Who knows what tomorrow brings

10.13.2003

I'm safe. I spent the afternoon w/ two friends in an upstairs apartment near the Plaza Isabel la Catolica. From there, we listened to the radio news. And we saw the smoke, rising from the Prado, from the Plaza Murillo, from El Alto. There was looting and fires. Much of the Sagarnaga was burned. And the mob came as far down as San Miguel.

At night, I walked by what was left of a barricade near the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, and back to my apartment. I packed a bag, and headed down to San Miguel, where my tia Theresa lives. I have no stove or fridge, and nothing will be open tomorrow (nothing was open today). Plus, I fear tomorrow'll be worse than today. So I walked (there's no gasoline in the city) from the Prado to Obrajes, to San Miguel.

Goni has refused to step down, which is one of the major demands of the protesters. His being forced to step down by a violent mob is not good for democracy. He also accused Evo, Mallku, and COB of trying to carry out a coup supported by foreigners. He's already agreed to many of the protesters demands, even signing an executive decree that no decision on exporting gas would be made w/o popular participation. This was the original demand. But from the beginning, it's been clear that there are no real demands, only the end of an elected, representative government.

How did this protest begin? Well, it began, supposedly, as a protest against the possible exportation of gas through Chile. This was pure nationalist rhetoric. Chile won a war w/ Bolivia in 1879, so they're forever supposed to be bitter enemies. This was enough to rile people up; the protests started growing from there.

For the last two weeks, the COB has declared that they want a civil war. They used force and violence to get people from El Alto to protest; if they didn't march, they were beaten, their homes & businesses looted. The COB still lives w/ the Cold War rhetoric; they want a civil war.

And they just might get it. The Zona Sur is already organizing vigilance committees; my cousin just got back from the San Miguel meeting. If looters descend again tomorrow, I fear there'll be violent confrontations.

Tonight is tense; I've no idea what'll happen next. Goni is still in office. The international community (including the OAS) blame the COB and other opposition leaders for the violence and death, especially for their absolute refusal to dialogue w/ the government (going so far as to beat government ambassadors who seek dialogue, one was severely hospitalized).

Sorry this is just a rambling. But Bolivia's democracy is in the worst crisis it's ever seen, worse even than 1985.

Posted by Miguel at 09:20 PM

Comments

stay safe bro. and keep writing, american journalists are still not caring what happens in our homeland so i need to get the news from somewhere.

Posted by: sam at October 13, 2003 09:56 PM

Hey Miguel, glad to know you're safe. I was sick in bed for a few days so I wasn't checking the net. But I've been listening to the news on CNN and NPR; Bolivia is finally getting some attention in the mainstream press, though because there's rebels involved CNN is clearly on their side.
Is your relative's place outside LaPaz?
How long's it been since Bolivia's seen this level of chaos?

Posted by: bil at October 14, 2003 02:17 AM