Truck drivers and producers block cargo access to Viru Viru International Airport to demand that the government of Rodrigo Paz guarantee free transit in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on June 19. Roadblocks demanding the resignation of Bolivian President Paz disrupted transportation and caused shortages of fuel, food, and medical supplies. File Photo by Juan Carlos Torrejon/EPA
July 7 (UPI) -- Bolivian prosecutors have requested six months' pretrial detention for Vicente Salazar, one of the union leaders behind protests that brought the country to a standstill for more than 50 days.
On Monday, a court ordered Salazar transferred to the maximum security Chonchocoro prison in the Andean highlands near La Paz.
Salazar, the top leader of the La Paz Department Farmers Federation "Túpac Katari," was arrested by Bolivian police in the city of El Alto. Prosecutors accuse him of being one of the principal organizers and intellectual authors of the nationwide road blockades that disrupted the country between May and June.
According to the formal charges, cited by local media outlets ERBOL and El Deber, Salazar signed an "Interinstitutional Agreement of Unity and Loyalty" to coordinate the road blockades with other organizations.
