Morales said that the US$420 million, highway project, funded by Brazil in the quest to access the Pacific Ocean, would be a principal part of his infrastructure plan. The highway would connect the agricultural region of Beni with the commercial crossroad of Cochabamba; it would also reduce travel time by half as it short-circuits Santa Cruz, a region that had opposed Morales' presidency. In June, he said that the highway would go ahead "whether they (indigenous groups) like it or not". 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. Some MPs of the party expressed their support for the protesters, as well as the demands of the roughly 12,000 residents of the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park (which is both a national park and an autonomous territory that is under the auspices of the Yuracare, Moxeno and Chiman indigenous peoples) in the Amazon Basin, which is home to 64 indigenous tribes and where the highway was proposed to be built.
