Bolivia Update 10 April Thanks Andrea and MAEDA Your names are added - below is the update that went out yesterday Regards Jim Gladwin Media spokesman Forwarded by The Water Pressure Group http://www.water-pressure-group.org.nz/ email: jimg@pl.net PO Box 10046 Dominion Road Auckland New Zealand Ph / Fax 0064 09 828 4517 Mobile: 025 2666 552 ______________________________ "At least six people killed in the past week and scores of others injured." "An unknown number of people have been arrested in the past three days are now unaccounted for and not present in any of the jails or prisons in Cochabamba." Dear Friends, Below is the update from Monday sent to press world wide a few minutes ago. Note: if you are not on our receiving list and would like to be send an e-mail to: info@democracyctr.org The e-mails of protest being sent to Bechtel Corpoaration in protest will be major news in Tuesday's morning newspaper here. Keep them going to: northame@bechtel.com Note: If you are one of our regular readers and not interested in reciving these updates on the crisis here, please forgive me, we have a great need to keep a great many people updated and this list is our only tool. So please just hit the trash can and forgive the intrusion. We'll be back to bimontly after this crisis is over. Jim Shultz The Democracy Center JShultz@democracyctr.org 591-4-290-725 Cochabamba, Bolivia Monday, April 10 - 9:00 pm EST PROTESTS AND VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN BOLIVIA AS SIDES SEEK AGREEMENT TO END CRISIS by Jim Shultz Cochabamba, Bolivia: As many as six thousand protesters continued to pour into the city's central plaza Monday on the widespread public unrest continues to bring normal life throughout the nation to a near halt. The enormous uprising here was sparked initially by a public battle in Cochabamba over the selling of the region's public water system to an affiliate of the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation, but the strength of the water protests here sparked parallel protests across the nation including a police strike in La Paz, the nation's capital, and marches by farmers regarding water, roads and other local issues. Those leaders of the Cochabamba water protest who were not arrested and jailed over the weekend came out of hiding today to begin a new round of negotiations with secondary level officials of the national government. Late this afternoon details of an accord were released to the media and public which includes, among others, the following components: a) an agreement that the Bechtel affiliate, Aguas del Tunari, will leave the country; b) that the dozens of civic leaders arrested over the weekend will be released; c) the government will approve reform of the national water law that is the object of rural protests over maintaining local water control; d) financial compensation for the families of at least six people killed in the past week and scores of others injured. The Bolivian official who negotiated the accord claimed on television here that it had the support of Bolivian President Hugo Banzer. However, given the turn of events Friday, in which a similar agreement over the water company's departure was promised by officials and then rescinded, protest leaders appear to be taking a wait and see attitude before calling off the general strike and transportation blockages and asking protesters to go home. There has been no written agreement or direct statement by Banzer as of yet, nor from Bechtel's affilate here. The thousands gathered in Cochabamba's plaza appear to be growing more angry as each day passes without a believable accord. Many have walked to the city on foot from as far as 70 miles away. Meanwhile, human rights groups tonight are expressing deep concern about the possible escalation of government repression Monday night, as government officials state publicly that they are preparing to more aggressively enforce the "state of emergency" restrictions on civil liberties declared here on Saturday by President Banzer.. Sweeps late Friday night through private homes in the city resulted in the arrest and jailing of more than a dozen civic leaders, most of whom were then transported by air to a remote prison in Bolivia's jungle. President Banzer has appointed the second new Governor for the state of Cochabamba in three days, Army General Walter Cispedes. Cispedes is most known here for being at the head of the army's violent repression of civil protest in the Chapare region in April 1998 which left many dead and injured. The Cochabamba Permanent Assembly on Human Rights reported this afternoon that at unknown number of people who have been arrested in the past three days are now unaccounted for and not present in any of the jails or prisons in Cochabamba. In addition, there are army troops posted at various entrances to the city, just outside highway blockades erected and protected by hundreds of peasants farmers from the rural areas outside the city. A confrontation at a similar blockade near La Paz over the weekend resulted in the deaths of at least two farmers and one soldier. Meanwhile, throughout most of they city blockades streets remained calm as children idle from closed schools played stickball and soccer in the street. Women from various neighborhoods went door to door gathering food and cooking for the thousands of protesters in the plaza. ___________________________