7/18/04: Since last October, the Bolivian people have been in an uproar over the government's plans to privatize the nation's supply of natural gas. Today was the date designated by President Carlos Mesa for a referendum to be held, a referendum which would decide the fate of the country's entire supply of hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, it has fallen dramatically short of the promises shelled out by Mesa when he was making a bid for the people's support, after watching them run the previous President out of town. In fact, it is nothing more than a vote on how transnational companies can privatize the natural gas resources in Bolivia, an attempt to make the people complicit in their own demise. Unions and local community organizations around the country have fought back against this slap in the face, calling on Bolivian citizens to abstain from the five-question vote in protest. Record numbers of Bolivians have done this, flouting the mandatory voting process by spoiling their own votes, rendering them invalid. Marches and blockades are also being organized, as tensions mount in Bolivia. PHOTOS: 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10

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UPDATE - 7/19/04: The Bolivian and American press are already spinning the "success" of the referendum as a victory for "democracy", decrying the "anti-democratic" actions of the Bolivian people who chose to abstain from the faux vote, especially the indigenous groups who would be most hard-hit by the gas pipeline plans. Indigenous leaders across the country reaffirm that the only hope in sight is to take the country back through another popular uprising.