Ruptly
"A joint operation by the Police and the Armed Forces of Bolivia to clear blockades in the town of San Julian in the department of Santa Cruz left at least two police officers injured by gunfire and dozens injured amid clashes with protesters who had closed a strategic route for the country's supply on Saturday. Images show Police officers, military personnel, and civilians from the Union Juvenil Crucenista (UJC) clashing with mobilized residents blocking the highway in San Julian, amidst tear gas, burning tires, and motorcycles. Security forces intervened from the early hours of the morning to restore traffic on the highway connecting Santa Cruz with Beni and western Bolivia. The Minister of Productive Development, Oscar Mario Justiniano Pinto, justified the intervention by stating that San Julian is on a "critical route" to ensure the supply of food, fuel, medicine, and oxygen between Santa Cruz, El Alto, and La Paz. "That is why a joint action between the Police and the Army has determined to enter this area," he commented. Justiniano assured that the Government held dialogue processes with different sectors for weeks, but stated that "radical groups, groups with purely political interests, have continued to persist." He also stated that the intervention seeks to "recover this area," restore transitability, and allow the population of San Julian "to also generate a normal life, to generate work." The clashes occur amid protests and blockades that have affected different regions of Bolivia for five weeks. The mobilizations, demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz, have left at least ten dead, 37 injured, and more than a hundred people prosecuted, according to the Ombudsman's Office. Of the fatalities, seven are said to have died due to the inability or delay in accessing medical care because of the blockades."
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