At least nine were injured, including four police, and some 30 detained when security forces clashed with unionists of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) blocking a highway through Cochabamba department June 30. The action was part of a 72-hour strike called to oppose the government closing of the state textile firm Enatex. National Police troops used tear-gas to break up the roadblock, and protesters responded with rocks and clubs. The COB has repeatedly called general strikes in recent weeks to demand the government annul the decree liquidating the firm and dismissing 850 workers. The COB supported President Evo Morales when he too office in 2006, but now accuses him a "neoliberal" economic policy. Morales has declared the strike "illegal," saying that only 180 of the dismissed workers are refusing to accept severance pay, and "for this number, they cannot paralyze the country." (InfoBae, Bolivia Prensa, June 30)
