BOLIVIA: The country that stops to claim democracy

A whole country stops today. Tons of citizens are out blocking the streets. Millions didn’t go to work because they prefer defending democracy. Universities, offices, restaurants, supermarkets are closed. TODAY BOLIVIA STOPS. Do you wonder why?

Today marks two years in which Bolivian citizens voted against Evo Morales running for presidency for the fourth time.

¿A bit of context?

Two years after becoming President of thePlurinational State of Bolivia, Evo Morales changed the Constitution in his favor, so that he could have a third and last mandate. Filled with power and seeing that his rightful time in government was ending, he sees fit to come up with the idea of running for a fourth time. But this time, people wanted to be heard.

Pretending to show an interest on what the population wanted, the Head of State decided to call a referendum in which the people would decide if he got to run for candidate for a fourth time.

NO. The answer was utterly clear.

Today the voices of democracy were silenced. The already made decision suddenly changed when the Consititutional Court stated that Evo Morales could postulate to become President for the fourth time.

Today we were fooled. Today our democracy was broken.

Today we fill the streets to show our discontent with the government and prove that we will not be silenced anymore.

Originally published at https://medium.com on February 22, 2018.