U.S. watching Bolivian situation

U.S. watching Bolivian situation
Jun 1, 2005, 21:01 GMT

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it had spoken with the government of Bolivia about maintaining democracy there in light of violence in the country.
"We are in touch with the government," spokesman Richard Boucher said.

He said Washington was also in touch with regional leaders about the situation, which would likely be discussed in a meeting next week of the Organization of American States.

"We`ve stuck with talking to the government about the security situation, about the situation as regards democracy and maintaining the democracy in Bolivia," Boucher added.

Earlier Wednesday, Bolivian police arrested protesters opposed to government plans to nationalize gas resources who were trying to enter the Government Palace in La Paz, El Universal reported.
(snip/...)

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southamerica/article_8388.php/U.S._watching_Bolivian_situation

Earlier Wednesday, Bolivian police arrested protesters opposed to government plans to nationalize gas resources who were trying to enter the Government Palace in La Paz, El Universal reported.

Police used tear gas to disperse the thousands, mostly coca leaf growers.

Coca leaf growers opposed to nationalizing gas resources...?

I can definitely see the benefit of nationalizing this rapidly diminishing resource, similar to Chavez in Ven., but am wondering how this would affect coca leaf growers, in particular, and why they would be opposed to nationalization of gas.

fuel costs cut into their profit.

High fuel costs charged by foreign companies operate to transfer wealth from Bolivia to Houston, Wall St, or wherever the profits of those companies are realized.

Obviously, Bolivian farmers (and any and every indigenous industry) want to see wealth accumulate and circulate in Bolivia before it flows overseas (and they want that flow overseas to occur when Bolivians chose to do it, and not by force).

They think the present government plan does not go far enough.

It is also false that most of the protestors grow coca.

as the Apostate has pointed out, its looking like another one of dem dangerous socialist revolutions!

Narco news is running daily, and sometimes more frequent, updates...

coverage of this story.

They pointed out that all the pro-privatization sources the NYT uses are economists and professors while the anti-neoliberal sources are uneducated peasants.

They also noted that the liberals are called market "reformers" even though privatization is the policy and that it's the protesters who want to reform the law so that energy market isn't a wealth-concentration device. Technically, the protesters are the market "reformers."

Jun 2, 2005 — By Mary Milliken

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - <snip>

After two weeks of protests, 60 percent of Bolivia's highways remained blocked and six major cities isolated, including the capital. <snip>

The main opposition and indigenous leader, Evo Morales of the Movement to Socialism, left parliament in a huff and said: "Now the battle will be on the streets."

Mesa, who unsuccessfully tried to work with the indigenous majority, has vowed not to use violence against protesters and has limited police intervention to tear gas to disperse protesters and some arrests of vandals. No one has been killed or seriously injured in the two weeks.

The Foreign Ministry maintained that Bolivia's situation "doesn't justify international mediation" after the State Department said Bolivia would be discussed at the Organization of American States general assembly next week.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=815006

This disrespects the public in using "subtle" ways to influence readers to devalue the opponents of neo-liberalism.

Describing the situation in which Evo Morales left Parliament "in a huff," there is every intention of trivializing the actions of a man who was undoubtedly dead serious, and not overacting in any sense whatsoever. He's not a silly man.

I would imagine the right-wing leaders are frightened that this time they may not be able to kill everyone who dislikes them and their filthy, greedy ways. They just might be worried that their days of riding roughshod over the multitudes of desperately poor in this hemisphere are numbered.

(1) The emphasis on mass action; (2) the discipline shown to date; and (3) the Bolivian insistence that foreigners should stay out of their internal struggles.

Bolivian president takes action to defuse protests
03 Jun 2005 05:16:31 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Mary Milliken

LA PAZ, Bolivia, June 3 (Reuters) - Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, faced with the worst social upheaval of his mandate, signed a decree on Thursday on two key demands in hopes of ending weeks of violent protests and narrowing the deep divide between rich and poor over energy resources.

Bolivians will go to the polls on Oct. 16 to elect members for an assembly to rewrite the constitution with the aim of redistributing power in favor of the poor indigenous majority, Mesa said.

On the same day, he said, Bolivians will vote on a referendum for greater autonomy for provinces from La Paz, a demand of the wealthy eastern provinces where most of Bolivia's gas and oil lies.

Mesa announced his intervention after the fragmented Congress failed to reach a consensus for the third day in a row, while indigenous protests raged in the streets of La Paz and brought the capital to a standstill.
(snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02226655.htm

explain please