Bolivia Protesters Build New Barricades

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3263545,00.html

Tuesday October 14, 2003 9:16 PM
By KEVIN GRAY
Associated Press Writer

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Protesters threw up road blockades of giant boulders and burning mounds of trash in and around Bolivia's capital Tuesday, demanding the president resign after days of deadly rioting and clashes.

With stocks of food, gasoline and other basics dwindling, La Paz ground to a standstill. Leaders of labor unions and Indian groups called for more protests, a day after clashes between demonstrators and soldiers killed at least 16 people.

snip

President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who has refused calls to step down, remained secluded in his heavily guarded residence. The crisis began about three weeks ago when his free-market plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico ignited long-simmering discontent with his democratically elected 14-month-old government.

snip

As many as 60 people have been killed in three weeks of protests, according to human rights groups and local media. Authorities have not confirmed this figure.

end article

This story is huge but it is being buried by the US media, not surprisingly. The country is basically on the verge of revolution. The roads in and out of the country are blocked. There are ongoing battles between tanks and crowds of protestors. About 26 people were killed on Sunday when the Army opened fire with live ammunition on unarmed marchers. More have been killed yesterday and today. The leaders of the uprising have announced that the riots will continue until Sanchez is gone.

While Bushco fiddles in Iraq, Latin America is burning.

more backgound here: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/boli-o14.shtml

[morebunk]

1. PRESS IT, folks! The model of democracy has another enemy!

Wonder why THEY hate us?

[bemildred]

2. Verge my ass.

This is it, watch it.
They are going to starve the fucker out unless he can
convince the Army to do some serious killing. Even then
his odds are not great. When the Army tells him "Fuck You"
he is toast.

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3. UPDATE

Updates:

-- A group of military leaders calling themselves "Militares Patriotas" (Patriot Soldiers)" have read an announcement declaring their support for the protestors.
http://www.bigleftoutside.com/

-- NYTimes reports that "there were signs that the movement to topple Mr. Sánchez de Lozada was spreading to other parts of the country. Demonstrations took place in Cochabamba and Sucre, two important provincial cities, and labor unions in Oruro announced plans to march on the capital."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/international/americas/15BOLI.html?ex=1066795200&en=5874ba0ecd3959df&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

-- The Times also says, "As support for Mr. Sánchez de Lozada, a staunch ally in the American war on drugs, was ebbing here, his allies abroad were trying to shore up his position. In Washington, the State Department issued a statement warning that "the United States will not tolerate any interruption of constitutional order and will not support any regime that results from undemocratic means."

HA!

[bemildred]

4. Another story:

Bolivia smells of insurrection?

von Zapata - 13.10.2003 20:32

After resisting 48 hours of slaughter, automatic guns and death,
the rebellion of the poor, with its main force in the city of El Alto,
has expanded into the whole plateau region, attracting workers, coca
growers and peasants of other regions like the valleys and the east.

In the first hours of Monday, thousands of locals filled the hills of
La Paz , armed with stones and slings, confronting the soldiers and
the police who guard the 12 kilometer long highway that connects La
Paz with El Alto. There are barricades, there is machine-gun fire and
now and then a helicopter flies over.

In the middle of smoldering bonfires, set to fire during the night to
prevent an attack of troops loyal to president Gonzalo (Goni) the
Sanchez de Lozada, the locals, demanding his resignation, organized
themselves to descend to the center of La Paz where the government is
housed.

http://de.indymedia.org/2003/10/63325.shtmlhttp://de.indymedia.org/2003/10/63325.shtml

[Aidoneus]

6. interesting.. another--

Nice detailed background on gov't/IMF policies also.. The helicopter against virtually unarmed protestors is a fine touch, and the energetic backing of the ex-CIA US Embassy a predictable addition on the side.

26 reported killed
Bolivian troops massacre strikers
By César Uco and Bill Vann
14 October 2003

Bolivian army troops backed by tanks killed at least 26 workers and peasants and wounded some 90 more Sunday, as the US-backed government of President Gonzalo Sanchez Lozada unleashed murderous repressive force in an attempt to crush a month-long rebellion against his government’s International Monetary Fund-dictated austerity policies.

The army moved into the industrial suburb of El Alto, outside La Paz, which has been the center of the movement of strikes and protests that has challenged the government. Witnesses said that troops opened fire with machine-guns on residents of the town, who had nothing more than sticks and stones to fight back.

“They are massacring us,” reported Roberto de la Cruz, a union leader and organizer of the strike in El Alto. “There is no battle. They shoot at us at will, firing at the crowd.” Among the dead was a five-year-old boy cut down by machine-gun fire. Local hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of wounded, and appeals were made for donations of blood.

An attack helicopter was also used in the assault, which was aimed at breaking a virtual siege of La Paz by strikers and protesters. The army’s immediate objective was to resupply the capital’s dwindling fuel and food reserves.

--snip--

Opposition leaders charged that the US Embassy played a decisive role in urging the government to drown the protest movement in blood. US Ambassador David Greenlee served in the 1980s as the chief CIA agent in the country. He is widely blamed in Bolivia for the implementation of draconian repression against coca growers and in particular for a 1988 massacre at Villa Tunari that claimed the lives of 28 peasants.

In the present confrontation, the US Embassy is promoting violent repression to further the interests of the same handful of politically connected energy corporations whose interests have driven US aggression in Iraq and elsewhere.

--snip--

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/boli-o14.shtml

[bemildred]

7. What's interesting is it's not working.

It looks like they have a full scale popular revolt on
their hands, and the Army is turning. The one dead soldier
I read of was shot by his commanding officer for refusing to
shoot the protesters. At some point they turn the guns around,
and any officer with a brain knows it. de Lozada and his supporters
need to pull something of a hat soon, and damn if I can seen what.

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5. photos