DISTURBANCES IN BOLIVIA S23 UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 23, 2000 Since 8 of Bolivia's 9 Departments are now convulsed with civil actions and Government responses, this missive will list the most critical cases alphabetically. ROAD BLOCKS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY La Paz Dept. - Copacabana, San Roque, Vilaque, Patamanta, Huatjata, Tiquina, Huarina, Achacachi, Ancoraimes, Puerto Acosta, Desaguadero, Tacachira, Laja, Tambillo, Tiahuanacu, Guaqui La Paz/Oruro - Villa Remedios, Tambo Quemado Oruro/Cochabamba, Santa Cruz/Cochabamba (new and old roads), Sucre/Cochabamba, Sucre/Potosi, qnd other road blocks throughout the main corridors of the country Throughout the country 1000s of travelers are trapped along road blocked roads and in bus terminals. Nationally, prisoners are about to enter in a hunger strike protesting the new amnesty law which does not meet their expectations under the Jubillee2000 appeal. COCHABAMBA DEPARTMENT This centrally located and third most important department of the country is totally blocked in all directions from the rest of the country, now for several days. There are more than 50 road blocks throughout the department. In the city of Cochabamba yesterday, 10,000 marchers gathered finally in the central square and called for intensified road blocks over the weekend. On Monday another mass meeting will be held to decide on further and more extreme measures. Small private debtors also blocked all major banks in the city yesterday, forcing them to close. The department's agro-animal producers have lost $40 million since the blockades began. Food prices here and throughout the country have skyrocketed and scarcity is becoming a problem. Talks between the Coordinadora del Agua y la Vida and the governor broke down yesterday. Coordinadora leader, Oscar Olivera (this year's Letelier "Moffit Human Rights awardee in Washington, DC - mid October) said that the Coordinadora will only negotiate at a departmental level, including the demands of the teachers, peasants and cocaleros. The tropical Chapare area of the department has been the hardest hit in all the country. At midday yesterday, some 800 troops entered the zone's most important town, Villa Tunari, over a bridge, armed with tear gas and live ammunition. 500 peasants met them head on at 200 meters, armed with sticks and stones. At 1:10 pm the troops started using gas, rubber and real bullets but the wind was in favor of the peasants who held the bridge until 3:30. Shooting and gassing continued at least until 5:30pm. Throughout the night the civilian population of Villa Tunari was harrassed by helicopters and shooting continued. Similar events took place throughout the day in nearby towns of Chimore, Luaka =D1 and Senda 3. Every chance they get, peasants reblock the roads after the troops clear them. Three isolated incidents of peasants using dynamite in road blocks were reported. In Ivergazama the road blocks are every 50 yards or so, not even bicycles can't get through. Results from yesterday alone In Villa Tunari there were 12 civilians injured; 11 from gas canisters and one in the leg from a combat bullet. Peasants claim that troops stole 10 bikes and destroyed 20 more, 3 civilian trucks were also destroyed and at least three homes ransacked and destroyed by troops. 20 civilians were detained but only 7 appeared at the Chimore jail. There is serious concern for the well being of the other 13. Two military personnel were temporarily held by the peasants. The Government claims that one peasant shot one bullet in the air. A US journalist in Villa Tunari all week reports that an informed and reliable source told him that there is a $6,000 bounty out for anyone who shoots and kills Congressman Evo Morales, leader of the Six Peasant Federations of the Tropics. Morales late in the day called on solidarity >from the Coordinadora del Agua y la Vida in the city of Cochabamba. LA PAZ DEPARTMENT The university student who was injured and in a coma since early in the week, finally regained consciousness. Students from his university joined with other in calling for Banzer's resignation. Teachers paralyzed the country's main city, La Paz, three times on Friday and threaten to do so again on Monday, along with wives of low level police officers who mutineered in April, and whose demands were agreed to by the Government but never met. The blockades on the Altiplano continue, and although troops were brought in to clear them there was no violence. As soon as roads are opened by the combined forces, they are re-blocked by the peasants. One army battalion on the Altiplano near Achacachi was surrounded by peasants and held indefinitely. The Cabinet met yesterday and declared that any teachers who do not return to work on Monday will be fired. They also set in motion several economic emergency acts such as reprogramming municipal debts, increasing funds for commercial loans and stop gap aid for small producers. Without releasing any details, the UNDP also said it would help bail out the corrupt and bankrupt ex-FONVIS (government supported housing). SANTA CRUZ DEPARTMENT The agricultural sector is losing $2 million a day, so far $8 million and counting. The poultry sector has lost $12 million so far as chicks and chickens could not be brought to market or fed or were lost in blockades. The Chaco Oil Co. and Transredes facilities outside of Santa Cruz are still controlled by 300 peasants. Teachers continue to threaten to close the city's International Expo-Fair, the largest in the country, which opened yesterday. 10,000 Students and teachers took over the main square for several hours yesterday. The city and Department remain isolated from the rest of the country. SUCRE DEPARTMENT The official capital of the country is also incomunicado with the rest of the country. Transport workers took over the City Council, denouncing the previous day's accord. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE The Government is still saying that it will use the fullest force of the law against those inciting sedition and will certainly not resign. There are now six sectors of Bolivian society calling for Banzer's resignation (the first time this has happened in over 15 years). These sectors include: the national peasant federation (CSTUCB), the Six Federations of the Tropics (known as cocaleros), the national teachers union, the Coordinadora del Agua y la Vida, factory workers and some opposition political parties such as the MBL and MAS. Though not yet calling for Banzer's resignation, the head of the national private business association declared yesterday that the crisis is the result of the government's lack of coherent economic policies. "This is a government which does not recognize the problems caused by the economic crisis," he stated. The Government is offering to negotiate wth all sectors once blockades are lifted but will not debate forced eradication, the 3 new to be built army bases in the Chapare, or return of teachers to work on Monday. The Church and the Defensora del Puebloand the Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos have once again offered to mediate but have so far been turned down, though at 12:30pm (right now) there may be some negotiations going forward. UPDATE FRIDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 According to today's Los Tiempos (Cochabamba's main daily newspaper) Thousands of rural teachers and CSUTCB peasants will block all roads leading in and out of Santa Cruz beginning Sunday the 24th A new prisoner amnesty law will be passed on October 2 Part of the newly asphalted road from Oruro to Cochabamba was dynamited, causing severe damage 300 peasants still block Chaco Oil Co. and Transredes facilities outside of Santa Cruz The Ministry of Education offers teachers an annual $500 bonus based on a competency test to half the country's teachers beginning next year - the teachers' union rejects the proposal Economic loses due to roadblocks throughout the country are now calculated at $30 million and rising; remaining foodstuffs in markets are being sold at exorbitant prices as supplies dwindle Peasants are threatening to close Cochabamba's water company, SEMAPA's reservoir for failure to receive payment for their land; Cochabamba's governor has not replied to the peasants' request for payment in over 6 weeks The CSUTCB, the Rural Teachers Union and another congressman back Evo Morales' call for Banzer's resignation and new elections; US Ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, said his government supports Banzer, unlike their favorable position supporting neighboring Peru's President Fujimori's call for early elections; despite national Bolivian convulsions, Rocha focused on violence in the Chapare More than 800 combined Government forces are accused of using combat ammunition and not just tear gas yesterday in Villa Tunari and Shinahota; Evo Morales was slightly wounded when he put himself between rock throwing cocaleros and armed troops attempting to pacify the situation; the Chapare Defensor del Pueblo accused the Government of gross human rights violations The Government acknowledged that Evo Morales sent them a communique requesting to dialogue but that they (the Government) refuse to discuss coca erradication and the soon to be built military bases in the Chapare; other issues like changes to the land reform and water rights laws are already being considered DISTURBANCES IN BOLIVIA SEPTEMBER 14 TO 21, 2000 Current disturbances in 7 of Bolivia's 9 departments started last week in La Paz when the national teachers' union marched for a 50% pay raise and other demands (the actual average teachers' monthly salary is less than $100/month) . Earlier this week teachers' marches continued in La Paz, Cochabamba and in other departments. The Ministry of Educatation offered a graduated pay raise next year based on job tenure and teacher qualifications but also said that it would proportionally cut any teachers' pay who had not shown up for work during the strikes and marches. Moreover, the Minister said he had no idea where the Government would find the money to pay the increases. The union and its members did not accept the Government's proposal and have called for a national conference of teachers on Friday, September 22 to analyze the Government's position. Meanwhile, the teachers' strike remains in effect indefinately and a massive national march and/or hunger strike is possible. Students from the Siglo XX University carried out their own marches in La Paz this week demanding more Government resources for their education. On Tuesday, a student received a direct hit to his head from a teargas cannister and is now in a coma with an uncertain medical prognosis. The National Bolivian Permanent Assembly of Human Rights was quoted in the press as declaring this incident to be attempted murder and torture by the police. Also beginning last week, peasants in the Entre Rios/Bulo Bulo area of the Carrasco Province of the Cochabamba tropics began a road block demanding that their years old petition for municipal recognition be met by the Bolivian Parliament. The Government agreed six days later and entered the area to dislodge the blockade with the Carrasco peasants standing by. An hour later the blockade was reinstalled by the peasants who said it would remain until they saw written proof that their demands had been met. Public health doctors went on strike this week. Within a day the Government agreed to reimburse them for unpaid back pay from last year (1999) with no reprisals since the complaint was justifiable and the fault of the government itself. Prisoners throughout the country are either on hunger strikes or planning them as the three branches of the Government debate the newly passed Jubilee2000 law, challenged by the Judiciary, which would give amnesty to thousands of Bolivians currently in prison. Heavy transport drivers blocked the center of Bolivia's capital, Sucre, with huge trucks for a week. Yesterday an agreement was reached by the local university, cement factory owners and transport drivers. The National Pesant Union (CSUTCB) began country-wide road blocks earlier this week closing the two roads to the Peruvian border (via Copacabana and Desaguadero), the main roads from La Paz to Cochabamba (on the Altiplano via Oruro and Pongo), and the old road from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and Sucre/Potosi. All roads leading into and out of Cochabamba (the geographic center of the country) are closed, calculated to cost the department at least $3 million a day (the Government declared that over $20 million has been lost nationally since the road blocks began and that foreign trade contracts are in danger of being cancelled). Food markets are nearly empty. CSUTCB leader, Felipe Quispe, blames the Government for refusing to discuss their demands made over 90 days ago. Yesterday outside of Santa Cruz, 300 peasants took over three Chaco Petroleum Co. processing plants, shutting them down. Thursday, five plants were closed, but late day negotiations eased the situation and peasants withdrew. There is now concern that other Santa Cruz Department peasants may take action soon in the Chiquitania region where the Bolivian subsidiary, Transredes, of US oil company ENRON, is building a gas line through a delicate ecological zone inhabited by indigenous. The now world famous Cochabamba Coordinadora del Agua y la Vida (their protests in April spread to other parts of the country and resulted in a national state of seige being declared by the Government), entered into discussions with the Government on Monday, September 18. Their demands are: Final dissolution of the Aguas del Tunari contract Develop and approve the new water law 2066 regulations within 2 months Dissolve the agrarian reform law INRA and replace it with one based on consultation with peasants Improve Standard of Living Conditions including subsidized transport fees for students, adeqaute public health and education and decent working conditions for people working in these sectors, review of electricity rates and tariffs, clean up of the contaminated Arque River, and full medical attention to those civilians injured in April clashes with the Government Respect for human rights, especially no construction of military bases in the Chapare and no forced coca erradication An anti-corruption campaign within the Government, especially concerning misuse of earthqauke reconstruction funds from Aiquile and FONVIS in general, and corruption in the customs agency The Monday discussions with the Government were unsatisfactory and on Tuesday the Coordinadora announced that there would be a march in Cochabamba on Wednesday (mostly led by the teachers' unions) and that the city's access roads would be blocked indefinitely by the CSUTCB. The Coordinadora has called for closing down the city on Friday the 22nd. Of equal, if not greater renown are the coca growers' Six Federations of the Tropics of Cochabamba. Last August 24 they sent a written petition to the Government to discuss and dialogue on 9 points: Access to their own non-coca produce markets in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and the Southern departments of the country Fulfillment of the signed contract with the Government in October, 1997 for an agro-industrial complex in the Chapare The need for a tropical agriculture and environmental protection university in the Chapare that recognizes and respects the biodiversity of the region Absolute guarantee for current land tenancy in the area A permanent all weather road from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, through the Chapare A public evaluation and audit of alternative development funds "invested" in the Chapare (over the last more than a decade) The involvement of the Defensora del Pueblo in investigating human rights abuses in the area and compensation for deaths and injuries caused by Government confrontations over the last several years No construction of bunker-like military bases in the Chapare (to be funded primarily by the US) which exceed standards in other parts of the country and represent a violation of national sovereignty and are the focus of foreign intervention in the name of the War on Drugs Discussion of alternative licit uses of coca No reply was ever received from the Government and on September 5, the Six Federations sent letters to the Catholic Church, the Defensora del Pueblo and the National Bolivian Asssembly of Human Rights requesting their intervention towards dialogue. These three most respected Bolivian institutions did appeal to the Government but either received no reply or were flatly rejected. As late as Sunday night, September 17, the "cocaleros" were willing to dialogue but again the Government refused. On Monday morning, the 19th , road blocks (made of stones and trees) were put up along the Cochabamba/Santa Cruz road. On Tuesday night the Government sent additional combined armed forces into the area (there are already combined forces present undertaking forced coca erradication). By Wednesday, there were 5 wounded civilians (all from gas cannister wounds) and 6 detainees. Today, Thursday the 21st, Government forces took over and militarized Villa Tunari (the most important town in the Chapare) and headed toward Santa Cruz where there are more blockades along the way. Official international alternative development workers are trying to helicopter out. Another 3 wounded were reported today in Villa Tunari, at least one of whom is cocalero leader Feliciano Mamani, whose wounds were serious enough for him to be medically evacuated to Santa Cruz on a US NAS/DEA helicopter. This humanitarian act was mediated by the Church, the Defensora del Pueblo and the Human Rights Assembly. In the next towns after Villa Tunari, Shinahota and Chimore, more injured are reported, including the mayor of Chimore who was severely beaten by Government forces and arrested. Once again the Government seems to be concentrating its forces in the Chapare even though road blocks and other demonstrations continue around the country. This is also the only sector the Government unilaterally refused to meet and dialogue with before the conflicts began. Last night the Government still refused to dialogue and said that all protesters who attempt to stop the flow of national transport will receive maximum legal reprisals. Under the Bolivian Constitution, the Government can not declare a second state of siege (the first one was in April) this year and is anticipated to use armed forces to control the situation instead. Today the Defensora del Pueblo spoke out against all road blocks which she declared "capricious" because they hurt all Bolivians. The Catholic Church however finally managed to convince the Government today to dialogue with the Chapare cocaleros. The Government agreed if all Chapare road blocks were first removed. Publically the Government said that coca erradication and the to be constructed military bases were off limits to discussion. This years, months, weeks and days late concession to discuss other issues was rejected by the Six Federations' top leader, Congressman Evo Morales, who called for Bolivian President General Hugo Banzer's resignation instead. Several Government ministers and spokespeople declared Morales' statement to be seditious and accused the cocaleros of being in consort with narco-traffickers, as in Colombia, but provided no evidence or proof. National peasant (including cocalero), teacher and Coordinadora del Aqua y la Vida leaders and their followers are cordinating efforts to the extent that communications allow, but the Government's critique remains focused on the Chapare cocaleros.