-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Special Offer-Earn 300 Points from MyPoints.com for trying @Backup Get automatic protection and access to your important computer files. Install today: </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/6347/6/_/1406/_/970342556/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com People In Bolivia Rise Up Again!! 9/25/00 [EMAIL PROTECTED] PLEASE CIRCULATE! Confrontation in Parotani Leaves Dead and Wounded, Tom Kruse ~ 24 September 2000 At least two people were killed and over 10 wounded today in confrontation between Bolivian military and protesters near the community of Parotani, about 350 km from La Paz, Bolivia's capital, when government troops, under civilian cover, fired tear gas and live ammunition on protesters. For more than a week Bolivia has been convulsed by waves of protests by peasants, coca growers, public school teachers and others. One key form of protest has been the blocking of major highways, effectively cutting off regions one from the other, and Bolivia from neighboring countries. In April of this year Cochabamba, Bolivia was the site of fierce protests that succeeded in reverting privatization of the local water system by a Bechtel Corporation affiliate, and forced substantive changes to water legislation that local communities felt would cause them to lose control of their indigenous water systems. In the current protests, local groups are demanding approval of those legislative changes and final termination of the contract with the Bechtel affiliate. Those protests were joined by rural and urban public school demanding wage increases, and coca growers demanding an end to US financed coca leaf eradication and military base construction in Cochabamba's Chapare region. At 1:30am this morning, the Bolivian Permanent Human Rights Assembly mediated negotiations between Prefect Jos� Or�as of Cochabamba and protest leaders, to allow a small number of trucks carrying chickens and buses carrying travelers, stranded for various day in Cochabamba. Protest leaders indicated they would make efforts to ensure safe passage of the caravan, but indicated that blockade leaders would be hard to reach until morning. At about 2:00am the caravan left, and, unbeknownst to the protest leaders, accompanied by about 100 heavily armed regular army troops. Protest leaders indicate that at no time during the negotiations did the Governor indicate the caravan would be militarized, and hand they known, they never would have approved it's departure. At 4:00am the first reports of confrontations between the military accompanying the convoy and protesters were reported. At just after 4:00pm the first confirmed reports of dead and wounded came in. Sacha Llorentti, representative of the Bolivian Permanent Human Rights Assembly, and member of the National council of Human Rights in Bolivia, and who mediated the negotiations that led to the caravan's departure, feels the Prefect Or�as lied to him. Llorentti commented, "We feel betrayed. At no time did the Prefect suggest that he would send dozens of well armed soldiers with the civilian convoy. Had we known, the [Human Rights] Assembly would never have played a role in negotiating the convoy's departure. We feel the Prefect deliberately used the Assembly and innocent travelers and truckers as cover for military operations." Protest leaders have called for a mass public assembly to consult with local organizations regarding the next steps to be taken. What is certain is that with the recent government violence, protests are destined to continue. END Weekly News Update On The Americas, Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~ Sept. 24 National Uprising Rocks Bolivia Campesino coca growers (cocaleros), public school teachers and other labor sectors joined in Bolivia during the week of Sept. 18 to press demands with a coordinated series of strikes, protests and roadblocks that had the country virtually shut down by Sept. 23. Cocaleros and other campesinos are demanding land rights, as well as protesting the forced eradication of coca crops and the planned construction of three new US-financed "anti-drug" military bases in the Chapare region. Bolivia's rural public school teachers have been on an open-ended strike since Sept. 13, pushing for a 50% wage increase among other demands; the strike was joined on Sept. 18 by the urban public school teachers. The Coordinating Committee for Water and Life, which organized a protest movement in the city of Cochabamba last spring against the privatization of the municipal drinking water system [see Updates #523, 532, 533], is also backing the new protests. On Sept. 20, some 20,000 people demonstrated in Cochabamba to demand that the government discuss implementation of a new water law. On Sept. 22 more than 5,000 teachers, campesinos and workers marched from Quillacollo to Cochabamba. Speakers at the subsequent rally called for the resignation of President Hugo Banzer Suarez. While the Committee was able to resolve some water law issues through talks with local authorities during the week, it is continuing a civic strike and roadblocks in solidarity with the teachers and campesinos. The other groups involved in the actions are following the same solidarity policy, insisting that all demands must be resolved before any protests will be lifted. The coordination was formally laid out in an inter-union pact between the different sectors. The Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the country's main labor federation, is backing the protests with a call for an open-ended general strike to begin on Sept. 25. As of Sept. 24, some 60,000 cocalero families grouped in the six campesino federations of the Chapare region had barricaded 300 kilometers of the main road that crosses Bolivia from east to west; members of the Only Union Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia (CSUTCB) are also blocking roads in La Paz department and other areas of the country, including important trade routes linking landlocked Bolivia to ports in Peru and Chile. As of Sept. 24, some 5,000 military and police troops had failed to clear the roads--as soon as the troops manage to break up a roadblock and move on, the protesters return to reblock the road. [La Republica (Lima, Peru) 9/19/00, 9/21/00, 9/22/00, 9/24/00, all from AFP; El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 9/24/00 from Reuters; Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 9/19/00 & 9/24/00; El Diario (La Paz) 9/23/00] Oscar Olivera, leader of the Coordinating Committee for Water and Life, said on Sept. 23 that the roadblocks around Cochabamba were intensifying, and would soon extend to the city's bridges. The same day, campesinos in Oruro department announced they will join the protests by blocking major highways in Oruro on Sept. 25 to press their own list of 11 demands, primarily concerning land and environmental issues. Urban and rural teachers have also threatened to step up their protests on Sept. 25. [ED 9/24/00] END Bolivia: Oil And Gas Fields Seized On Sept. 20, some 300-400 campesinos seized three oil fields in Sara province, Santa Cruz department, as part of the national protest movement. On Sept. 22 the oil fields remained shut down, with protesters refusing to let anyone leave the area. The oil fields belong to the Chaco company, an affiliate of the transnational corporation BP-Amoco. [LR 9/21/00 from AFP; LT 9/23/00] Indigenous protesters from the Ayoreo and Chiquitano tribes shut down two natural gas pipeline construction camps in Santa Cruz department, also apparently in conjunction with the national protests. Bolinter, the company building the pipeline, managed to evacuate all its personnel from the sites by Sept. 22, and is counting on government security forces to protect the equipment left behind. Bolinter was contracted by Gas Oriente Boliviano (GOB), a local consortium of the transnationals Enron and Shell, to build the gas pipeline, which is eventually to run from Bolivia to an electricity generating plant in Cuiaba, Brazil. The occupations were organized by the Federation of Ethnic Peoples of Santa Cruz (CPES) to demand that GOB fulfill promises it made to local communities for an indigenous development plan, the paving of roads in the communities, construction of a classroom and drilling of a water well. Indigenous leaders say they'll continue negotiations with company executives and local authorities, but will not end their occuption until demands are met. [ED 9/23/00] END Government Attacks, Negotiates, Attacks On Sept. 21, three people were wounded, one of them seriously, when combined forces of the Bolivian army and police attacked campesinos on a bridge that links the town of Chimore with Villa Tunari, the epicenter of the protests in the Chapare region. Feliciano Mamani, executive secretary of the Federation of Cocaleros of Villa Tunari, was one of the wounded; he was hospitalized after a military bullet ripped through the bones in the lower part of one leg. Another victim was a 13-year old boy, hit by a tear gas grenade while watching the protests from the balcony of his home. A student, a journalist and a soldier were injured during protests in Villa Tunari the previous day. [LR 9/22/00 from AFP] On Sept. 22, the government surrounded Villa Tunari with a massive troop blockade. Unable to stop the protests, the government finally agreed on the afternoon of Sept. 23 to meet with campesino leaders--including cocalero leader and legislative deputy Evo Morales Ayma--to discuss a solution. The campesino leaders were transported in an Air Force plane from Villa Tunari to the meeting at the Cala Cala church in the northern zone of the city of Cochabamba. The talks were brokered by Msgr. Jesus Juarez, vice president of the Conference of Bolivian Bishops [LR 9/24/00 from AFP; ENH 9/24/00 from Reuters; LT 9/24/00] Campesino leaders refused to accept a government demand that the roads be unblocked before negotiations could start. "They put the condition on us that the roadblocks be lifted, [but] that would be foolish, a trap, because we have already gone through that," explained CSUTCB executive secretary Felipe Quispe Huanca. "In April we lifted [the protests] and inexperienced leaders entered into negotiations, they signed an accord, but it turns out that after more than three months there's nothing and the same thing could happen again," said Quispe, who is known to his followers as "el Mallku" ("condor" in the Aymara language). [LT 9/24/00] On Sept. 23, as cocaleros began observing a "truce" for the negotiations, military and police troops tried to dislodge a group of protesters from El Castillo, just outside Villa Tunari. Four people--including a bus passenger stranded by the roadblocks--were wounded by bullets. Another three people, including a soldier, suffered other injuries. The negotiations began around 2pm; by midnight, the cocalero leaders and the government representatives had worked their way through five of the 13 demands. A break was called, with talks scheduled to resume on Sept. 24. Taking part in the negotiations are Presidency Minister Guillermo Fortun, Agriculture Minister Osvaldo Antezana, Cochabamba prefect (mayor) Jose Orias, and Fernando Rojas, secretary of the Conference of Bolivian Bishops. The points on which agreement was reportedly reached include: the creation of a University of the Tropics under the auspices of Cochabamba's San Simon Major University (UMSS); the paving of the route from Ivirgarzama to Puerto Villarroel; help in finding markets for alternative products; no expulsion of cocaleros from the Chapare region; and revision of the National Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA) Law. [LT 9/24/00] The cocaleros charge that government troops have been retaliating against communities in the Chapare region by burning homes and stealing property. The government has also cut off drinking water to Villa Tunari, and has cut off telephone access to a number of communities. Overall, at least 15 people have been reported wounded by bullets, with a similar number injured in other ways, and nearly 40 people arrested; the cocaleros are asking representatives of the Catholic Church, human rights groups and the media to come to the area to act as observers. [ED 9/24/00] On Sept. 22, President Hugo Banzer Suarez insisted that despite the widespread roadblocks and protests, "there's no risk that a state of siege will be imposed." Banzer, who ruled Bolivia as a dictator from 1971 to 1978, explained that "these protests are the fruits of a democratic process and they are protected by the political Constitution of the State, as long as they are carried out peacefully." [Amid similar protests in April this year, Banzer decreed a state of siege that lasted for two weeks--see Updates #532-534.] Banzer claimed drug traffickers are financing the cocalero protests. [LR 9/24/00 from AFP; ENH 9/24/00 from Reuters; LT 9/24/00] Information Minister Manfredo Kempff reiterated on Sept. 23 that the government will not stop the eradication of coca plants, but rather will intensify its efforts. [ED 9/24/00] END US "Concerned" About Bolivia Uprising On Sept. 23, US ambassador Manuel Rocha expressed "concern" over the current conflictive situation in Bolivia. Asked by a news agency reporter about the possible impact of the protests on US-mandated coca eradication programs, Rocha said: "We will be mindful of any proposal that the [Bolivian] government may make toward modifying the program and the goals that have been drawn up with regard to eradication under Plan Dignidad," the US-sponsored anti-drug program. Rocha clarified, however, that he had not yet received any such proposal from the Bolivian government. The Banzer government has set December 2000 as the deadline for the complete elimination of coca cultivation in the Cochabamba tropics. Bolivia's new deputy minister of social defense, Roberto Lemaitre Mendoza, has hinted that the coca elimination goals could be set back by two months because of the latest Chapare protests. [ED 9/24/00] The first US-funded "anti-drug" military base in the Chapare region is set to be built in October of this year on army-owned land in the area of Chimore, Defense Minister Gen. Oscar Vargas confirmed over the weekend of Sept. 17. Vargas said that information about the contractor that will build the base is in the hands of the US Embassy, which controlled the bidding process. The other two bases are to be located in Ichoa and Villa Tunari. The Bolivian government estimates that the total cost of building the three bases will be at least $2 million--the amount committed by the US Southern Command for the project. The bases were designed by Southcom engineers with Bolivian army engineers last January; each base is to house 500 troops. [ED 9/18/00] END To read more on Bolivia please visit: http://www.1worldcommunications.org Ravi Khanna, Director 1world communication P. O. Box 2476 Amherst, MA 01004 Phone: 413-323-7629 Fax: 413-323-9348 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web-site: http://www.1worldcommunication.org Signup to join 1world list. Get updates and participate in discussions. Send a blank e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) 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