La Paz, July 27 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Bolivian government officials on Sunday met with representatives from the Potosí Civic Committee (Comcipo), an umbrella organization comprised of labor unions and civil society groups, in a bid to end an ongoing strike.

Comcipo members have been on strike since July 6 and are demanding immediate government action to provide more public services and employment opportunities as well as the construction of various public works projects. “We are going to address all of the demands that Comcipo has presented. We will not avoid anything. We will address each one of the demands starting with the issue of energy,” Bolivia’s Minister for the Presidency Juan Ramón Quintana stated on Sunday.

Leading up to Sunday’s negotiations, violent clashes erupted on Wednesday, between police and members of Comcipo, whose members detonated sticks of dynamite in La Paz, resulting in the arrest 51 demonstrators.

As a condition for entering into Sunday’s talks with the government to resolve the general strike in Potosi, now entering its 20th day, was the release of all those in custody. Since then Bolivian prosecutors released 47 demonstrators who took part in violent protests in support of the demands being made for the southwestern region of Potosi.

Government officials argue, that under President Evo Morales, La Paz has invested $543m in infrastructure development projects in Potosí since coming to power in 2006.