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A Suspenseful Wednesday in Bolivia
La Paz was paralyzed again this morning, though only partially. The
merchants of El Alto, the rural schoolteachers and the urban
schoolteachers, and, once again, the rural Aymara leadership, have
returned to the streets of downtown La Paz.
merchants of El Alto, the rural schoolteachers and the urban
schoolteachers, and, once again, the rural Aymara leadership, have
returned to the streets of downtown La Paz.
June 1, 2005
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
La Paz was paralyzed again this morning, though only partially. The
merchants of El Alto, the rural schoolteachers and the urban
schoolteachers, and, once again, the rural Aymara leadership, have
returned to the streets of downtown La Paz.
There were a few incidents, but none to get too upset about… it seems
the social movements – faced with Senator Hormando Vaca Diez's
blackmail in saying that there were not guarantees of a congressional
session – have left the politicians alone for the moment, to see what
they'll do.
An important detail: the 1st regiment of the National Police has
decided, by consensus, not to go out to repress the people… and have
been internally persecuted by the government.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/1/203744/6962
This afternoon, the National Congress finally prepared to meet and
discuss the two questions that have caused so much tension in recent
days: the constitutional assembly and the referendum on regional
autonomy.
Again, again, they descended and filled the center of La Paz. Though
the marches' intensity was lower and there were practically no
confrontations, the Bolivian social movements have partially paralyzed
the capital. There were thousands of rural teachers, thousands of
urban ones, and thousands more from the federations of small merchants
from El Alto… they marched, protested and made it clear that they
would return again and again to keep demanding hydrocarbon
nationalization.
The Aymara peasant farmers were also present. There was an internal
conflict, between the Omasuyos province (where Achacachi, the capital
city of the Aymara world, is located) and the leader of the department
(departments are equivalent to states or prefectures, and contain
several provinces), Gualberto Choque. The people of Omasuyos, the most
militant of the rural Aymara, demanded that Choque finally lead a more
radical mobilization, and actually beat him for a while to teach him a
lesson. The Omasuyos contingent then marched through the city (up to
the doors of the gringo embassy itself) and shouted what was more of a
warning than a slogan to the people of La Paz: "We will sack this city
tomorrow if there is no solution."
This must be taken seriously, kind readers. The legendary Q'alachaca
Indigenous Headquarters is located in Omasuyos, where the Aymara
receive military training and plan their mobilizations… the Aymara
method of warfare is nothing new, but has existed for millennia.
This morning, while the marchers did what they've done every day for
more than a week, the local media began to receive reports of a mutiny
within the police. Officials speaking for the administration of
President Carlos Mesa denied the information: there had merely been an
attempt within Regiment No. 1.
A few minutes ago, however, one of the officers from that regiment
called Radio Erbol and clarified the issue: the police from that
regiment had decided, by consensus, to stop going into the streets "to
gas our women and our own children." The officer, who complained of
having been badly treated by National Police intelligence personnel,
demanded along with a group of his fellow officers "total
nationalization of the hydrocarbons."
And according to statements from Senator Hormando Vaca Diez, this
evening the long-awaited session of congress will happen, in order to
debate the two hot items shaking the country and the congressmen: the
constitutional assembly and the referendum on autonomy for the
departments. This reporter is heading over there in a few moments…
don't wander off and miss what's coming in the next few hours.
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
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
La Paz was paralyzed again this morning, though only partially. The
merchants of El Alto, the rural schoolteachers and the urban
schoolteachers, and, once again, the rural Aymara leadership, have
returned to the streets of downtown La Paz.
There were a few incidents, but none to get too upset about… it seems
the social movements – faced with Senator Hormando Vaca Diez's
blackmail in saying that there were not guarantees of a congressional
session – have left the politicians alone for the moment, to see what
they'll do.
An important detail: the 1st regiment of the National Police has
decided, by consensus, not to go out to repress the people… and have
been internally persecuted by the government.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/1/203744/6962
This afternoon, the National Congress finally prepared to meet and
discuss the two questions that have caused so much tension in recent
days: the constitutional assembly and the referendum on regional
autonomy.
Again, again, they descended and filled the center of La Paz. Though
the marches' intensity was lower and there were practically no
confrontations, the Bolivian social movements have partially paralyzed
the capital. There were thousands of rural teachers, thousands of
urban ones, and thousands more from the federations of small merchants
from El Alto… they marched, protested and made it clear that they
would return again and again to keep demanding hydrocarbon
nationalization.
The Aymara peasant farmers were also present. There was an internal
conflict, between the Omasuyos province (where Achacachi, the capital
city of the Aymara world, is located) and the leader of the department
(departments are equivalent to states or prefectures, and contain
several provinces), Gualberto Choque. The people of Omasuyos, the most
militant of the rural Aymara, demanded that Choque finally lead a more
radical mobilization, and actually beat him for a while to teach him a
lesson. The Omasuyos contingent then marched through the city (up to
the doors of the gringo embassy itself) and shouted what was more of a
warning than a slogan to the people of La Paz: "We will sack this city
tomorrow if there is no solution."
This must be taken seriously, kind readers. The legendary Q'alachaca
Indigenous Headquarters is located in Omasuyos, where the Aymara
receive military training and plan their mobilizations… the Aymara
method of warfare is nothing new, but has existed for millennia.
This morning, while the marchers did what they've done every day for
more than a week, the local media began to receive reports of a mutiny
within the police. Officials speaking for the administration of
President Carlos Mesa denied the information: there had merely been an
attempt within Regiment No. 1.
A few minutes ago, however, one of the officers from that regiment
called Radio Erbol and clarified the issue: the police from that
regiment had decided, by consensus, to stop going into the streets "to
gas our women and our own children." The officer, who complained of
having been badly treated by National Police intelligence personnel,
demanded along with a group of his fellow officers "total
nationalization of the hydrocarbons."
And according to statements from Senator Hormando Vaca Diez, this
evening the long-awaited session of congress will happen, in order to
debate the two hot items shaking the country and the congressmen: the
constitutional assembly and the referendum on autonomy for the
departments. This reporter is heading over there in a few moments…
don't wander off and miss what's coming in the next few hours.
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
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
May 31, 2005
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
In a march even bigger than yesterday's, the residents of El Alto and
the Aymara peasant farmers returned to La Paz this morning. More than
50,000 people covered an area of nearly 100 square kilometers: this
time they didn't just limit themselves to surrounding the Plaza
Murillo, where the president makes his speeches and congressmen decide
Bolivia's fate without taking the people's desires into account. Now
they have spread out to the neighborhoods bordering the city center,
where the middle class, exclusive merchants, and several embassies are
located. The pressure on Congress and the administration, though not
looking for confrontation, is now coming from dozens of vital
intersections.
And once again, the division between the social movements was obvious:
while some demanded hydrocarbon nationalization, others are simply
asking for the organization of a new constitutional assembly.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/5/31/20717/4474
For several hours the streets were only rivers of people, flowing in
all directions. In some cases, as in that of the students of the
Autonomous Public University of El Alto, the people endured gas
grenades the police launched to disperse them.
But they're still there: there is no order, no coordination, but the
urban space is theirs for the moment: the rural Aymara, the people of
El Alto (urban Aymara), the farming communities from south of La Paz,
the miners and the public school teachers, who decided to march to the
rich neighborhoods and are now several kilometers south of downtown.
The university students and the Movement of Unemployed Workers have
installed barricades in the Plaza de Héroes. The people of a few El
Alto neighborhoods, together with the Aymara peasant farmers of the
Omasuyos province, have managed to shut down Plaza Isabel la
Católica
(fifty meters from the United States embassy!).
The demands of this group, which is in no way homogenous, are all the
same: that the political class leave the country (President Mesa as
well as the Bolivian members of congress)… and the government,
which
accuses them of sedition and has militarized the central Plaza
Murillo, is so far unable to get out of its bunker. However,
Government Minister Saúl Lara ruled the use of force or the
declaration of a state of siege for the coming hours.
And at this moment, while I quickly describe for you all a few of the
scenes outside, the National Congress is deliberating on whether to
hold an official session. This evening, they should discuss whether to
hold a referendum on regional autonomy as requested by the right wing
of the city of Santa Cruz… the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS)
also
hopes that, finally, Congress will discuss and approve a law to
convene a Constituents' (constitutional) Assembly and definitively
change the face of Bolivia. Some groups allied to the MAS party are
demanding this in the streets.
What comes next, kind readers, amid all this chaos? It's difficult to
say; the people of El Alto and the Aymara peasants will not be leaving
for the rest of the day (and the number of demonstrators has now
reached something like 100,000)… and the MAS continues the
pressure on
all fronts, including through their representatives in Congress. For
now, more out of weakness than prudence, Mesa's government is not
leaving the small plaza where the military defends a few buildings
adorned with doves.
Stay with us, while we go back unto the streets and to the National
Congress to see what's going on….
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
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
In a march even bigger than yesterday's, the residents of El Alto and
the Aymara peasant farmers returned to La Paz this morning. More than
50,000 people covered an area of nearly 100 square kilometers: this
time they didn't just limit themselves to surrounding the Plaza
Murillo, where the president makes his speeches and congressmen decide
Bolivia's fate without taking the people's desires into account. Now
they have spread out to the neighborhoods bordering the city center,
where the middle class, exclusive merchants, and several embassies are
located. The pressure on Congress and the administration, though not
looking for confrontation, is now coming from dozens of vital
intersections.
And once again, the division between the social movements was obvious:
while some demanded hydrocarbon nationalization, others are simply
asking for the organization of a new constitutional assembly.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/5/31/20717/4474
For several hours the streets were only rivers of people, flowing in
all directions. In some cases, as in that of the students of the
Autonomous Public University of El Alto, the people endured gas
grenades the police launched to disperse them.
But they're still there: there is no order, no coordination, but the
urban space is theirs for the moment: the rural Aymara, the people of
El Alto (urban Aymara), the farming communities from south of La Paz,
the miners and the public school teachers, who decided to march to the
rich neighborhoods and are now several kilometers south of downtown.
The university students and the Movement of Unemployed Workers have
installed barricades in the Plaza de Héroes. The people of a few El
Alto neighborhoods, together with the Aymara peasant farmers of the
Omasuyos province, have managed to shut down Plaza Isabel la
Católica
(fifty meters from the United States embassy!).
The demands of this group, which is in no way homogenous, are all the
same: that the political class leave the country (President Mesa as
well as the Bolivian members of congress)… and the government,
which
accuses them of sedition and has militarized the central Plaza
Murillo, is so far unable to get out of its bunker. However,
Government Minister Saúl Lara ruled the use of force or the
declaration of a state of siege for the coming hours.
And at this moment, while I quickly describe for you all a few of the
scenes outside, the National Congress is deliberating on whether to
hold an official session. This evening, they should discuss whether to
hold a referendum on regional autonomy as requested by the right wing
of the city of Santa Cruz… the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS)
also
hopes that, finally, Congress will discuss and approve a law to
convene a Constituents' (constitutional) Assembly and definitively
change the face of Bolivia. Some groups allied to the MAS party are
demanding this in the streets.
What comes next, kind readers, amid all this chaos? It's difficult to
say; the people of El Alto and the Aymara peasants will not be leaving
for the rest of the day (and the number of demonstrators has now
reached something like 100,000)… and the MAS continues the
pressure on
all fronts, including through their representatives in Congress. For
now, more out of weakness than prudence, Mesa's government is not
leaving the small plaza where the military defends a few buildings
adorned with doves.
Stay with us, while we go back unto the streets and to the National
Congress to see what's going on….
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
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