Alison Dellit & Federico Fuentes
Monday May 23
On Monday May 23, around 10,000 coca growers, marched into El Alto, the capital of Bolivia, ending a 200-kilometre, four-day march led by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), and its leader Evo Morales. Far from ending the protests, however, the cocaleros' arrival kicked off more.
The marchers were demanding an increase in the royalties paid by transnational companies to the government for natural gas exploitation. This issue — who should benefit from Bolivia's gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America — brought down one government, and is rapidly becoming a struggle over who controls the country. It has crystallised the divide between the vast, poor majority who want Bolivian resources to benefit them, and the US-led imperial empire that has the support of the country's business elite.
After months of debate, a public referendum and threats from both mass organisations and big business, President Carlos Mesa allowed a new hydocarbon bill to be signed into effect on May 17. The bill imposed a tax of 32% on top of 18% royalties. However, this falls short of the proposal of 50% royalties put forward by MAS, and way short of the most popular option: nationalisation of the industry.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the gas transnationals, the Bolivian oligarchy and their most vocal supporters, the civic committee of Santa Cruz, have denounced the bill as too radical. The civic committee of Santa Cruz has announced its intentions to hold a referendum, with or without government support, on greater autonomy for the department (state), believing that this would enable it to control the gas reserves, which are located in the region around the wealthy, mostly white, city. The indigenous people on whose land the gas is located, however, are opposed to this.
Bolivia has a history of mass struggle and several well-defined mass groups. MAS, which grew out of the cocalero movement in the Chapare region, has a significant parliamentary presence. Morales missed out on election as president last time by 1.5%.
However, more radical are the demands of the altenos, members of the groups based on El Alto, the city that grew out of a shanty-town suburb of La Paz, and has a history of militant struggle against privatisation. The main groups in El Alto, FEJUVE (which unites around 600 neighbourhood committees), COR de El Alto (the Regional Workers Central of El Alto) and El Alto's federation of trade unions, have been calling for nationalisation of the gas supply, and Mesa's resignation, a demand supported by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB).
Green Left Weekly has abridged these reports of the week of struggle that started with the cocaleros arrival from journalists based in La Paz.
Jeffery Webber, New Socialist Group
FEJUVE timed the beginning of an indefinite general strike for Monday to coincide with the arrival of the MAS marchers. While the [MAS-led] march was met with something like a spirit of solidarity in El Alto, the radicalised population of this mostly indigenous, massive shantytown let the marchers know that [the altenos] were demanding, "neither 30% percent, nor 50% royalties — nationalisation!"
The first day of the strike was not as effective as many had hoped. Mobilisations were limited, the transportation union failed to participate, and all blockades were lifted when night fell. Buses travelling to other departments of the country from La Paz were able to leave without obstacles.
While El Alto's strikers were unable to shut down the international airport located in their shantytown, American Airlines cancelled all flights to La Paz and other airlines cancelled flights selectively.
At 2pm, after the marchers and various sectors of El Alto had wound their way down the mountainside to the centre of La Paz, an open meeting was held in the Plaza of Heroes. About 30,000 people attended. The divisions in the crowd and between Morales and the other speakers were palpable, however.
Participants included the Departmental Federation of Peasant Workers of La Paz, the peasant women's federation Bartolina Sisa, the National Council of Ayllus and Marcas, the Federation of Colonizers of La Paz, the Federation of Petroleum Workers of Bolivia, the Landless Movement of Bolivia and COB.
Of the 16 core speakers, Morales was the only one who refused to call for the nationalisation of gas, instead focusing on demands for a Constituent Assembly, and denouncing Santa Cruz's autonomy call. While Morales was speaking, the crowd of miners and COB affiliates around me were consistently trying to drown him out with calls for "Nationalisation!" and "Close the Parliament!"
COB leader Jaime Solares called for nationalisation, the closing of the parliament, and the resignation of Mesa. He also called on the examples of Venezuela and Cuba to inspire the crowd. In contrast, Morales asserted, "We are not asking for the closing of the Congress of the Republic because it is the symbol of Bolivian democracy."
Roman Loayza, leader of the central peasant organisation of Bolivia (CSUTCB), and (dissident) MAS senator, called for the nationalisation of gas. He announced in the open assembly that the protesters would wait for four days for the government to invoke a Constituent Assembly, and if did not happen by then, "We will take power."
The crowd dispersed after the speakers, and what would follow in the coming days was unclear to everyone. Morales was completely uninspiring, but the crowd seemed of a different mood.
Tuesday May 24
Jeffery Webber, New Socialist Group
This morning, more than 10,000, mainly Aymara peasants from the altiplano rural area around El Alto, marched to the Plaza Murillo in La Paz, demanding the nationalisation of gas. There they encountered metal barricades with a hoard of police behind them. At approximately noon, the peasants tried to enter the plaza, only to be temporarily dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets. In other confrontations near the plaza, however, cooperative miners — with the assistance of dynamite — were able to repel the police. The miners entered the plaza, followed by the peasants and a small group of coca growers from the Chapare region. They were quickly sent running by more tear gas and rubber bullets.
In El Alto, the second day of the general strike was much stronger than the first. Also, highways connecting La Paz to much of the rest of the country, as well as the borders of Chile and Peru, were blockaded.
In the afternoon, an emergency FEJUVE assembly was held of all presidents of each of the neighbourhood zones, from each of the nine districts of the city. The press were locked out while the first two hours of intense discussion and debate took place. Entering the assembly room when they called in the press, I was hit with the intense heat of 500 bodies cramped into a room that normally holds 300. The temperature perhaps reflected the sentiments of the neighbours gathered there. The memory of the dead and injured of the [October 2003 uprising over the gas issue that overthrew then president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada] was evident in the speeches. The [proposals from] the various districts, many with near-unanimous support, were: the radicalisation of mobilisation measures starting Wednesday; the intensification of the general strike; and marches to La Paz [and support for the demands of] the nationalisation of gas; de Lozada to be tried for his crimes of October 2003; the resignation of Mesa; and the closing of the parliament.
Carlos Barrerra, president of District Eight, proclaimed, "We have an enormous responsibility. On our backs are the thousands and thousands of the poor. We need to proceed as in October (2003). All the movements in the streets need to unite for the one hundred percent recuperation of our natural resources!"
Meanwhile, in Sucre, Mesa declared that he will neither resign nor change the 2007 election date.
Wednesday May 25
Luis Gomez, NarcoNews
This morning, the Aymara came down marching from El Alto once again. This time it was a huge group divided into three parts: more than 5000 rural school teachers, then FEJUVE, and behind, battle-hardened, the Aymara peasant farmers. Downtown La Paz was paralysed all day long by mobilisations.
The FEJUVE leaders are still divided over whether to fight for nationalisation or to moderate themselves and avoid a national fight.
This morning the country had two "bombs" to digest for breakfast. The first fell last night in the southern city of Tarija, where the civic committees and the congressional delegations from four departments [joined nearby Santa Cruz in demanding] an immediate referendum on regional autonomy.
The second explosion, from the media: two lieutenant colonels appeared on a La Paz television station this morning, calling upon the people (and all their comrades in arms) to join the mobilisations, turning against the high military command and the Bolivian political class.
Julio Herrera and Julio Galindo kept coming back to the same message: they demanded the installation of what they called a "civic-military government" of transition, which would bring soldiers into defending natural resources, and the formation of a new government. Herrera, according to a report on the Radio Erbol website, said: "Initially, the government we want to form is one with the participation of all sectors of society, not a military government. We want the president's resignation and the closure of the Congress."
A few hours later, in the Plaza of Heroes, a red banner appeared with black letters repeating almost the same message, which — and this is no coincidence — greatly resembled Monday's fiery speech by Jaime Solares.
Both the government and some social movements had accused Solares of having links to coup plotters. A little before 11am, the High Command of the Armed Forces issued a statement disowning Herrera and Galindo's arguments, advising both officials that they would be sanctioned for their "irregular military careers."
"Brother, what do you know about these soldiers? We are very worried... this could all turn very bad", said Gualberto Choque, executive secretary of the Tupaj Kitari Single Departmental Federation of Peasant Farmers of La Paz. Choque was out in front of his people again, together with the principal Aymara leaders. "We will not allow a coup, wherever it comes from, because that doesn't change things for us or our demands... we want peace, but a peace after they have left", emphasized the campesino leader.
A young Aymara fighter asked us about the coup as well. I showed him a flyer that they have been passing out among the mobilisations. Directed to "all Bolivians and Latin American brothers", and signed by a supposed "Civil-Military Alliance", the document speaks of how "civilians and young soldiers, 'Bolivians united', will share in the glory of liberating Bolivia from a government that has sold out to foreign interests." The young protester, worried like everyone about the tensions we are living through, and faced with the uncertainty created by these soldiers and their civilian allies, bade farewell, saying, "These guys make us look bad".
Friday May 27
Luis Gomez, NarcoNews
Yesterday, Bolivia celebrated the Catholic festival of Corpus Christi. Most organisations called a one-day truce, and the groups aligned with MAS extended the truce until next Tuesday. Since early today, there have been marches and confrontations in La Paz and El Alto, but a major new wave of protests is expected beginning Monday.
It was still dark out when the first dynamite blasts began in the La Paz neighbourhood of La Portada. The hillside shook for nearly two hours this morning: the rural public school teachers, in a lightning-fast action, blocked the highway in both directions with rocks.
The police, unprepared for the attack, were surprised by the teachers, who also razed the tollbooth for the highway connecting La Paz and El Alto. There was a confrontation and the police dispersed the teachers with teargas.
In the altiplano, blockades appeared. The rural Aymara, who since yesterday have returned from La Paz to their communities, are not only preparing even more road blockades, but have also announced that they will return to La Paz next Monday.
In the city of La Paz there were two marches led by women. The first was a march of urban schoolteachers from the department of La Paz, who have been on strike for days. The march had a brief confrontation with the police near Plaza Murillo, where the main government buildings are. The other march was led by the women of Bartilina Sisa and the Tropic of Cochabamba (in the Chapare region), who spent the day with Loayza.
Julio Herrera and Julio Galindo were forcibly retired from active duty yesterday afternoon, causing the climate to relax significantly, for now. There are rumours that the government plans to convene the Constituents' Assembly by decree on Monday, and organise negotiating commissions with all the mobilised sectors; all of this with the intention of dissolving the protests. It has also been insinuated that the Mesa administration is considering declaring a state of siege, but nothing has been confirmed.
When the education minister resigned, a rumor began to spread of a crisis within the cabinet, but nothing further happened today.
The ones making noise are the altenos. The assembly of neighbourhood FEJUVE presidents ended half an hour ago, with a general decision: the general strike/civic shut-down, which up to today has been very decisive, will be maintained throughout the weekend. There is no truce, and the neighbourhoods plan to keep it that way.
[The full accounts, as well as ongoing updates on the struggle, are available at http://www.newsocialist.org> and <http://www.narconews.com>. Jeffrey Webber's account first appeared on Z-Net <http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm>.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 1, 2005.
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