Thousands call on Bolivian leader to resign

[Judi Lynn]

Oct. 15, 2003, 8:33PM

Thousands call on Bolivian leader to resign
Miners clash with troops; 2 die
Associated Press
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched Wednesday in major cities around Bolivia to call on the president to resign, as popular resistance to the government spread in South America's poorest country. Two people were reported killed.

About 1,000 miners clashed with government troops in the city of Patacmaya, 60 miles west of La Paz, killing two people and injuring nine others, radio and TV reports said.

Independent Radio Erbol and private broadcaster TV 21 said troops fired tear gas and live ammunition at the column of buses carrying marchers, who responded by tossing lit sticks of dynamite. (snip)

(snip) Many voiced angry opposition to the president's plan, since suspended, to export natural gas from southern Bolivia's underground reserves to the United States and Mexico -- a project that critics claim would only benefit the wealthy.

Human rights groups and local media have reported up to 65 deaths in three weeks of street clashes between mostly Indian demonstrators and troops. The authorities have reported at least 16 deaths, but have not confirmed the higher figure. (snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2160026

[La_Serpiente]

1. I feel sorry for them

The indigenous people there don't have any rights at all. The cocaleros, as they are called, have been making Coca leaves for centuries. It's part of their culture. However, the United States continues to pursue it's WAR ON DRUGS and rips them of their culture. The Coca Leaves are used to make cocaine, but it is manufactured outside of the country AND the it needs much more substances to make it hard core cocaine. If anything, they should be attacking the fermentation processes outside of the country.

[Say_What]

2. Statement of Solidarity and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples

<clips>

Statement on Bolivia from the participants of the First International Encounter of Solidarity and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples and Peasants in Caracas

By: First International Encounter of Solidarity and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples and Peasants
Bolivia, a country located at the heart of the American continent, is currently going through a difficult political, economic and social situation, the product of the neoliberal and genocidal administration of the government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and of the imperial and war mongering pressure of the United States. The 12th of October of 2003, a day consecrated to the indigenous and peasant resistance on a world-wide level, in El Alto de La Paz, troops and police assassinated more than 29 Bolivians, children and seniors, men and women, who spilled their blood to defend their natural gas, their resources, the people’s dignity, and the sovereignty of a people. In only a year and a month of governing, the neoliberal coalition of the Revolutionary National Militia, MIR, UCS and NFR, 101 Bolivians were assassinated. No one is guilty, impunity reigns.

In the present conjuncture, the Bolivian government tries to export the gas resources to the United States and Mexico, it criminalizes the social protests, unjustly arrests union leaders and popular leaders, obediently follows the mandates of North American imperialism through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), unconditionally adheres to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), and obeys the aims of the World Trade Organization (WTO). While in Bolivia’s democracy a dictatorship and a virtual state of siege are lived in practice, in Venezuela, a land of profound revolutionary changes, we met more than 3,000 representatives from different countries in the Encounter of Solidarity and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples and Peasants. In the face of this unjust and cruel situation of internal and external colonialism that is being imposed for external aims, the Bolivian people has said enough! and, for that reason, reclaims just and horizontal participation in the decisions and the future for its children.

Due to the dramatic situation that the Bolivian people are facing, the Encounter of Solidarity and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples and Peasants, which is taking place in Caracas (Venezuela), between the 11th and the 14th of October of 2003, declares:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/docs.php?dno=1006

[Say_What]

3. The IMF and the Bolivian Crisis

75& of Bolivians live in extreme poverty.

<clips>
The current crisis in Bolivia is social, economic and political. Socially, despite improvement in service coverage, poverty and vulnerability have been increasing. The vulnerability of families to shocks and displacement, especially among the rural poor, has worsened dramatically. Economically, growth has been poor, and accompanied by growing structural unemployment and underemployment. Over 7 of 10 new jobs created in the past 15 years have been in the "informal" sector. And politically, Bolivia faces a dramatic crisis: as never before, governments and the "political class" - as it is referred to here - face a deep crisis of legitimacy.

These three areas of crisis are clearly linked to policies imposed by the international financial institutions, in particular the International Monetary Fund. Research shows clearly that the policies prescribed by the IMF have, among other things, not produced strong or sustainable growth; opened countries, communities and families to new vulnerabilities; exacerbated inequalities, which puts a brake on growth, stresses political systems to the breaking point, and engenders new and powerful forms of criminality and social tension.

Bolivia has been a model student of such "reforms", and is now also a showcase for the contradictions and crisis these policies engender. After almost 2 decades or "reform" and structural adjustment, Bolivia is growing slowly if at all; Bolivians are increasingly vulnerable and poor; while society n general is increasingly inequitable and patently unjust. Mention should be made of the political aspect. IMF policy prescriptions have systematically removed essential economic policy decisions from political process. This "emptying out" of substantive political has much to do with the crisis of legitimacy of the "political class". Successive governments are limited to administering policy prescriptions. The IMF has recognized the call by Civil society organization to include "macroeconomic issues" in PRSP dialogs, but disingenuously (cynically?) suggest that such issues must be taken up by national governments - the same governments whose hands are tied by IMF conditionalties.

The current crisis in Bolivia bears the imprint of IMF policies, both in terms of background conditions and immediate causes. Anemic growth due to factors both internal and external to Bolivia have resulted in a dramatic fiscal crisis; the deficit is now estimated at over 8%. IMF prescriptions have been for more austerity and belt tightening: on the expenditure side the IMF calls for "flexibilizing" government spending, which means adjusting public sector salaries to national economic performance; and permitting the devaluations to erode the value of pension payouts. The anti-poor nature of these measures should be clear.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=52&ItemID=4359

[Judi Lynn]

4. Just found information which I'd not seen before

outlining U.S. plans for Latin America:

(snip) In fact, the principal mechanism used by the U.S. to guarantee its economic and geopolitical hegemony worldwide is military force—which represents a tremendous threat to all of humanity. In Latin America, some examples of this structure are:

• The installation of military bases in Manta (Ecuador), Três Esquinas and Letícia (Colombia), Iquitos (Peru), Rainha Beatrix (Aruba) and Hato (Curacao). These new bases complement the U.S. encirclement of the region, which already included bases in Puerto Rico (Vieques), Cuba (Guantanamo) and Honduras (Soto de Cano). The U.S. is also planning to build bases in El Salvador and in Argentina, and to gain control of the Alcântara base in Brazil.

• The training of Latin American militaries, as in the case of Operation Cabañas in Argentina, with the participation of 1,500 officers from the U.S., Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. According to government documents from Argentina, the objective of this training is to create a “unified military command” to combat “terrorism in Colombia, in a battlefield littered with civilians, non-governmental organizations and potential aggressors.” This command would act in the triple border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The authorization for the entry of U.S. troops into Latin American countries includes guarantees of diplomatic immunity.

• The U.S. is continuing to train Latin Americans at the School of the Americas, and will set up the Law Enforcement Academy for the Americas in Costa Rica, which has the goal of influencing legislation in the countries of the region, to benefit U.S. political, economic and military interests.

• The installation of mechanisms like SIVAN (System of Surveillance of the Amazon), a $1.4 billion project with surveillance capabilities over 5.5 million square kilometers. Plans for SIVAN include the purchase of military aircraft, like the A-29 Toucan. The Pentagon wants to build a huge radar facility in Argentina, as part of an international surveillance system.

• The strengthening of the U.S. defense industry. For example, the Manta base, with the ability to control airspace over a 400 km radius, will be the responsibility of DynCorp, accused of having close ties to the CIA. The Manta base will be equipped with E-3 AWACs and F-16 and F-15 Eagle fighters to patrol the Amazon region, the Panama Canal Zone, and Central America. Other defense contractors, like Raytheon and Northrop, have projected a 50% increase in earnings this year.

- more -

http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/cc.htm