent generated by the Government's behavior during the conflict, understanding that control and containment of protests have been prioritized over the search for agreements and understandings.
A leader of the Single Confederation of Rural Workers of Bolivia (CSUTCB), Severo Marca, ratified, after several hours of deliberations in the COB expanded meeting, that this resolution must be obeyed by all leaders of the organizations promoting the mobilization.
"As I was saying, comrade, with all due respect to the Bolivian population, we only represent our grassroots brothers. When they ask, when they say, how we manage our grassroots brothers, they think of them like sheep. We are only representatives," he stated.
The meeting lasted for hours, in a context where the blockades have kept the seat of government, La Paz, practically incommunicado for a month, with the aim of forcing President Paz's resignation.
On the other hand, leader Jaime Solares indicated that the expanded meeting has agreed to enable humanitarian corridors to facilitate the passage of medicines, food, and merchandise destined for hospitals, in addition to allowing the circulation of ambulances, the sick, and people in emergency situations.
This Sunday, the meeting of the Túpac Katari Departmental Federation of Rural Workers, one of the main organizations participating in the protests, was also held.
On the same day, the Vice Presidency of Bolivia announced the cancellation of the dialogue table convened to address the social and political crisis the country is going through, due to the absence of the main organizations promoting the mobilizations.