Bolivia gearing up police with US help

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia gearing up police with US help

ISN SECURITY WATCH (21/07/05) - The US government is calling on manufacturers of riot gear to submit bids for a large order of equipment designated for police in Bolivia, where in recent years protests have resulted in numerous civilian deaths.

According to a government vender’s request, the gear should be shipped to the poor South American country by the end of the month, even though officials say they have yet to come to an agreement with a specific company.

The order specifications call for 3,700 upper body tactical padding suits for non-ballistic protection and an equal number of accompanying protective leg-wear.

Normally the US State Department - which is in charge of the riot gear procurement - looks for the best possible price, however, the request for Bolivian gear specifically states that “the primary considerations for award of a purchase order will be whether the items are suitable for the intended purpose and whether they can be delivered on time”.
(snip/...)

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=12260

[punpirate]

1. Now that's an interesting twist...

... "protests have resulted in numerous civilian deaths," so the US armors up the Bolivian police. How... uh, inventive....

Guess the economic hit men haven't been quite as successful as they wished. Now it's time for brute force to be applied to the campesinos.

Yup, they hate us for our freedoms. Not.

[sadiesworld]

2. Early preparations for the FTAA?

[punpirate]

4. I think oil and gas has something to do with it now...

... and Bechtel might want "its" water system back....

But, no sentient journalist could write a lead sentence like that without being wholly unclear on the concept of irony....

[krkaufman]

8. Yeah, that leap hurt by brain. Apparently "numerous" ...

... just wasn't numerous enough.

[cprise]

3. US-Assisted Martial Law:

"The fortress-like center would serve as the Bolivian army’s command center in times of unrest in the capital such as the killings that occurred during the de Lozada insurrection."

[Judi Lynn]

5. Oh, Jeez! I looked de Lozada up in Wikipedia.He was a Bush kinda guy.

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ximena Iturralde
de Sánchez de Lozada
Party MNR
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Bustamante (born July 1, 1930), familiarly known as "Goni", is a former two-term president of Bolivia. He is credited for "shock therapy" (with Jeffrey Sachs) — the extreme measures taken by Bolivia in 1985 to cut down on rampant hyperinflation caused by excessive government spending. He is also credited for a series of reforms during his first term that included decentralizing the country, bilingual education, and significant changes to the constitution.

He studied literature and philosophy in the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, MNR). He obtained 22.46% of the vote in the June 30, 2002 elections.


Gas War and resignation
Sánchez de Lozada was viewed by some as being too pro-US, to the detriment of Bolivian citizens. During the Bolivian Gas War, Sánchez de Lozada was criticized because multinationals continued receiving large share of profits from Bolivia's natural gas reserves. This angered many Bolivians and propelled a populist upriding led by syndicalists Jaime Solares and Roberto De la Cruz, cocalero Evo Morales, and indigenous leader Felipe Quispe, in part fed by rumors that Bolivia would export gas directly to Chile, a country widely despised since the War of the Pacific. The uprising that resulted in October 2003 had many different goals, converging eventually on calls for full nationalization of Bolivia's hydrocarbons industry.

The indigenous protests began July 2003 earlier over long-standing grievances with the Bolivian government. These protests involved highway road blockades which ended violently after Bolivian troops tried to free about a thousand tourists held hostage in the town of Sorata. The confrontation left six campesinos dead, and propelled charges of government repression.
(snip/...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_S%C3%A1nchez_de_Lozada



de Lozada and odd friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like _Bush doesn't want Bolivia to be able to get rid of the next right-wing slimeball would-be dictator.

[liberal N proud]

6. We are going to build up the police in Bolivia so we can attack them

later.
Just like Iraq, Just like Lybia.
Give the regime we want, control and power only to take it away later when they don't follow our rule.

[WhiteTara]

7. look for the death squads in Bolivia

But my real question is why the hell aren't these being sent to our soldiers in Iraq? Aren't their vests inferior and insufficient for the number of soldiers there?

[mudderfudder77]

9. Because this gear isn't meant to stop bullets..

This is for non-ballistic use...

[WhiteTara]

10. I just reread the article

and that is a really good point. But why would they want non-ballistic vests? Because they know that the people have only sticks and stones and they have all the guns? :shrug: