Bolivia president suspends construction of highway

[Bacchus39]

Evo backs down. Indigenous protesters successful at least temporarily (and of course the CIA and USAID too)


http://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-president-suspends-construction-highway-022604836.html

RURRENABAQUE, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's president late Monday suspended a planned Amazon highway that has sparked clashes between police and Indians who say the road would despoil a nature preserve that is home to thousands of natives.

President Evo Morales also distanced himself from the decision to break up a protest march Sunday. His announcement came hours after police released hundreds of activists when mobs of local people blocked roads and an airport to prevent the detainees from being taken out of the area.


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The proposed 190-mile (300-kilometer) highway would connect Brazil with Pacific ports in Chile and Peru. Plans called for it to cross Bolivia's 600-square-mile (12,000-square-kilometer) Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory National Park, which is home to 15,000 indigenous people who live off hunting, fishing, gathering native fruits and subsistence farming.

The residents fear an influx of settlers would destroy their habitat, felling trees and polluting rivers. Environmentalists say the road would mostly benefit Brazilian commercial interests such as timber exporters while endangering a pristine nature preserve.

[naaman fletcher]

1. I wonder

Why would he back down against CIA trouble making?