Radio Erbol: Bolivia Congress Delays Session Until Afternoon

“The Congressional session that was called for 10:30 a.m. will now begin sometime in the afternoon… because there are no ‘guarantees’ yet in place for the safety of the legislators and the party leaders have not yet reached agreement as to how to proceed.”

As of 10 a.m., Radio Erbol estimated the crowd of protestors outside the meeting hall at Plaza 25 de Mayo to be 7,000 people, with another contingent of “about 5,000” arriving at that moment from one nearby street, as other contingents including “city hall workers and university workers” were marching toward the plaza from other parts of the city.

The national radio network has various reporters in the field and is covering this story play by play: Indeed, it is the top story and the only story for 60 minutes per hour.

More of the network's updates are translated below the fold... The Radio network reports that there is a strong police presence, with “24 police per corner” on the streets nearest the Plaza, and “10 per corner” in nearby zones.

“There is a multitude surrounding Plaza 25 de Mayo,” noted one of the radio journalists on the air. “Congress is unable to convene. There is no agreement yet in Congress.”

Another reporter conducted a man on the street interview: “Yes, (the protest) is justified, because we are tired of this nefarious government that has led us all into misery.”

Another reporter, from the airport, noted that incoming legislators “are being transported in a bus normally used for maximum security prisoners.”

A reporter from La Paz just interviewed a leader of the confederation of labor unions who said that if Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez takes the presidency the unions will call a "national strike."

Yesterday, the radio network reported that the Catholic Church had called for elections as a solution to the crisis. In that context, this morning, came the words of military comandante Luis Aranda Granados, with other commanders, “dressed in uniform… they called on the Congress members to interpret popular sentiment and respect democratic order. “He said that the military will intervene against any armed confrontation between groups.”

“Aranda, echoing and alluding to the Church’s position, did not want to voice a position in favor of any possible successor of President Mesa… He asked that ‘the political actors simply act in the mark of serenity and dialogue.”

“The military announcement coincided almost textually with that of the Catholic Church’s,” reports Radio Erbol, “implicitly joining in the appeal for early elections and to make that possible that the sucession be ceded to the President of the Supreme Court, Eduardo Rodriguez.”

Immediate history... servido!