More Marches in Bolivia as Protests Widen, But Still No Advance

May 30, 2005
Please Distribute Widely

Dear Colleague,

This morning they did it again: the steep kilometers that separate La
Paz from EL Alto were completely covered by the biggest march the
Bolivian capital has seen since October 2003. Workers, street
merchants, and other groups from El Alto led the human serpent... and
behind them the Aymara peasant farmers, who have also kept the roads
coming into the city from the northern provinces blocked since last
Thursday. Nevertheless, despite so much activity, the social movements
have not decided on an offensive advance and have limited themselves
to surrounding the central plaza and holding an assembly there, as has
become the custom....

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/5/30/191911/883

More than 20,000 people returned to the streets today, Monday, in La
Paz. The first to mobilize were the groups and labor union affiliated
with the El Alto Regional Workers' Federation (Central Obrera Regional
de El Alto), most of them merchants and vendors. They were more
than10,000 all together. At 9:30 am, under this burning sun, dynamite
could begin to be heard, and at that time, we began to descend with
them towards downtown La Paz.

Behind them, a similarly-sized contingent of Aymara peasants began to
come down as well... these farmers, especially in the northern
provinces, are maintaining and, little by little, expanding blockades
of roads leading into the interior of La Paz department (the large
region surrounding the city, equivalent to a state or prefecture).
They are now preventing agricultural products from reaching urban
markets.

Below, in the populous Plaza de Héroes, all activity collapsed for
several hours. The demonstrators - among them the peasant farmers of
the southern La Paz province of Sud Yungas, the mineworkers, and
others - saturated the streets with slogans, cries, and marches. Why
so much emphasis on the immensity of the protest, kind readers?
Because this morning, media-savvy President Mesa, in his first public
appearance of the week, said that the groups mobilizing to demand
hydrocarbon nationalization are "minorities" and that those leading
the new wave of protests are "irresponsible leaders."

And while the Bolivian president spoke in defense of the National
Congress and repeated for the nth time that he would not resign, his
Minister of Government, Saúl Lara, had taken charge of filing
conspiracy charges against the two lieutenant colonels who last week
called for a military uprising, as well as against social leaders
Jaime Solares (executive secretary of the Bolivian Workers'
Federation, or COB) and Roberto de la Cruz, an Aymara member of the El
Alto city council. With this move, the government seems to not only be
cracking down on the civic-military plot we spoke of a few days ago,
but also, while they're at it, criminalizing all the other mobilized
opposition groups....

At midday, the sectors that had marched held an assembly to reaffirm
their slogans for nationalization, Carlos Mesa's resignation, and the
closing of Congress. After this they demobilized... and announced that
tomorrow they will return in even greater force. Tomorrow, of course,
the National Congress should be in session, surrounded by the people,
to define the organization of the Constituents' (constitutional)
Assembly and the so-called vote on departmental autonomy in Bolivia, a
demand of the Santa Cruz right wing.

Meanwhile, the El Alto general civic strike, decreed by the Federation
of Neighborhood Committees (FEJUVE), is nearly in full force. In the
principal avenues, the residents managed to paralyze all traffic, as
well as commercial activity all across the Aymara metropolis just
next-door to La Paz. There are even barricades in a few important
intersections, and the Alteños have warned that beyond closing the
city, they will descend into La Paz.

For the moment, the strength is there, restless, but the advance has
still not been decided on (although at this hour of the afternoon,
small dynamite blasts can still be heard in the streets)... tomorrow,
among the sessions of Congress, marches, and other demonstrations, the
landscape could change. So keep paying attention as the events develop...

http://narcosphere.narconews.com

From somewhere in a country called América,

Luis A. Gómez
Acting Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com
Email: luisgomez [at] narconews.com

Narco News is supported by:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 241
Natick, MA 01760
http://www.authenticjournalism.org

The Fund receives online donations at this web page:

http://www.authenticjournalism.org