A news article tells of riots in downtown La Paz. Several large government buildings in the center of La Paz have been abandoned to rioters. The government broadcaster, Radio Illimani, was located in one of those buildings when I visited them in 1985, and they were still there a few years ago... probably still are. The article is at
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=589&e=5&u=/ap/20030213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_police_mutiny If that direct link is broken and does not work, try this index link http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=734 Such violence is not new to central La Paz. I remember that a block away from Radio Illimani and in front of the presidential palace was a 1940s style lamppost that merited a 24 hour military guard. In 1947, rioters drug the country's then dictator out of the presidential palace and lynched him from that lamppost. From what I've read, he probably deserved what he got, but the Bolivian army didn't take it too well, so the lamppost became a shrine. The presidential palace is called the "Palacio Quemado", or "Burnt Palace" for what should be obvious reasons. During the successful 1952 revolution, Radio Illimani was quickly captured and became the rebels' communications center as fighting continued just two blocks away for three more days. For more on the often violent history of Bolivian radio, see my article "Bolivia: Radio Under the Gun" at http://donmoore.tripod.com/south/bolivia/miners.html ===== Don Moore --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] <<<< NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS Radio & Latin American website: http://donmoore.tripod.com Other Highly Recommended: http://www.commondreams.org/ http://www.tompaine.com/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2003 is out! Order it now! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059677/hardcoredxcom ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt
