Social protests spread from

LA PAZ
January 15

Some 5,000 demonstrators in the Bolivian city of El Alto, near to La Paz, have demanded the resignation within 48 hours of opposition Governor José Luis Paredes; the same demand the coca workers are calling for in relation to the Cochabamba governor, Manfred Reyes Villa.

Social protests spread from Cochabamba to La PazAccording to EFE, the Federation of Neighborhood Juntas (FEJUVE) and the Regional Workers’ Central (COB) in El Alto, both close to President Evo Morales, led the mobilization and a popular rally that resolved to order Paredes to leave his post over his support for autonomy in other Bolivian regions.

Nazario Ramírez, president of the FEJUVE, told EFE that if the governor has not resigned by Wednesday, neighborhood juntas and campesinos will decide on measures in order to force him to do so.

The protestors beat, burnt and strung up effigies representing both Paredes and Reyes Villa.

The mobilization brought traffic to a standstill for several hours on the main 12-kilometer highway between El Alto and La Paz.

Likewise, AFP reported that thousands of Bolivian coca workers who are sympathetic to President Evo Morales once again staged a peaceful protest this Monday on the streets of Cochabamba, still shocked by the violence some days ago that left two people dead, to demand the resignation of opposition Governor Manfred Reyes Villa.