The Next Day
10.14.2003
I couldn't buy bread today. I stood in line in San Miguel, but the casera ran out several people before me. Things are still tense, but eerily calm.
A group of protesters had taken San Miguel parish, chanting their slogans. This is a strategy to make it seem as if the people of the Sona Zur also demand Goni's removal. Of course, the protesters came down from El Alto; they're not vecinos of the Zona Sur.
And then the surreal happened. A line of motorcycle police in riot gear rode down Calle 21. And the vecinos cheered. And clapped. Someone shouted: "Denles balas!" It was surreal. Fortunately, the crowd was dispersed w/o even using tear gas. W/in minutes, the protesters were gone.
I think Goni's won. Incredible as it seems. The international community has stood behind him and his presidency. Not so much for support of him personally, but rather to support the democratic institutions. The international pronouncements against Evo and the other dirigentes blaming them for using violence to try to affect a coup. The other political parties are also now solidly lining up behind the government and the constitution. That gives Goni a green light to end this.
In the meantime, neighborhood vigilance committees patrol the streets around Zona Sur.
The Story of the Conflict
The story of the conflict points to the government doing everything it could to curb the problem. It agreed to not sell gas to anyone until a popular referendum was held. It agreed to convene a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. It met all the principle demands, except for the president to step down. At each step, the protesters have said "NO!" to everything. They've refused to even negotiate, which was their principle demand. At first, they demanded that the government remove all military and police (!!) before any negotiations ... at one point the government even agreed to that, but then Evo and Mallko said "NO!" again.
The bulk of this conflict began after a supposed massacre in Warista. The story of that is this: A small number of campesinos were blockading roads. In doing so, they took over 1,000 hostages near Sorata. After a week of trying to negotiate their release (unsuccessfully) the army & police sent a caravan to take the hostages out. At first, it went fine. Then, as they reached Warisata (w/ the hostages!), they were ambushed w/ weapons of high caliber. After a solider was killed and five others wounded, the police fired back and ended up killing one of the ambushers. In the end, the caravan made it to La Paz w/ the hostages (made up mostly of campesinos who'd travelled to Nor Yungas for a religious/ethnic festival).
The death of that campesino fired up the Altiplano population, which called the event a massacre (as if an ambush gone wrong can be a massacre). Then the protests escalated, w/ Evo, Mallku, and the COB calling for a civil war and threatening to use more violence. Each week their demands increased, even as the government tried to meet last week's demands.
So that, in brief, is the history of this conflict. The situation has run away even from the dirigentes (Solares, Evo, and Mallku) who keep fighting between themselves for control of the situation.
Internet situation
There are no longer any cyber cafés open anywhere. Everything's closed. I'm using a free connection from COTEL. But this means a very slow 56K connection.
Posted by Miguel at 11:03 AM
Comments
In several articles the president was quoted to say that the protests were a plot encouraged from abroad.. do you know what/whom he was referring to?
Did price of foods skyrocket now that they are rather scarce?
Posted by: steph at October 14, 2003 02:16 PM
Miguel,
I don't know what to say. I haven't checked your blog for a little while and then I heard on NPR that Bolivia has gotten much worse in the past few days. From what I've been reading today on your blog and in the news it sounds pretty scary--stay safe!
What is the situation with the military? Is there any talk that they will stop supporting the president?
Take care of yourself,
----Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at October 14, 2003 02:52 PM
Actually, food prices are rather stable. They're scarce, but no one's hiking prices yet.
Goni hasn't said who it was that's financing the attempted coup (as he calls it) by Evo and others. Like many others, I also wish he'd name who these forces are. However, Evo's been to Lybia several times this year (he's travelled abroad this year more than any other Bolivian politician).
No, the military and police have gone on record as supporting the president and institutional democracy. Actually, the worst seems to have passed. More groups are starting to come out very publicly in support of the constitutionally elected president. Yesterday, the Comite Civico Pro Santa Cruz made an announcement. This is a very major institution in the country. Today, the Comite Civico de Cochabamba came out in his support as well. The protests seem to be losing steam today ... already businesses are opening this afternoon.
I'm keeping myself safe ... and informed ... at my aunt's house. Things here are calm. I hope CNN and other international news do a good job of covering the news. Goni has done everything he could to negotiate, even against outrageous demands. We can't just have an elected official go away every time a wave of protests hits. I mean, perhaps w/ a constitutional provision for a recall election, but Bolivia doesn't have that.
Posted by: Miguel at October 14, 2003 05:19 PM
wow, I'm so jealous. that's what sucks about the U.S. there is just too much stability. where is the excitment? where is the fun? where are the suprise days off of school because it's too dangerous to leave your house. now I'm really going to try to come to bolivia, gotta love the hype.
Posted by: bay at October 15, 2003 11:36 AM