Bolivian President Evo Morales raised the minimum wage by 20 percent on Wednesday in a bid to defuse social tensions over hefty fuel price increases that have sparked protests in the impoverished Andean country, according to Reuters. Morales' government cut state fuel subsidies on Sunday, pushing up prices by as much as 83 percent and triggering a strike by truckers and bus drivers. Bolivia's largest trade union called for a day of national rallies to denounce an increase in fuel prices, joining powerful citizen groups in criticizing the leftist Morales in a protest with roots in his support base. "I've chosen to look after the national economy even though this will cost me politically. Let them say that this is making Evo Morales weaker. They can say whatever they like, but my first priority is the motherland," Morales said in a televised speech. The decision to cut fuel subsidies is part of a plan to encourage more investment in the energy sector. State energy company YPFB has said it will pay more for crude oil. As well as increasing the monthly minimum wage by 20 percent to nearly $115, Morales, who is popular among the indigenous majority, also announced year-end bonuses for public-sector workers as a means to offset price increases resulting from the rise in fuel prices. The country's largest trade union, the Bolivian Workers Central group known by its Spanish acronym COB, called for "a national day of rallies against the fuel hike" on Monday. COB, an umbrella organization that covers all of Bolivia's trade unions, including workers in the mining, manufacturing and energy industries, called for rallies in Bolivia's major cities and protesters were expected to block roads. Other groups, including opposition parties and citizens groups, plan to stage protests throughout the country. "Whatever they do to offset this, it won't be enough ... What the government has to do is to revoke the fuel price increase and stay with the people who have supported them," said Fanny Nina, the head of FEJUVE, which groups neighborhood associations in El Alto, a city of nearly one million people and traditionally a Morales stronghold. MEETS WITH LOCAL LEADERS Local media said Morales met grass-roots leaders to explain the government's decision to cut the fuel subsidies and listen to complaints. He also held a special meeting with government ministers late on Tuesday. Two Bolivian presidents from 2003 to 2005 were toppled amid social protests in which El Alto citizens groups played a key role. But the historically volatile country has been relatively stable since Morales was elected in 2005 as the nation's first indigenous president. Miners, teachers and peasant farmers often take to the streets to press specific demands, although most still back Morales because of his efforts to redistribute the wealth from the country's vast natural gas reserves. But opposition to the fuel price increase has brought together a wide variety of groups who fear that food, transportation and consumer goods will soon be out of the reach of many poor Bolivians. After winning re-election by a landslide in 2009, Morales vowed to deepen leftist reforms to give the state a bigger role in the economy. He nationalized the energy industry in 2006, which is centered on natural gas exports. Bolivia has the second-largest natural gas reserves in South America, after Venezuela, and it supplies Brazil and Argentina. Brazil's Petrobras, Spain's Repsol and France's Total are among the biggest foreign investors in the Bolivian energy industry.
