the Aullagas Question, a controversy involving extraordinary expenditures by the President and his cabinet. The President took this as a challenge, interpreting the demands to be humiliating. As such, he became determined to shut down the Assembly himself. At 15:00, Morales met his ministers and aides-de-camp, announcing the following: "I shall close Congress. Whoever wants to follow me, follow me; whoever does not, do not". The Bolivian Army, stationed in front of the Government Palace, saluted Morales when he entered, singing the Bolivian National Anthem. The President entered the legislative salon alongside his ministers, General Ildefonso Sanjinés, and several other military officers. Morales entered the empty room and gave a lengthy and passionate speech:People! As the first magistrate of Bolivia, I have come to close this Assembly, whose benches today are deserted by a group of treacherous, infamous, and perfidious men, who, far from fulfilling their mission, have abused their power and authority to disrupt and hinder the progress of the government, attempting to make me seem a felon. They are the ones who cause the misfortunes of our country, a nation that had been destined to be great and today finds itself in poverty, covered with rags and misery. But, gentlemen, what could be expected from men who have come to occupy these benches for their own interest; of men without work, who have nothing else to eat but the sweat of the poor? Which of them has a position? Parasitic plants! You know them, and you know well that there are not even six of them that are not hungry for power… You know that I have been accused of being a thief! Me! Me! By those ruffians that have wanted to usurp your rights. You know me well; I am proud to have been born among you and under this sky. Taking the leadership of this country after our great revolution, I have wanted nothing more than justice and I have had no other intention than that in my conscience. I, gentlemen, have not stolen… the chief magistrate of the nation is poor like the people, and he has not been a Balthasar: he barely has enough to live in misery… By getting rid of these perfidious traitors, who have no conscience nor dignity, I have enthroned justice and liberty. That very freedom which is so great and so beautiful that it is the very happiness of