Bolivia: Gov't Blames Narcotraffickers for Protests Monday April 10 7:36 PM ET http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000410/wl/bolivia_emergency_6.html Bolivian Gov't Blames Narcotraffickers for Protests By Carlos Quiroga LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia's government on Monday blamed drug traffickers in the cocaine trade for financing violent protests over a hike in water prices that resulted in five deaths. At least 40 people were injured and some 20 labor union and civic leaders were arrested in nationwide demonstrations sparked by a planned $200 million waterworks project in central city Cochabamba and a water bill in Congress. Both threatened to hike drinking water prices. After a week of violent protests and roadblocks erected on major highways across the landlocked Andean nation of 8 million people, the government of President Hugo Banzer Saturday decreed a 90-day state of siege granting the chief executive special powers to deploy police and soldiers. ``As the spokesman of the government I want to denounce the subversive attitude absolutely politically financed by narcotraffickers, who aim to destabilize the constitutional democratically elected government,'' Information Minister Ronald MacLean told reporters at the government palace after meeting with Banzer and Vice President Jorge Quiroga. Bolivia, Latin America's poorest nation, is the world's third-largest coca leaf cultivator after Peru and Colombia. Coca leaf is the raw material used to produce cocaine. On Monday Aguas de Tunari, a consortium led by London-based International Water Limited (IWL), pulled out of a slated multi-million dollar electricity and drinking water network in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third-largest city. IWL is joint owned by Italian utility Edison (SIL.MI) and U.S. company Bechtel Enterprise Holdings. Other members of the consortium include Spanish engineering and construction firm Abengoa (ABG.MC) and Bolivian companies ICE Ingenieros and cement maker SOBOCE. The 40-year concession was forecast to hike the price of drinking water by 35 percent in Cochabamba, where some of the most violent and persistent manifestations took place. Protests by peasant unions also erupted over a water bill being debated in Congress that promises to force them to pay for water they currently tap for free. Their roadblocks on highways in five of nine Bolivian provinces have largely been cleared away by police and soldiers. By Monday afternoon the major hot spots centered on Cochabamba and the Bolivian high plateau town of Achacachi, where a soldier was beaten to death by protesters Sunday and two civilians were shot and killed.