BOLIVIA: Pressure mounts on Bolivian president as indigenous march continues and a strike locks down La Paz in ongoing conflict over Amazon road plan

Record ID: 340555

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Pressure mounts on Bolivian president as indigenous march continues and a strike locks down La Paz in ongoing conflict over Amazon road plan
  • Date: 7th October 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bolivia, Plurinational State Of
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEH4QMHL7966MKFJDQ0HAS0Z1W
  • Story Text: Bolivian President Evo Morales was facing continued protests on Thursday (October 06) as a 48-hour strike added to a wave of discontent sparked by anger over a controversial Amazon road plan.
    Morales has sought to ease tensions over the project by halting construction work and calling for a referendum in the two provinces that it would link to determine whether the project should go ahead. But the protesters have rejected the call for a vote and resumed the march.
    Indigenous leader Jose Bailaba Parapanos said the march had not been easy, but said they believed they had support.
    "In all these stretches, we've lived through difficulty, some groups have opposed us and others have supported us. But we think the march will go on. We think we will benefit from arriving to Caranavi, where most people are waiting for us. We think it's important to show our people and the country that our demands are just," he said.
    The marchers are expected to reach La Paz on October 12. Social protests are common in Bolivia, the region's biggest natural gas exporter, but tensions have eased since Morales was elected in 2005 on pledges to give more political power to the indigenous majority.
    However, it is the second time in less than a year that he has faced fierce opposition from his own powerbase over a government policy. Late last year, a wave of strikes and street protests prompted him to roll back a hefty fuel hike.
    Protests by indigenous activists opposed to the road pose a dilemma for Morales, who has put the project at the heart of his strategy to improve the country's dilapidated road system.
    As the indigenous marchers made their way from the eastern Amazon lowlands, union leaders organized a strike in La Paz, blocking off roads with bonfires.
    The Morales administration has accused demonstrators of trying to sabotage nationwide judicial elections this month, a claim protesters deny.
    Roman Layza, a protest leader and former Morales ally, said the president had lost perspective.
    "The president is busy with the elections. I don't think these elections work. Everyone is going to abstain from these elections. It's a political game. Instead of occupying himself with the problems here, he went to Cuba, to Venezuela and to campaign around the country. This government has a vertical power system. It's dictatorial," he said.
    At a public appearance on Thursday, Morales sat behind his Finance Minister Luis Arce Catacora, who announced a stipend for public employees. Morales did not speak at the event.
    The situation with indigenous marched peaked recently when police, who had been blocking the marchers path to La Paz, violently dispersed the demonstrators, causing an uproar across the country.
    Union leader Javier Caceres, said the government was out of line, but large corporations were the real enemy.
    "The government, in a very irresponsible way, wants to confront people who are exploited. What we want to say to our comrades who are being called on for the march next week is that they not get led on by the government or by the money that could finance the march. We want to show that this is, in reality, a struggle against the multi-national corporations. They want indigenous Bolivians to fight against colonizing Bolivians. The struggle is against the multi-national corporations that were kicked out in 2003. This is our position," he said.
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