[Steven_K]

From The New York Times:

Bolivian Leader Loses Allies as Demonstrations Spread
By LARRY ROHTER

Published: October 15, 2003


A PAZ, Bolivia, Oct. 14 — Despite moves by the military to tighten its control of the capital, President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada's hold on power grew more tenuous on Tuesday, as demonstrations demanding his resignation spread to provincial cities, and important political allies scrambled to distance themselves from him.

Advertisement


"If the solution to preserving Bolivian democracy passes through the resignation of the president, we cannot put that aside," said Manfred Reyes Villa, leader of the conservative New Republican Force, a crucial part of the president's fragile governing coalition. "I've been clear: We have to listen to the people."

Three cabinet ministers from the New Republican Force announced that they were suspending their participation in the government, though not formally stepping down, and a minister representing another party has formally resigned. Their actions came after Vice President Carlos Mesa broke with Mr. Sánchez de Lozada on Monday, accusing him of the indiscriminate use of force to quell the growing protests.

More than 50 people have been killed here since Saturday in clashes between mostly Indian demonstrators carrying sticks and slingshots and the heavily armed troops the president ordered into the streets.

A spokesman for the coroner's office here said "nearly every last one" of the victims had been shot to death, some at point blank range.

The antigovernment demonstrations began nearly a month ago, initially to protest a proposal to build a $5 billion pipeline to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico via a port in Chile.

Groups representing poor Indian peasants who make up a majority of the country's population organized the effort and were soon joined by labor unions, student and community groups and opposition political parties like the Movement Toward Socialism. The forces of globalization have affected every Latin American country in one way or another, but nowhere other than in Bolivia has the conflict erupted with such intensity between the government and the indigenous poor.

But as a result of the recent bloodshed, the focus of the protests has now shifted to demanding the resignation of Mr. Sánchez de Lozada, a 73-year-old millionaire businessman. Elected last year with only 22 percent of the vote, the president has accused his opponents of being part of "a seditious plot" supported by drug lords and leftist guerrillas.

Demonstrators and weeping relatives carried the bodies of some of the dead through the streets of the capital and the nearby suburb of El Alto on Tuesday, chanting "murderers, murderers" and "Goni must go," referring to the president by his nickname. Family members said they were refusing to bury the victims until the coroner's office had certified the cause of death as gunshot wounds, making them eligible for a government indemnity.

Of those known to have been killed, only one has been confirmed to be a soldier. Citing witness accounts, local news organizations reported that he was executed by his commanding officer after refusing to fire on demonstrators.

All of the casualties thus far have occurred in the La Paz metropolitan area, but 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.

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."

With roadblocks having shut all six of the main highways in and out of the capital, La Paz has become a city under siege. Tanks and armored cars moved into position around key buildings, and the military high command issued a statement warning the people to avoid any confrontation with the troops patrolling the eerily quiet streets. As a result, a de facto state of martial law prevailed in many parts of the capital.

My favorite line is: "the United States will not tolerate any interruption of constitutional order and will not support any regime that results from undemocrat means." That is the most unbelievable hypocritical statement I have ever heard (or up there). It is the exact opposite of their position in Venuzuela. In Venuzuela, the US activly supported a coup and the ensuing managerial strike. They supported the ousting of a democratically elected leader through unconstitutional means. Now, less then a year later, they are saying that that cannot happen in Bolivia. Unbelievable!

[MB.]

Bolivia.... Che....

I can't help but feeling that had the US not intervened years ago, that this would have never happened.

[Comrade Ogilvy]

Bolivia's president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, was forced yesterday to suspend plans by British and Spanish petroleum giants to export natural gas to the United States via Chile as the death toll from a wave of protests approached 40.

Mr Sanchez de Lozada sets great store by his relationship with President George Bush's government, which has made huge efforts to secure fuel supplies from Latin America. But the opposition says Bolivia will receive little or nothing of the revenues.

The authorities warned that further protests could provoke a military coup. Faced with the prospect of civil war, the President stepped back for the first time yesterday.

But Congressman Evo Morales, a protest leader, said Mr Sanchez de Lozada's resignation would provide "the only political solution to this crisis".

His offer to shelve the plan was not enough. "What the Bolivian people want is that the gas remains in Bolivia for the benefit of Bolivians," Mr Morales said. The Bolivian workers' organisation COB is particularly incensed by plans to export the gas through a Chilean port. Landlocked Bolivia lost its access to the sea after a war with Chile in 1879 and resentment remains strong. Loss of a port contributed to decades of poverty for a country long dependent on the export of tin.

The pipeline trough Syria is suddenly not the only priority in Bush's 'war on terror'. However, I wonder how he is going to manipulatate his people into wagging an aggresive war on the evil terrorists of Bolivia.

[Rowan.]

there are completely minimum ways that anyone can stop America barging in on other countries political problem or futures. What right do they have to control the Americas? what right do they have to interfere with anything?

[Rowan.]

I have one thing to ay about Boliviar.......Vote President EVO!!! EVO!!!

[CasX]

Bolivia's Protests of Hope

"Gringo dictador, andate a Washington"

[Vincered]

A nice article.

I liked this part.

Bolivians are not just recovering their gas but regaining control of their destiny.