Bolivia: Opposition blockades push for leader's release
Trucks are snarled and people in the Santa Cruz region have to find ways to skirt blockades that opposition leaders set up across the area considered to be Bolivia's economic engine to protest the detention of Gov_ Luis Fernando Camacho late last year ... SAN CARLOS, Bolivia -- Outside Santa Cruz, Bolivia's most populous city, the highway starts to resemble a parking lot with dozens of cargo-laden trucks stopped in a long line as exhausted-looking drivers wait by the side of the road. Wet clothing hangs from the windows of some trucks. The vehicles are blocked by large mounds of sand piled on the highway as it passes through the town of San Carlos, 68 miles (110 kilometers) from Santa Cruz. No cars or trucks pass the mounds, only motorcycles transporting people. “This measure is to make the government realize that they can’t live without Santa Cruz,” said Micol Paz, a 32-year-old activist with Santa Cruz Gov. Luis Fernando Camacho's Creemos political party. The detention ...