Paro Civico - A Retrospective

Well late Thursday night transportation decided to support the strike. Word on the street is that they wanted a three day weekend. I don't put much faith in the word on the street because the buses and trufies run on the weekend, along with all the taxi companies. It was amazing to watch the news Friday morning with Betty and see footage of the center. The main streets were completely empty, when usually it is bumper to bumper traffic at all times of the day and night. Betty explained to me, an realize that it is no secret that she is a supporter of Evo and doesn't like Manfred at all, that this paro civico was different than in the past. Normally, if it is a legal paro civico then people are allowed to attend work or not as they please. Yesterday, however, citizens had set up blockades and were harassing people that were trying to walk to work, not supporting the strike.

The class policy at the Institute for paro civicos is, as I said, come if you feel comfortable. I didn't feel comfortable, so I planned on staying home. Betty, at about 9am and with sheer joy, ran into my room and said that the blockades were weakening and the police were present to help keep the peace. She called the school and said that a handful of teachers and about 20 students had shown up, AND that if I didn't go to class I would be supporting Manfred. I was kind of restless at the house and just decided to head down to school. Since there weren't enough teachers for the students we formed groups of five or six and had conversation class for the morning. Obviously, conversation stuck mostly to the paro civico and it was interesting to get the different perspectives. Taxis were running during the day, independently from their companies, but the buses and trufies were quite apparently missing. By the end of the work day, between five and six, the paro civico was technically over and the taxi companies and restaurants opened up again. I still didn't see any buses running even into the night but there were people eating in restaurants and out at the clubs. I watched a lot of news yesterday but didn't see groups of protesters or demonstrators. For the most part the city just seemed pretty empty. I felt perfectly safe and just chalked it up to another day of living in a politically active country.