-Caveat Lector-
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For photos, go to Mid-Atlantic Infoshop page at
> http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=01/07/07/7430612
TANKS AND TROOPS ATTACK BOLIVIAN WORKERS (July 7, 2001)
Juventudes Libertarias (Anarchist Youth), Bolivia
The Bolivian workers are continuing their battle against the government
without letup. The regime is trying desperately to defuse the conflicts
by
giving in to the demands of various groups one at a time. It is
expecting
to keep its essential policies in effect. The exploited have no
confidence
in the government's promises or in the church's call to the producing
population for social peace.
Acquired experience and ingrained awareness have prepared the workers to
be
more and more determined to fight every aspect of bourgeois capitalist
imperialist policy and ready to seek a revolutionary solution to their
problems.
Direct action is the order of the day in Bolivia, but the media remain
ignorant and silent about the events. This contrasts with the
solidarity
being shown by others in struggle. On July 11 the CNT in Madrid will
protest at the Bolivian embassy, as will the Fédération Anarchiste
Française
(French Anarchist Federation) and Alternative Libertaire (Anarchist
Alternative) in Paris.
HIGHWAY BLOCKADES: TROOPS AND TANKS POSITIONED ON THE HIGHWAY FROM LA
PAZ
TO THE ALTIPLANO REGION
Bolivian Army tanks have been positioned along the highways connecting
La
Paz and the Altiplano. Yesterday they entered the village of Achacachi.
When Aymará farmers went into army headquarters they found troops on
alert
and waiting for orders to attack. During September, 2000, the military
carried out a massacre of villagers in the same place.
In these arid regions there has been an atmosphere of open war for the
past
two weeks, with Aymara farmers blocking roads and basically demanding
land
and an end to neoliberalism. A week ago the army occupied the region
and
murdered two farmers in the process.
An emergency assembly of all Bolivian farmers has been called for July
9, at
which an analysis will be made of the effectiveness of the partial road
blockages up to now and decisions made about how to move forward.
In Huarina one woman farmer explained that there is a state of tension
in
the area because soldiers are constantly watching the roads, demanding
identification papers and recording information about people walking
along
the roads, or even crossing them. In Achacachi the farmers have
indicated
that they are ready to continue the blockades for 90 days. Until now
there
have been no shortages because food supplies were arranged for before
the
blockades began.
The government claims to want dialog, but the farmers denounce this as
phony. They point to the many arrests, and a massive presence of assault
vehicles, tanks and troops armed with battle weapons.
"We will develop a new strategy that will prevent a military reaction.
We
will create new ways to struggle and be heard," said Filipe Quispe,
general
secretary of the farmers' confederation. "We are just watching. The
soldiers have been pointing their machine guns at the farmers. They
took
over the schools in Huarina and Guaqui and arrested the leaders," he
added.
The army is expecting orders to arrest all union leaders.
ARMED MINERS OCCUPY MINES
More than a hundred infuriated sulfur miners armed with dynamite entered
the
"TH-1" mine, located near the Bolivian town of "Abaroa," five kilometers
from the Chilean border. One of the protesters, 25-year-old Misael
Mamani
Choque, lost his right arm when he moved a load of dynamite.
There have been many injuries and the police have called for
reinforcements.
We don't have any more information about this, but, the police make it
appear as a conflict between individuals.
PRISONERS ARE FREED WHILE REPRESSION IS PREPARED
On Monday, July 2, hundreds of small debtors occupied a bank building
armed
with dynamite, gasoline and Molotovs, and detained 60 bureaucrats. They
called for total cancellation of their debts and accused the bank of
usury.
The participation of anarchist feminists was essential to the
development of
these events. Negotiations led to release of the people held, and
protesters left the building. This resulted in cancellation of
agreements
the government made which enabled it to take in around 70 activists.
Apparently the street demonstrations led to this. But the government is
preparing a legal gimmick to imprison more activists.
The agreement reached includes sanctions against institutions that
commit
abuses against small borrowers, reconciliation of accounts,
investigation of
cases of usury, recognition of the anarchists as facilitators in the
negotiations, government payments to the banks for suspension of legal
proceedings, etc.
Six thousand borrowers have been protesting in La Paz for three months,
demanding cancellation of their debts, which range on average from one
hundred to five thousand dollars each. The drought, the enormous
economic
crisis, and the obvious usury have combined to make these debts
unpayable.
The people who belong to the small debtors' movement are mainly poor
workers
and farmers. They represent more than 12,000 families, the victims of
the
banks' usury. They have paid principal and interest on their loans, but
now
they are being required to pay interest on their interest, plain and
simple.
Nearly fifty heads of families, and some whole families, have committed
suicide because they could not find any way to solve their problems with
the
banks.
The bank plans to go back on its agreements once the pressure has been
reduced and the government puts a few hundred in jail. The debtors have
called for resistance, and hundreds have taken refuge in the University
of
La Paz. They refuse to leave because they fear repression.
PRISONERS LOCK THEMSELVES DOWN AND REFUSE FOOD AND WATER
Around four thousand prisoners have been on hunger strike for six days.
A
group of women, three of them with their children, have crucified
themselves
on a roof, and others are refusing food and water.
The state has been prosecuting citizens, most of them poor, locking them
up
for years, with the presumption of guilt. It has allowed corruption to
rule
in the justice system, turned the country's prisons into disastrous
places
where human and constitutional rights are trampled on a daily basis.
The
draconian anti-drug laws have imprisoned thousands who, out of
desperation
due to the economic crisis, have been forced to work as drug
transporters.
The government locks them up, while it honors the mafia chieftains.
The men and women prisoners are demanding pardons, better living
conditions
and an end to separation of families. In the Palmasola de Santa Cruz
Prison, more than three thousand prisoners are on a hunger strike that
began
six days ago. They are drinking no liquids.
In the women's section of the San Sebastián de Cochabamba Penitentiary a
group of prisoners climbed onto the roof to crucify themselves. Some
had
their children with them, others were pregnant. There are more than 300
strikers. From today on they are sealing their lips.
Similar conflicts are also occurring in the city of Tarija, where 800
prisoners are on strike.
NAZIS ARRANGE TO MEET "PRIVATELY" IN LA PAZ
The Second International Ideological Conference on Nationality and
Socialism
took place "privately in the city of La Paz July 1 to 5," according to a
five-point document reported on July 5. According to a press release,
the
meeting included representatives of Nazi movements in Bolivia, Ecuador,
Colombia, Chile and Peru. They agreed to form a non-governmental
organization that will "look after the interests of the movements that
are
explicitly based on nationality and socialism in South America and the
world."
In Bolivian law there is no reference to Nazism, but the country has
suffered gravely under brutal military dictatorships which have had as
advisors known Italian Fascist mercenaries, and Nazi war criminals such
as
Klaus Barbie.
The current rightist government is presided over by the bloody general
Banzer, who headed a terror regime during the 1970s. Today, thanks to
an
electoral alliance, he runs a bloody terror regime that has littered the
country with the corpses of people involved in social struggles.
THE BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT IS AT DEATH'S DOOR
The bloody General Banzer is hospitalized in Washington, D.C., in the
United
States. According to unofficial reports he has been diagnosed with
systemic
cancer, but the government is attempting to deny that. He is near
death.
No doubt his demise will debilitate the state and energize the movement.
Juventudes Libertarias, Bolivia
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.come.to/jlb
(Translation from the Spanish by Robby Barnes and Sylvie Kashdan)
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