Five Dead, 50 Wounded in Bolivia's Unrest

13/10/2003| IslamWeb

The toll from Bolivia's civil unrest reached five dead and more than 50 wounded, after troops fired on anti-government protesters near the capital and the government accused opposition leaders of trying to mount a coup. The latest deaths in El Alto, a city of half a million residents 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) west of La Paz, brings to 16 the toll from three weeks of violent clashes between government forces and protesters trying to bring the country to a standstill with roadblocks and strikes. The dead include a five-year-old boy who was killed during the unrest Saturday. Radio stations in La Paz have broadcast dramatic appeals for blood donations. The violence has also shut down La Paz airport, as airlines saw it prudent to suspend all flights in and out of the capital. Flights were expected to resume Monday, according to airport officials. Leaders of the Catholic Church and humanitarian organizations called the events in El Alto "a true massacre." In an open letter to President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, the groups said they had been able to confirm from multiple sources that the army used in El Alto "large-caliber weapons, including heavy machine-guns, against the Bolivian people." Top union leaders went into hiding, saying they were afraid the government had issued their death warrants, after accusing them of plotting a coup. "I've abandoned my house. There are orders from the government to kill us, to kill Jaime Solares, Felipe Quispe and Evo Morales," Roberto de la Cruz, head of a local union office in El Alto, told AFP by telephone. Morales meanwhile denied the government's charges and said the president faced the choice of repealing current policy or stepping down. Morales is leader of Bolivia's main opposition party, Movement Toward Socialism, and represents the restive coca-growing region of Chapare in Congress. The protesters demanding the resignation of Sanchez de Lozada oppose the planned export of natural gas to the United States via Chile under terms they say do not benefit Bolivians. They say that under current law Bolivia would get only 18 percent of the profits from the project. The international oil companies involved in the project, Pacific LNG and Sempras, want the gas exported via a planned five-billion-dollar pipeline to the Chilean port of Patillos. Landlocked Bolivia lost its Pacific coast territory in a war with Chile in 1879. The two nations have not had diplomatic relations since March 1978. But presidential spokesman Mauricio Antezana late Saturday blamed opposition leaders for the violence, saying they are trying to stage a coup. "Evo Morales and other political leaders have instigated a coup d'etat process," Antezana said. "There are plans for military-style attacks on strategic objectives." Antezana said the government had dispatched troops to quell the protests in El Alto, where protesters hurled rocks and sticks of dynamite at security forces, who responded with tear gas and bullets in a fight for the main road to La Paz. "The soldiers are firing on us!" "There are lots of dead and injured!" said panicked witnesses in phone calls to local radio stations. Machine gun fire was audible in the background. Morales said the government was planning to seize greater power and named deputy defense minister Raul Lopez Leyton as a key figure in the plot. Sanchez de Lozada held an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday and later announced he was willing to meet with opposition leaders in an effort to restore calm to the country. That seemed unlikely in the short term, however. Morales has called for new roadblocks in the Chapare region Monday, which if successful will paralyze the main artery connecting the east and west of the country. A powerful union representing public transit drivers has called for a 24-hour strike Tuesday, and bakers have announced they will go on strike for three days starting Monday. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Members of the Army patrol 6 de marzo Avenue with tanks in El Alto, 12 Km west of La Paz, Bolivia, where protesters try to bring the country to a standstill with roadblocks and strikes. (AFP/Aizar Raldes)