Morales allies vow to step up protests in Bolivia

By David Mercado

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Thousands of coca farmers allied with Bolivian President Evo Morales vowed on Friday to keep up their protest against a conservative provincial governor, a day after two people were killed and dozens wounded in street battles.

More than 20,000 people, many brandishing sticks, massed in a plaza in downtown Cochabamba, to demand the resignation of Gov. Manfred Reyes Villa, a political opponent of Morales who has led a regional autonomy drive.

"We are not going to leave this city until Manfred Reyes Villa steps down," protest leader Omar Fernandez told the throng.

"If Bolivia's elites want more people to die, then more people will die. But we want a united Bolivia, not one divided like this country's oligarchy wants," he said.

The protest leader said thousands of peasants were en route to this lowland city, where anti-Reyes Villa protests first flared on Monday.

Wielding guns, sticks, and machetes, demonstrators seeking the governor's ouster battled with his supporters in pitched street battles on Thursday. Continued...

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