Bolivian Indian leader promises more trouble

[Say_What]

<clips>

Felipe Quisque leader of Bolivia’s main peasants’ organizations anticipated more “social agitation” for next April with the purpose of “deposing” interim president Carlos Mesa who took office this week after a month long of riots that forced the resignation of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

“This coming week grassroots will be deciding a tactical retreat and peaceful carnival festivities during February but in April problems will return”, said Mr. Quisque interviewed by foreign correspondents in La Paz, capital of Bolivia.

“I will sit face to face with president Mesa and demand he rejects the 1985 free market legislation imposed in the country. We can’t sacrifice a whole month of protest for a mere change of faces, because the current capitalist or imperialist system persists. Mesa’s government is the same as that of Sanchez de Lozada”.

Mr. Quiaque who has threatened with forcing “president Mesa out of office” and even “civil war” if peasants requests are not met is demanding the repeal of the Hydrocarbons Bill and annulment of the “secret” contract to sell Bolivian natural gas to United States and Mexico, both of which triggered the month long social and political turmoil.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2750

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. mere change of faces

Hey, good enough for America, good enough for Bolivia...

[Say_What]

2. US making no attempt to get 'muriKans out of Bolivia. Brazil, Argentina

Israel, and others all sent planes last week for their citizens. I hope this woman writes about what she saw and how she was treated by the US embassy when she gets back.

<clips>

Santa Fe Museum Official Stuck In Bolivia

...She was supposed to fly out of the country on Thursday. But riots were triggered by a plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico.

Roberts says at this point, the U.S. Embassy has no plans to get Americans out of Bolivia.

American Airlines isn't planning to resume service out of La Paz until Wednesday.

In the meantime, she says she's spending her time talking to people and taking walks near her hotel.

<http://www.krqe.com/regions/>

[Say_What]

3. BBC: Analysis: Bolivia still teetering

The US is spinning this as 'all is well' and trying to downplay the fact that the Bolivians threw out Sanchez de Lozada because of the gas deal with the US, but the BBC is singing a different tune. As the article points out, the new prez, Carlos Mesa, made it clear that he's not interested in serving out the rest of Sanchez de Lozada's term and is calling for presidential elections as soon as possible. This is not a good sign. Need to watch Uncle Sam on this one.

<clips>

Bolivia's hastily-appointed new president, Carlos Mesa, has told his cabinet that any mistakes they make could consign the country to the abyss.

The remarks - just days after his predecessor Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned in the face of violent protests that brought the country to a standstill - show Mr Mesa is acutely aware of the scale of the continuing crisis.

The swift handover of power may have bought time and temporarily defused the anger of Bolivia's impoverished indigenous Indian majority, despite the deaths of more than 60 people in the protests.

Mr Mesa was certainly quick to acknowledge the extent of the social and economic exclusion faced by indigenous Indians in Bolivia - and to state explicitly in his acceptance speech that "Bolivia is not yet a country of equals".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3207192.stm

[SpiralHawk]

4. And the Indian Wars continue

same as it ever was. Since 1492.

[Say_What]

7. Fuera Goni!!

[0007]

5. How many troops did the US send?

Somewhere I heard it was around ten thousand!!

[Say_What]

6. Troops in Bolivia?? Articles last week were very careful to say

that the US sending a small team of *security specialists* {read: CIA} to assess the situation amid civil unrest in South America's poorest nation and examine contingency plans for an evacuation of the U.S. Embassy if necessary, U.S. Southern Command said on Friday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17175208.htm

---

Democracy Now! is interviewing Luiz Gomez, reporter for the Mexican newspaper La Jornda and the website Narco News and Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center who is in Cochabamba. Might be worth a listen.

<clips>

...The Miami Herald interviewed the 73-year old former president holed up in a hotel in Miami. He spoke of his fears for the future of the country and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm…trying to recover from the shock and shame."

The President’s resignation brought with it a degree of peace in Bolivia. For the first time in a week, the airport was reopened, buses were running again and shops doing business. Many of the tens of thousands of workers and farmers who massed in the cities were reported to be returning home.

Sanchez de Lozada’s successor, the vice-president, Carlos Mesa, began his first day in office by pulling tanks and soldiers off the streets and calling for unity.

Mesa made clear he intended to break with tradition and go outside political circles and parties to form his cabinet - most of the 15 ministers he swore in yesterday are little-known economists and intellectuals. He also said he would hold early elections, and described himself as the head of a transitional government. He said, "If Bolivia loses this opportunity, if the president, the parliament and society do not understand that we are gambling with destiny, we could very quickly fall into very serious crisis."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/20/1454205

[Say_What]

8. New pres is calling for a REFERENDUM on the sale of gas to US and Mexico

excerpts from his acceptance speech.

<clips>

My first duty, fellow citizens, is to pay my most sincere tribute to the men and women of Bolivia who these days have given their lives for the fatherland, democracy, the future and life itself...

Today we cannot look at Bolivia if we do not look at those who for centuries have been excluded, if we do not accept that which is nothing other than a legitimate presence, a legitimate demand and a legitimate right for truly first-rate citizens of a country of equals. Bolivia is not yet a country of equals...

Because none of you is unaware that Bolivia's unity is in jeopardy, today I want to urge all Bolivians to understand ourselves as a whole, to respect one another, to put our shoulders together in that common scenario that we share...

My government has the challenge of addressing the issue of gas. The issue of gas cannot be addressed today without the participation of all Bolivians alike...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3203048.stm

[Judi Lynn]

9. How could he not know?

"Newly sworn-in Bolivian President Carlos Mesa has promised a referendum on the sale of natural gas to the US and Mexico."

Hope he doesn't intend to count the votes with Diebold machines.