[2] The highway project was supported by domestic migrants, highland indigenous groups affiliated with peasant organizations, and the government.

On 19 October the protest march reached the capital city of La Paz amid welcomes from the local population and the Information Minister, as security services were withdrawn from their posts guarding the presidential palace.

Protests were held in the national capital La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Yucumo, Rurrenabaque, Trinidad, San Antonio, El Alto and Beni.

Another provision in the new constitution explicitly referred to the defence of the communal rights of the indigenous communities over their traditional tribal lands.

[7] Morales said that the US$420 million, 300-kilometre (190 mi) highway project, funded by Brazil in the quest to access the Pacific Ocean,[7] would be a principal part of his infrastructure plan.

In response, indigenous leaders, who had in the past been supportive of Morales, reacted adversely; this caused a rift within the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party.

[citation needed] A study conducted prior to the protests estimated that 64 percent of the national park would be deforested in less than 18 years.

Other demands by the protesters also included a cessation of oil and gas extraction projects in the Aguaragüe National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area, as well as compensation for the effects of global warming.

[3] Following more than a week of protests, the marchers staged a larger demonstration in which they sought to circumvent a police crackdown by forcefully holding Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca to march with them.

Several government officials, including Minister of Interior Sacha Llorenty and Minister of Transparency Nardi Suxo, said that this was a "kidnapping" (secuestro), but Choquehuanca steadfastly refused to label it as such, saying that "the sisters and [female] comrades grabbed me, surely they had thought that they would pass that police encirclement with the Chancellor; I was not insulted, nor mistreated, but yes, they obliged me to walk.

"[12] Prosecutor[clarification needed] Patrica Santos, who was charged with investigating the events, received Choquehuanca's testimony to this effect on 21 November.

The Central Obrera Boliviana called for a 24-hour general strike;[16] though some businesses stayed open, schools and medical services were affected.

[20] On 30 September, over 10,000 protesters in La Paz carried banners that criticized Morales on the grounds that his government was "the worst and it should go because it attacked human beings, the indigenous compatriots who had given it their support, and now it's turned its back on them;" they also questioned his commitment to the rights of the indigenous peoples and the protection of "Mother Earth", that he had advocated during his election campaign.

[23] Several hundred indigenous protesters began a 580-kilometer march from the eastern Amazon lowlands region to the legislative capital of La Paz in opposition to Morales' continued support for the highway project.

[6] Morales had said that a referendum would be held over the project in the Cochabamba and Beni departments following protests by farmers from the 16 tribes of the national park in San Antonio.

[citation needed] On 11 October, the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia had approved the President's decision to consult with local indigenous tribes regarding the project.

Having nationalised gas and oil and introduced some immediate measures of social welfare, it seemed that the government of Morales would indeed, as he movingly declared at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, give priority to the protection of "Pachamama" and the long neglected rights of Bolivia's first nations.

And the defence of Mother Earth rings hollow when it is clear that the economic strategy the Morales government has adopted seems to rely on new contracts with a range of multinational companies to develop oil, gas, lithium and uranium reserves – in other words, the very extractive industries that had gutted Bolivia's subsoil at the expense of a population 69% of whom were living in poverty when Morales came to power.The BBC echoed the sentiment saying that Morales is accused of "authorising excessive police force" and "putting economic development ahead of the conservation of the Amazon rainforest."

With opinion polls suggesting Mr Morales' popularity is falling, some commentators are wondering if he will see out his second term in office, due to end in early 2015.

Or will he leave power like the two previous presidents, fleeing to escape mass protests by social movements who have learned that, in Bolivia, politics is made on the streets.Following the 2011 Bolivian judicial election, which resulted in a poor valid vote count after a campaign by the opposition to either boycott the election or cast blank ballots, Morales' standing was read as having been set back.