Many injured in Bolivia protest

Two people were killed and about 70 were injured when pro-government protesters demanding the resignation of the governor of Bolivia's Cochabamba region clashed with his supporters.

The violence began when the supporters of the governor, an opposition politician, clashed with thousands of rival stick-wielding protesters and police on Thursday.

The pro-government protesters had occupied the central square in Cochabamba city since Monday.

The protests were organised by supporters of Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, who opposes Governor Manfredo Reyes Villa's plans to call a referendum granting regions greater autonomy from La Paz.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC987618-DE22-4106-9727-17E86FE787E5.htm

Two Bolivians killed, 70 injured in street battles
Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:47pm ET

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LA PAZ (Reuters) - Two people were killed and more than 70 injured on Thursday as supporters of leftist President Evo Morales and political opponents battled each other with guns, sticks and rocks on the streets of Cochabamba in central Bolivia.

Fighting broke out when supporters of Gov. Manfredo Reyes Villa entered downtown Cochabamba, 275 miles east of La Paz, which had been occupied since Monday by thousands of protesters demanding he step down.

Reyes Villa is at odds with the national government over his plans to call a referendum on regional autonomy.

The protests against him are organized by supporters of Morales, the country's first indigenous president. Morales is highly popular in the Cochabamba region, where he first came to prominence leading protests by farmers of coca, the main ingredient for cocaine.

State-owned television network TV7 said two people, one of them a coca-leaf farmer, were killed, but it was not immediately clear how.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-11T234702Z_01_N11439722_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOLIVIA-GOVERNOR.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C1_%5BFeed%5D-9

http://www.selvas.org:8080/foto/Bolivia/ReyesVilla30_6_02.jpg

are almost always the people, not the Darth Vaders with the submachine gun, rifles, handguns and CS gas hoses. The news items may say that "70 were injured and 2 killed in clashes," or, "Violent clashes caused....," but the CAUSE of death and injury is almost always the cops and their fascist bosses. People assemble, people protest, people commit civil disobedience, people demand something of their government--and the Darth Vaders are brought out to suppress them. If they pick up sticks and stones, they are DEFENDING themselves against attack, against BULLETS and other lethal weapons. Crowds like this, in a political demonstration of the poor against the rich, in a place like Bolivia, don't START with sticks and stones. They don't start with ANY weapons--as is obvious by the fact that, backed against the wall, all they have are sticks and stones to fend off military-style attack.

I have seen too many peoples' protests in my lifetime, and read too many news articles about them, not to know this as a 99% maxim: The people don't start the trouble--the police and the paramilitary hit squads do!

That said, I am very concerned about agents provocateur in this situation. The Bush Junta, and its fascist allies in Bolivia and throughout South America, want nothing more than to destabilize these new leftist (majorityist) governments that have been elected in South America, especially the Andean democracies (Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador), which control so much oil, gas, minerals and other resources. We need to be aware of this on any stories of disorder coming out of South America, and especially Bolivia, where the new government led by Evo Morales is not only pledged to nationalize gas reserves, but has also taken a stand against the murderous US "war on drugs"--the main means the Bushites have of killing leftists and peasants in the region and restoring fascist dictatorship.

What Gov. Reyes is trying to do is to split off his state province from the federal government, to acquire control of the gas and other resources. It is similar to the "states rights" position of southern states in the US to, first of all, maintain slavery, and later to support the "apartheid" of segregation and unequal citizenship for black Americans. It is an economic strategy to oppress a class of people--in the case of Bolivia, the vast, poor, brown, indigenous population--to prevent them from achieving the rightful benefits of their country's natural resources. These fascist forces have every reason to try to provoke Morales supporters, and to try to destabilize the country, in their effort to SPLIT THE COUNTRY UP--much like those in the US south who started the Civil War. So we should be very wary of reports about who caused what, who burned what, and who is causing death and injury.

For instance, note this Reuters paragraph: "Reyes Villa told a press conference that Morales was directly responsible for the bloodshed for not asking his supporters to give up in their protest."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-11T234702Z_01_N11439722_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOLIVIA-GOVERNOR.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C1_%5BFeed%5D-9

Why should they give up their protest? Reading between the lines, Reyes Villa sent paramilitary thugs into Cochabamba to attack the protesters, and the protesters defended themselves. THEN he calls in armed police forces to "quell the violence."

And where is a quote by Morales? Reuters was right there, on the spot, to get Reyes' quote. This is orchestrated Corporate Ruler propaganda.

Next Reuters line: "Bolivia's recent history has been plagued by massive street protests."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-11T234702Z_01_N11439722_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOLIVIA-GOVERNOR.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1

"Plagued?" Yeah, they plagued Bechtel Corp.--and evicted Bechtel from their country, for privatizing the water in Cochabamba, then jacking up the prices to the poorest of the poor, even charging poor peasants for collecting rainwater! That's a "plague" we can all get behind.

Plague, indeed. The war profiteering corporate news monopolies are the plague. War and vast injustice are the plague.

:eyes:

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12280503.htm

Clashes in Bolivia highlight tensions
Saturday, January 13, 2007

COCHABAMBA - The Associated Press

Violent protests over a Bolivian state governor's call for more local autonomy killed two and injured more than 60 while playing out a larger power struggle between President Evo Morales and the country's opposition-controlled state governments.

Bolivian military officials estimated the two rival factions together totaling 30,000 demonstrators -- most armed with sticks, rocks, baseball bats, and machetes, and a small few carrying handguns -- overran police in the streets of Cochabamba on Thursday during the fourth straight day of protests.

Authorities claimed a force of 1,500 soldiers had been dispatched to the city to restore order. But the downtown streets were deserted late on Thursday night, empty of both protesters and soldiers.

Pro-Morales protesters have for four days packed the streets and plazas of Cochabamba, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of La Paz, to demand the resignation of Cochabamba state governor Manfred Reyes Villa for his opposition to the president.
(snip/...)

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=63876

UPDATED: 10:30, January 12, 2007
Bolivia's former defense minister arrested on charges of corruption

Bolivia's former Defense Minister Fernando Kieffer was arrested on Thursday on charges of embezzling more than 1 million U.S. dollars from public funds, according to news reports reaching here.

A spokesman for the Supreme Court told media that the Attorney General had ordered for the arrest. Kieffer will be moved to La Paz, from Sucre, where the court is headquartered.

Kieffer is charged with making a deliberate overpayment to Panagra Air, as part of an aircraft purchase during the 1997-2001 presidency of Hugo Banzer.
(snip/...)

http://english.people.com.cn/200701/12/eng20070112_340595.html



Former monster right-wing dictator Hugo Banzer, Fernando Kieffer, Banzer & Aznar

Here's a review of Banzer's illustrious career, to remind you of what kind of national leaders our right-wing Presidents have been installing and supporting in Latin America:

COLONEL HUGO BANZER
President of Bolivia

In 1970, in Bolivia, when then-President Juan Jose Torres nationalized Gulf Oil properties and tin mines owned by US interests, and tried to establish friendly relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union, he was playing with fire. The coup to overthrow Torres, led by US-trained officer and Gulf Oil beneficiary Hugo Banzer, had direct support from Washington. When Banzer's forces had a breakdown in radio communications, US Air Force radio was placed at their disposal. Once in power, Banzer began a reign of terror. Schools were shut down as hotbeds of political subversive activity. Within two years, 2,000 people were arrested and tortured without trial. As in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the native Indians were ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity. Tens-of-thousands of white South Africans were enticed to immigrate with promises of the land stolen from the Indians, with a goal of creating a white Bolivia. When Catholic clergy tried to aid the Indians, the regime, with CIA help, launched terrorist attacks against them, and this "Banzer Plan" became a model for similar anti-Catholic actions throughout Latin America.
(snip/)

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

Bolivia Protesters Pressure Governor

By DAN KEANE
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 14, 2007; 10:14 PM

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Demonstrators loyal to President Evo Morales continued their weeklong vigil in this central Bolivian city on Sunday, calling for the opposition-aligned state governor to resign for backing a movement to give the country's nine states greater autonomy.

Cochabamba, 140 miles southeast of La Paz, was calm over the weekend, after violent street battles Thursday between protesters, many of them coca growers, and supporters of Gov. Manfred Reyes Villa left two dead and more than 130 injured.

Elected 13 months ago as Bolivia's first Indian president, Morales has remained the head of Bolivia's largest and most politically powerful coca growers' union, whose members are among the president's most fervent backers.

At a news conference Saturday night at the union's Cochabamba headquarters, Morales said the protesters' demand is justified and congratulated them for avoiding further violence.

"They're asking for his resignation, which is legitimate, though not legal," Morales said. "Within the frame of democracy, we can seek a solution."
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/14/AR2007011401142.html