LatinNews Daily - 05 February 2024

*Protesters have provisionally lifted roadblocks around Bolivia following the reaching of a political agreement on the holding of overdue judicial elections. Ponciano Santos, the director of the peasants’ union Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (CSUTCB), which organised the protests, said that “we’re lifting the national blockade” and that demonstrators would now begin a vigil in La Paz until the promulgation of a law to convene judicial elections. On 2 February an agreement was reached between Bolivia’s main political parties to pass a law for the holding of judicial elections, although it remains unclear who the candidates will be; legislators’ failure to reach an agreement on a shortlist of judicial candidates was the reason for the delay in holding the elections. The protests, which went on for 12 days, were strongly encouraged by former president Evo Morales (2006-2019), who is hoping that the election of a new constitutional court (TCP) could result in the overturning of a recent ruling which disqualified him from next year’s presidential election by declaring that presidents may serve a maximum of two terms.