TORONTO -- A second wave of protests against Bolivia鈥檚 President Evo Morales flooded some of the country鈥檚 biggest cities Thursday, as thousands poured into the streets for a 鈥渃abildo,鈥� or public demonstration.
Morales, who has been in power for 14 years, is facing a threat to his re-election on Oct. 20 over his perceived inaction on the wildfires that have decimated the Bolivian countryside.
A grassroots movement aided by civil rights groups have been calling for mass protests across the country, and for a 鈥渧oto castigo鈥� -- a protest vote -- against Morales to oust him from power after many consider turnover illegal and unconstitutional.
Thursday鈥檚 cabildo movement occurred in the cities of Cochabamba and La Paz, and attendance was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, further expanding the movement from a protest on Oct. 4 in Santa Cruz that human rights groups estimate 1 million people took part in.
Jhanisse Daca, founding member of Bolivian human rights and environmental activist group , documented the , telling CTVNews.ca in an email that the group is 鈥渟o happy to see so many people mobilized.鈥�
Daca says the movement is centred around renouncing Morale鈥檚 recent agricultural legislation aimed at upping production to expand exports to China, which environmental groups say directly contributed to the wildfires, and a call-to-action that Morales鈥檚 unprecedented run for a fourth term is in violation of the Bolivian constitution.
鈥淲e are focused on two things right now: fighting the fires and holding the government accountable,鈥� Daca said.
