BOLIVIA: GAS PROTESTS CONTINUE

> On May 23, some 5,000 Bolivian coca growers (cocaleros) from the
> Chapare region of Cochabamba department arrived in La Paz after a
> four-day, 200-kilometer march from the town of Caracollo in Oruro
> department to press for national control of oil and natural gas
> resources and the convening of a constitutional assembly. The
> Federation of Neighborhood Committees (FEJUVE) in the neighboring
> city of El Alto began an open-ended general strike the same day.
> As the cocaleros passed through El Alto into La Paz, El Alto's
> organized indigenous majority chanted demands for "not 30%, nor
> 50% royalties--nationalization!" Bolivia's popular movements are
> pressing for full nationalization of hydrocarbons resources,
> while Movement to Socialism (MAS) leader Evo Morales, who headed
> the cocalero march, has reaped harsh criticism for his compromise
> proposal that the government increase gas royalties to 50%.

> While some bus transport was shut down and a number of roads
> blockaded on May 23, the first day of the El Alto strike was
> reportedly weaker than expected. Still, American Airlines
> cancelled all its flights to the La Paz international airport--
> located in El Alto--and other airlines cancelled some flights. As
> many as 50,000 street vendors and other small-scale merchants
> joined the cocalero marchers and El Alto residents in
> mobilizations in La Paz, culminating in a massive rally in San
> Francisco Plaza. As Morales spoke, some people in the crowd
> shouted "nationalization" and "close the parliament." Morales,
> who is a legislative deputy, insisted that Congress should not be
> shut down. Other speakers included Bolivian Workers Central (COB)
> executive secretary Jaime Solares, who called for
> nationalization, the closing of the parliament and the
> resignation of President Carlos Mesa Gisbert, and urged the
> military to join the people in defeating the oligarchy.

> On May 24, as the El Alto strike strengthened, more than 10,000
> mainly Aymara campesinos from Los Yungas in the rural altiplano
> region of La Paz department arrived in the capital's Plaza
> Murillo, demanding nationalization of the gas. Police used tear
> gas and rubber bullets to stop the campesinos from entering the
> plaza. A group of cooperative miners pushed past police and led
> the crowd--including the coca growers from the Chapare--into the
> plaza, but police managed to drive them out again with more tear
> gas and rubber bullets. [Reports from Jeffery Webber of New
> Socialist Group 5/23/05, 5/24/05 and Luis Gomez of NarcoNews
> 5/25/05, 5/27/05 via Green Left Weekly; Econoticiasbolivia
> 5/24/05]

> On May 25, some 5,000 rural school teachers joined FEJUVE members
> from El Alto and campesinos from the altiplano in mobilizations
> in La Paz. In a televised message that morning, army lieutenant
> colonels Julio Herrera and Julio Galindo urged the military to
> join the Bolivian people in mobilizing against the military high
> command and the country's political class. The officers demanded
> Mesa's resignation, the closing of Congress and installation of a
> civilian-military transition government. Herrera and Galindo
> were forcibly retired from active duty on May 26.

> Protest organizers called a one-day truce for May 26, the
> Catholic festival of Corpus Christi. Aymara campesinos from the
> altiplano went home but plan to return to La Paz for a new wave
> of protests on May 30, after the weekend. Groups aligned with the
> MAS said they would extend the truce until May 31.

> Early on May 27, rural public school teachers exploded sticks of
> dynamite and used rocks to blockade the highway linking La Paz to
> El Alto through the La Paz neighborhood of La Portada. The
> teachers also knocked down a tollbooth on the road. Police were
> initially caught off guard but eventually managed to disperse the
> teachers with tear gas. Urban public school teachers from La Paz
> department, who have been on strike for months, also marched in
> La Paz on May 27, as did a group of women coca growers.

> There are rumors that the government may seek to curb the
> protests by convening the constitutional assembly by decree on
> May 30. [Reports from Luis Gomez of NarcoNews 5/25/05, 5/27/05
> via Green Left Weekly]