Following Massacre, Bolivians Demand Extradition of Former President Residing in the U.S.

AlterNet / By Aldo Orellana

Following Massacre, Bolivians Demand Extradition of Former President Residing in the U.S.

Ten years ago, following the violent suppression of the Bolivian people, the U.S. facilitated the safe passage of Bolivia's disgraced president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to Maryland.


October 21, 2013 | On the night of October 17, 2003, Bolivians were witness to an extraordinary split-screen spectacle on their televisions. On one side was the image of the nation’s President, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, fleeing by commercial airliner for the United States. On the other was the image of Sánchez de Lozada’s Vice-President, Carlos Mesa, taking the Presidential oath before the Bolivian Congress and asking the nation to observe a minute of silence for the more than 60 people killed during government repression over the previous month. Last week marks the 10th anniversary of Bolivia’s Octubre Negro, or Black October.

The Gas War

The events that would oust a sitting President and alter the course of Bolivian politics in deep and lasting ways began in September 2003 as news spread of Sánchez de Lozada’s plans to export Bolivia’s gas and oil at bargain prices through Chile to the U.S. Soon popular uprisings against the plan exploded across the Bolivian highlands. Sánchez de Lozada – a close ally of the U.S. whose 2002 election was managed by Bill Clinton’s campaign team – had already presided over a wave of repression in February of that year. In his efforts to meet a command for economic belt-tightening from the International Monetary Fund, the President imposed new taxes on people earning as little as $100 per month. The round of protests and repression sparked by that move left 34 people dead. When the new protests over his gas plans erupted, his response with troops, violence and bloodshed was more severe still.

In the end, even his own Vice-President broke with him and Sánchez de Lozada’s only remaining ally was the U.S. Embassy. That U.S. support prolonged the violence for another week until the U.S. finally facilitated the disgraced President safe passage to suburban Maryland where he has lived a decade unaccountable for his massacres.

“Glory to our martyrs fallen in the Gas War!! Long live the city of El Alto.” These were the words this week as mourners in Bolivia’s highlands visited the graves of their family members murdered in September and October 2003.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/following-massacre-bolivians-demand-extradition-former-president-residing-us