Bolivian government holds talks with opposition

Last Updated: Saturday, September 13, 2008, 09:37
Bolivian government holds talks with opposition

Bolivia's government and a main opposition rival emerged from marathon talks today voicing hope for reconciliation, after 15 - mostly pro-government peasant farmers - had been killed in clashes with right wing backers of the opposition.

Leftist President Evo Morales called the talks to try to defuse a bitter power struggle with opposition regional governors who are vehemently opposed to his socialist reforms and want a bigger share of energy resources for their regions.

The governor of natural gas-rich Tarija province, Mario Cossio, held talks at the presidential palace with the country's vice president into the early hours. He said he was representing three other rebel governors who rejected talks.

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Officials said at least 15 people - mostly pro-government peasant farmers - had been killed in clashes with right wing backers of the opposition regional governor.

"This has been a massacre which is among the darkest pages of our history, one of the bloodiest episodes in our country," said Sacha Llorenti, deputy minister for coordination of social movements. He said the peasant farmers were ambushed and attacked with machine guns on Thursday.

More:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0913/breaking11.htm

And the usual Puke media sources repeatedly use the disinformation tactic of describing the violence as "clashes" of pro- and anti-government protesters. It is the anti-government protestors--the rightwing thugs, the ones funded with our tax dollars, and encouraged by our U.S. ambassador--who are rioting, trashing government buildings, beating up the poor, blowing up pipelines, and on Thursday machine-gunned 15 indigenous farmers!

They have also brutally beaten up police and soldiers, whom Morales had ordered not to use their guns!

And I've seen only one story about Brazil's protest against this rightwing mayhem:

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"Brazil says it won't tolerate overthrow in Bolivia
Sat Sep 11, 2008 9:25pm BS


"BRASILIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Brazil will not accept any attempt to overthrow the government in Bolivia as opposition protests there spiraled into deadly clashes with government supporters, the Brazilian president's foreign policy adviser said on Thursday,.

"'We won't tolerate a rupture in the constitutional order of Bolivia,' Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, told a news conference.

"'Brazil will not recognize any attempt at a government that would substitute a constitutional government in Bolivia,' Garcia said when asked whether this meant Brazil would send troops to aid the Bolivian government of President Evo Morales.

"Brazil has supported Morales' administration as the legitimate, constitutional government in Bolivia and condemned the violence which has left at least eight dead." (MORE)

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1133413320080912

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This is very important news. It means that the South Americans are pulling together to solve this crisis themselves. I expected them to do it--having followed the news from South America closely over the last several years--for instance, Brazil's president backing Chavez against Bushwhack vitriol and lies, and the swift movement toward a South American "Common Market" (not including the U.S.). But it's still important that it IS happening--important for Bolivia, and important also for Venezuela and Ecuador (against whom the Bushwhacks are also scheming, and have a war plan that would actually be more feasible than their war plan in Bolivia).

The Corpo reporting on this Bolivia crisis has been as miserable and dis-informative as anything I've seen over the last several years. It is virtually useless as to context, and you have to read to the bottom of articles (or into the black holes) to find out who is actually doing the rioting, blowing up of things, and murder. CEPR recently called for full Bushite disclosure of who they are funding with USAID-NED and other taxpayer dollars. They have been excessively secretive about it. Who is paying these people to riot and kill, in an insane rampage that seriously harms their own interests? And why? We won't find Corpo 'news' covering that one--or, God forbid--investigating it!