Bolivian Natives March for a Road

La Paz, Dec 26. -A march of Bolivian natives in favor of an interdepartmental road through the Indigenous Territory Isiboro Secure National Park (Tipnis) will continue on Monday towards the city of Cochabamba, where they expect to arrive next Thursday.The final destiny of the march is La Paz, where they will demand the modification of the Tipnis protection Act and the resumption of construction of the second section of the road

Cochabamba-Beni, in that national park, the major chief of the South Indian Council, Gumercindo Pradel, told press media.

The marchers demanded the construction of the road through the Tipnis, because it means developing and improving the living conditions of communities embedded in the nature reserve, with the establishment of schools and medical centers, as well as enable the forest dwellers to trade their products.

The mobilization of about 500 indigenous people, who live in this nature reserve, left last Wednesday from the locality of Isinuta, Beni.

In a previous walk in October, leaders of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (Cidob) demanded that the Bolivian government stop the construction of that road.

The directors of Cidob promoted the enactment by the government of the Law 180 to protect the Tipnis, declare it an intangible ecological zone of the Amazon and prohibit the road from passing through it. (Prensa Latina)