El Brujo
18th October 2003, 06:05
The Resistance Intensifies - "Que Se Vayan Todos"
BREAKING NEWS: Indymedia Bolivia reports that President Sanchez de Lozada ("El Goni") has resigned. The vice president, Carlos Mesa, is set to fill his space. Prior to this highly anticipated move, the Pentagon announced that it will send a small team of U.S. Military personal to La Paz within the next few days, "to assess the situation." Until more information is available the blockades, protests, and hunger strikes continue.
Despite Sanchez De Lozada?s attempts to diffuse the Bolivian uprising with dubious offers of a referendum on gas exports, protesters continue to demand nothing less than his resignation. Fighting has spread throughout Bolivia, with major clashes between police and protesters taking place as far away as Patamacaya, 60 miles west of La Paz. The heaviest fighting, however, has moved from El Alto to La Paz, where barricades and a general strike have ground the economy to a halt. As a tenuous ring of riot police surround the Presidential Palace, protesters are planning to widen their barricades with a network of trenches about the city. Miners from outlying regions continue to stream towards the capital, bearing dynamite and arms, to confront the sections of the military still loyal to El Goni.
There are reports that the military is executing soldiers who refuse to fire upon civilians. Thousands of women of the union Central Obrera Boliviana have gone on hunger strike in Catholic churches, and even traditionally conservative cities such as Santa Cruz have been blockaded by protesters. Especially prominent among the protesters are the swarms of indigenous people that have filled the streets of La Paz, struggling against an apartheid-like government led by predominantly European-descended elite.
http://www.indymedia.org
Live radio stream from Bolivia:
http://liveradio.indymedia.org:8003/bolivia.mp3.m3u
Funny how the US supports attempted coups on Chavez but whines about a leader coming to power through "undemocratic" means in this case.
BREAKING NEWS: Indymedia Bolivia reports that President Sanchez de Lozada ("El Goni") has resigned. The vice president, Carlos Mesa, is set to fill his space. Prior to this highly anticipated move, the Pentagon announced that it will send a small team of U.S. Military personal to La Paz within the next few days, "to assess the situation." Until more information is available the blockades, protests, and hunger strikes continue.
Despite Sanchez De Lozada?s attempts to diffuse the Bolivian uprising with dubious offers of a referendum on gas exports, protesters continue to demand nothing less than his resignation. Fighting has spread throughout Bolivia, with major clashes between police and protesters taking place as far away as Patamacaya, 60 miles west of La Paz. The heaviest fighting, however, has moved from El Alto to La Paz, where barricades and a general strike have ground the economy to a halt. As a tenuous ring of riot police surround the Presidential Palace, protesters are planning to widen their barricades with a network of trenches about the city. Miners from outlying regions continue to stream towards the capital, bearing dynamite and arms, to confront the sections of the military still loyal to El Goni.
There are reports that the military is executing soldiers who refuse to fire upon civilians. Thousands of women of the union Central Obrera Boliviana have gone on hunger strike in Catholic churches, and even traditionally conservative cities such as Santa Cruz have been blockaded by protesters. Especially prominent among the protesters are the swarms of indigenous people that have filled the streets of La Paz, struggling against an apartheid-like government led by predominantly European-descended elite.
http://www.indymedia.org
Live radio stream from Bolivia:
http://liveradio.indymedia.org:8003/bolivia.mp3.m3u
Funny how the US supports attempted coups on Chavez but whines about a leader coming to power through "undemocratic" means in this case.