The backers of Luis Fernando Camacho, the fascist governor of the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, who was placed in pretrial detention Dec. 28 on criminal charges related to his role in the November 2019 coup against then-President Evo Morales, vowed on Jan. 6 that they will cut off Santa Cruz—the nation’s wealthiest and most populous department—from the rest of the country, in order to “strangle” the national economy.
Leaders of the unelected Santa Cruz civic committee warn they will punish the “dictatorship” of President Luis Arce and the ruling MAS party, whom they accuse of “persecuting” the multimillionaire Camacho, an unabashed violent racist. Camacho’s followers are threatening to blockade all major roads out of Santa Cruz to prevent the export of food and other products to the rest of the country. Santa Cruz produces 70% of all food consumed in Bolivia, and is responsible for about 40% of national GDP.
Since Camacho’s arrest, members of the Neo-Nazi Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC) have engaged in a rampage of violence and destruction, burning and destroying at least 27 public or private buildings in the city, particularly targeting government buildings, attacking government employees and police, and setting fire to vehicles. They have also issued hit lists of “traitors to Santa Cruz,” including family members of President Arce and some of his cabinet members, for physical attack or assassination. The violence, they warn, will continue until Camacho is released.
