Bolivian Far-Right Groups Threaten Farmer Leader in Santa Cruz

On Tuesday night, Felipa Montenegro, the leader of the Bartolina Sosa Movement, which represents the rights of rural Indigenous women, denounced that she and her family received death threats from far-right groups that operate in the department of Santa Cruz.

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"We are in danger," she said at a press conference in which she stated that the threats come from people linked to politicians such as Santa Cruz governor Fernando Camacho, the Civic Committee president Romulo Calvo, and the Gabriel Moreno University rector Vicente Cuellar.

The leader Bartolina Sosa asked international human rights organizations to monitor what is happening in Santa Cruz, a territory where the stoppage called by the elites affects and threatens the most humble people.

Montenegro, who also revealed that drones fly over her house as a form of intimidation, is one of the social leaders who have opposed the so-called "called strike" called by the same politicians who supported the 2019 coup against President Evo Morales.

The tweet reads, "This is how the coup against the Luis Arce administration unfolds from Santa Cruz. There is no such thing as a democratic right-wing. The right-wing is always a coup plotter."

Over the last month, the resistance to the far-right in Santa Cruz claimed the life of Juan Pablo Taborga, who was beaten to death in Puerto Quijarro, as recalled by local outlet ABI.

“We are being bullied. It is time to take to the streets to demonstrate against those who believe they own Santa Cruz. We are tired of being intimidated,” Santa Cruz Farmers Federation leader Franklin Vargas said at the press conference.

"My deepest solidarity with sister Felipa Montenegro, who has received death threats due to her fight for the right to work," the Lower House president Freddy Mammany said.

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