To the international community:
In the last few months, thousands of Bolivian workers have begun to
mobilize against the fascist policy of General Banzer, the
"constitutional president" of Bolivia today and formerly the bloody,
genocidal, fascist dictator who has little to envy of General Pinochet.
Banzerist fascism has demonstrated not only its brutality but also its
complete mediocrity and incapacity to govern in Bolivia, a country with
a frightening misery comparable to that of Sub-Saharan Africa. In one
extreme, water in the other extreme land, part of a long list of
assertions (demands) that have led different sectors of workers to take
direct action, no under the flag of a political party or a bureaucratic
union, but more than anything else with the spontaneity and creativity
of the working masses as protagonists.
Each (work) stoppage, march, blockade, hunger strike or concentration
(of people) was and is done for different reasons, but underneath all is
the profound discontent of a people who feel that the weight of the cost
of the economic recession is too heavy, the rise in price of gas and the
costs of transportation, the rise in price of the tariffs for public
services and the gradual shrinking of their salaries. To all this is
added the evidence that new sources of employment are not being created,
on the contrary they are dwindling.
The discontent reached such reactionary sectors of the population as the
police troops, thousands of whom revolted until, finally, they were
granted a salary increase of 50%, and then seized the opportunity to
repress the working class who only will have a 3% salary increase.
Facing this juncture, Benzerist fascism responds in accordance with its
own nature and applies brutal force, dictating a State of Emergency on
the 8th of April, which translated into the militarization of the
country, the restriction of constitutional guarantees like the freedom
of movement, of information, of protest, and all types of individual and
collective freedoms.
Police and military troops have invaded the cities and highways, in the
face of which the people have built barricades in each street corner,
university, highway, while the assassins in uniform shoot war munitions
at the unarmed masses. They collect and pursue the wounded, the
detained, and the exiled in inhospitable zones. Sharpshooters have
extinguished the lives of even children and adolescents, the incursions,
the hunting of unionists and activists, contrasts with the low-flying
military flights over rural areas where military cruelty and brutality
have become obvious.
Workers, students, housewives, peasants disillusioned by the State of
Emergency, block (protest) more than in the past with sticks, rocks,
Molotov cocktails, and slingshots, forcing the military and police
troops to retreat. They have attacked military installations, government
seats, and have executed the assassins.
This popular insurrection has begun to bear fruit, causing the Spanish
multinational Odesa to abandon its proposal to use the distribution and
provision of water as a money making venture.
But Banzer's military fascism will not cease until it jails or kills all
dissidents. For this reason we convoke, we beg!, for international
solidarity to organize protests at every Bolivian embassy and consulate
around the world, demanding the repeal of the state of emergency and the
liberation of political prisoners.
Please write your local newspapers and the Bolivian press at:
El Deber (newspaper): [EMAIL PROTECTED]
La Razon (newspaper): [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Report these activities and letters of support with Bolivian workers to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The repression in the University San Francisco Xavier in the city of
Sucre also merits a mention, where they live in an environment of
military occupation, characterized by the continuing expulsions, the
corruption and the repression orchestrated by the rector Jaime Robles,
with a parallel repression on the 8th of April when hundreds of police
invaded the university, brutally beating and injuring with buckshots the
students who were on an indefinite hunger strike as well as three
activists who had buried themselves alive in protest against the
despotism of the rector. They also massacred the activists who had
doused themselves with gas, threatening to burn themselves alive if the
repression entered the university.
Many were detained and are persecuted by the dictatorial yoke of rector
Robles. Really, the situation is one of emergency given the imminent
expulsions, confinement of the students and the terror sown by the
paramilitary bands of the rector. International solidarity is vital,
all votes of support for the students and rejections of the
authoritarianism and repression exercised will be of great importance
because such acts of solidarity have not occurred in the past and
because they will aid in the stopping the escalation of violence against
students.
Please send your messages to Jaime Robles, Rector de la Universidad San
Francisco Xavier, at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or send your message to the local newspaper at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Also send letters to the editor of your local newspapers and send copies
to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE AS FAR AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.
LIBERTARIAN YOUTH, BOLIVIA.
--
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