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<font size=3>TWO ARTICLES<br><br>
All of Bolivia's Social Movements Unite: Reality Changes Once
Again<br><br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/9/13539/63259" eudora="autourl">http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/9/13539/63259</a><br><br>
By
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/9/13539//user/uid:88">Luis
Gomez</a>, <br>
Posted on Wed Mar 9th, 2005 at 01:53:09 PM EST<br>
Good day, kind readers, this morning the landscape has changed and there
is a new story to tell. The social movements in Bolivia, ALL of them,
have united to coordinate their efforts, to organize more demonstrations
and fight against the new (or recycled) right wing that just last night
gave more power to the administration of President Carlos Mesa. Let’s
take a look at this immediate history… <br><br>
It was just after 9 in the morning, and about one hundred social movement
representatives and journalists were crammed into the small auditorium of
the Central Obrera Boliviana (the legendary COB, Bolivian Workers’
Federation). A dozen people sat up front, full of enthusiasm. Take a look
at the attendance list, because this phenomenon is nearly unknown in the
country’s recent history:
<ol>
<li>Evo Morales, congressman from the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS)
party, and coca-growers’ leader from the Chapare region.
<li>Felipe Quispe, el Mallku (the Condor) of the Aymara nation and
outgoing executive secretary of the Bolivian Farmworkers’ Federation
(CSUTCB).
<li>Jaime Solares, executive secretary of the COB.
<li>Roberto de la Cruz, El Alto city councilor, Aymara, known for his
participation in the uprising of October, 2003.
<li>The leaders of the Bolivian Landless Movement (MST).
<li>Román Loayza, alternate senator for the MAS and parallell CSUTCB
which answers to Evo’s party.
<li>Enrique Mariaca, an engineer from the Committee for the Defense of
National Patrimony
<li>Former police official David Vargas, one of the leaders of the
so-called <a href="http://narconews.com/Issue28/article616.html">Black
Februray</a> (2003) when the people revolted against a tax increase from
Sánchez de Lozada (at the request of the IMF).
<li>A bit later, Abel Mamani, well-known president of the Federation of
Neighborhood Committees, arrived in high spirits.
<li>In Cochabamba, Oscar Olivera, of the Coordinating Committee for the
Defense of Gas and Water, and Omar Fernández, leader of the Bolivian
irrigating peasant-farmers.
</ol>And there were more, of all colors, from all over the country,
protesting Carlos Mesa, who was ratified as president: the purpose of his
blackmailing resignation, in reality, was to pressure the Bolivian people
into a step back in what they were demanding and achieving in the
streets, above all on hydrocarbons (but also on water, on justice for the
massacres of 2003, on everything they are lacking and the justice they
deserve). <br><br>
The new alliance, which revives an entity known as the Estado Mayor del
Pueblo (loosely translated as the People’s General Staff, founded in
2001), has begin to guide the people in resistance against the coalition
of political parties and the government, which seeks to restrain the
social mobilizations. <br><br>
In his front-line trench, Mesa gave a press conference at 10 am. The
event reprised the points from his speech last night before the National
Congress: to retake his government agenda, this time together with the
traditional political parties, and not to permit any more social
mobilizations. <br><br>
Mesa has asked the people to demonstrate at noon tomorrow, in all the
plazas of Bolivia, against the blockades and marches. <br><br>
But there was something new as well… <br><br>
As some sectors of El Alto have remained firm in their blockades
demanding the exit of the multinational Suez corporation from the
administration of their water services, as the coca growers continue
blockading the main highway in the Chapare, as many people have refused
to abandon their demands just because Carlos Mesa demands it in order to
govern, President Mesa threatened to bring all the blockaders and
marchers to justice. That is, apply the law as always: against the poor
and working people of this country. <br><br>
The apparent defeat of the social movements last night was not
conclusive. The political class’ rallying behind President Mesa has
provoked the social movements and leaders to rally themselves in
response. We still don’t know what dimension this might take on for the
people, but we know that, for the moment, this new stage of the conflict
as not over yet. <br><br>
Between Conspiracies and Mesa's Apologies: The Movements Begin to
Radicalize<br><br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/10/5230/00694" eudora="autourl">http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/10/5230/00694<br>
</a>By
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/10/5230//user/uid:88">Luis
Gomez</a>, <br>
Posted on Thu Mar 10th, 2005 at 05:02:30 AM EST<br>
For the rest of the day (Wed, March 10), the Bolivian social leaders,
united in a new mobilization pact, held meetings in La Paz, El Alto, and
Cochabamba. In Santa Cruz, where the peasant farmers of Yapacani, in the
north, have maintained a blockade of the entire area, there have already
been conflicts in the city: the bus drivers, in response to the rise in
fuel prices, have begun a blockade and were brutally repressed at midday.
<br><br>
For its part, Carlos Mesa’s government now has a ministerial resolution
to criminalize the protests, and hopes with this to leave everything in
the hands of the attorney general, which arresting demonstrators and
blockaders as if they were criminals… ah, and Mesa is asking forgiveness
from Evo… let’s take a look at the immediate history. <br><br>
At noon, the bus drivers in the city of Santa Cruz set up a blockade in
one of the city’s most important areas. They were brutally repressed by
the police, and 80 drivers are in jail. Earlier this evening, 800
drivers, carrying torches and banners surrounded the main Santa Cruz
police barracks and demanded freedom for their comrades. With these
actions, the upheaval has reached Bolivia’s elite city of the so-called
“Cambas,” despite the fact that they were not coordinated with the
country’s other mobilizations. <br><br>
Meanwhile, in the eastern rural areas, the peasant-farmers of Yapacaní
have been maintaining a total blockade of the roads for days. Added to
this is are the blockades in the Chapare, in the highway that unites La
Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz… <br><br>
In Cochabamba, the social forces met up this afternoon, with Oscar
Olivera taking the lead, to radicalize the blockades installed since
Monday. Some of the neighborhood leaders of El Alto attended this
meeting, as part of the
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/9/13539/63259">new
popular alliance</a>, to begin coordinating mobilizations and strengthen
the existing ones. The main roads leading out of Cochabamba are blocked
and mobilizations in the streets are expected to begin tomorrow.
<br><br>
In El Alto, the main organizations (the merchants, the university
students, the women, and others) have met with Abel Mamani, president of
the Federation of El Alto Neighborhood Committees, to coordinate their
efforts. The people of El Alto will go back to their blockades and
mobilizations in a staggered plan: every day different districts and
sectors will be closed, until the city is finally in a state of general
strike. <br><br>
Don’t forget that districts 7 and 8, which make up the western edge of El
Alto, have maintained their blockades in all streets and avenues. Despite
the differences that have come up with the Fejuve leadership, the people
of these neighborhoods hope that the El Alto mobilization will come back
into focus. <br><br>
Members of the National Councils of Markas and Ayllus of Qollasuyu, an
organization based in the southern Potosí department, also arrived in La
Paz today. Their march, which paralyzed downtown La Paz for two hours,
arrived at the offices of the Defender of the People (the national
ombudsman) demanding a hydrocarbons law in accordance with the
aspirations of the Bolivian people, the organization of the Constituents’
Assembly, and the exit of the French-based multinational Suez corporation
from the city of El Alto… <br><br>
<b>Criminalizing Protest</b> <br><br>
The Carlos Mesa administration continues insisting on its “citizen”
gathering for tomorrow at noon, in all the country’s plazas, to reject
the blockades and other demonstrations… this call to the “silent
majority” (otherwise known as the middle class) could generate a few
confrontations. <br><br>
In any event, Mesa said asked that Evo Morales forgive him if he
“offended” Evo with his accusations. Evo responded simply that if Mesa
wants to debate, let him set the time, the date, and the place… but this
time he will have to face the nation, by himself. <br><br>
At the same time, the government’s moves to criminalize the social
movements by penalizing their protests have continued. Vice Minister of
Justice Carlos Alarcón is now working on a ministerial resolution to send
to Attorney General Pedro Gareca. In that document, Mesa and his cabinet
press Gareca to personally assume command of the Public Ministry and go
out into the streets to remove the blockades, imprison the people and
begin bringing charges against them. More than one media outlet has noted
the similarity between this action and actions Sánchez de Lozada took
during the insurrection of October 2003. <br><br>
Everyone is moving their cards around. Chamber of Deputies President
Mario Cosío (of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s Nationalist Revolutionary
Movement), said in a press conference this afternoon that modifications
to the new hydrocarbons law would be approved in the Senate. These mean
above all stepping back on all the “delicate” issues for the
transnational oil companies, like the so-called “indigenous veto” which
obliges the companies to consult native peoples about the possibility of
exploring or exploiting the hydrocarbons in their areas… and important
principle, if we consider that a good part of the known gas reserves, for
example, lie in indigenous Guaraní territory. <br><br>
There are strong rumors about a state of siege being announced, but the
atmosphere in the streets of El Alto and La Paz Is of a tense normality.
<br><br>
And so, this is not over, the mobilizations keep growing and linking up
and coordinating between each other… and Mesa, it is now clear, made a
poker play that seemed like a winning one yesterday and today, looking at
recent events, could end up taking him out of the game. <br><br>
Tomorrow we will continue this coverage… don’t turn off your monitors,
because much is yet to happen in the Andes.<br><br>
<br>
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