A statement from the PIT-CNT (National Confederation of Workers) expresses “fraternal support for the Bolivian Workers’ Central and the various social, peasant, and indigenous movements that are mobilized in legitimate defense of their rights.

The imposition of a package of privatization and social impoverishment measures is a path that leads the Bolivian government directly to authoritarianism and democratic decline,” the statement notes.

It adds that the elimination of social programs and subsidies, the dismantling of labor rights, as well as the commodification of land and the handover of strategic resources to transnational corporations, directly threaten the sovereignty and quality of life of the social majority.

“We strongly condemn the persecution of social leaders who are leading the heroic popular struggle and the militarization of the internal conflict,” the text states.

It notes that the deployment of the Armed Forces and the “use of repression to contain legitimate popular discontent violates constitutional guarantees, international covenants on civil rights, and deliberately eliminates any possibility of understanding.”

The Uruguayan labor movement called for the urgent establishment of a negotiating table in Bolivia that takes into account the workers’ demands and an end to the criminalization of protests.

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