BOLIVIIA: Protesters blockade airport in demonstration against police crackdown on march by indigenous

Record ID: 644439

  • Title: BOLIVIIA: Protesters blockade airport in demonstration against police crackdown on march by indigenous
  • Date: 27th September 2011
  • Summary: THREE BUSES POLICE VEHICLES THAT TOOK ARRESTED PROTESTERS TO AIRPORT MILITARY PLANE ON TARMAC VARIOUS OF TIRES BURNING ON TARMAC POLICE AND FIRE TIRES BURNING ON TRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED LOCAL RESIDENT SAYING: "We want these innocent people to be freed. We don't want them to scooped up and abused. We've seen on TV that there is a woman and a child dead, which is what President Evo Morales wants. All these people voted for him and now they are paying for it. These people haven't done anything. We are peacefully asking they be released." TARMAC WITH PEOPLE, SMOKE AND AIRPLANE LOCAL RESIDENTS INSULTING POLICE PEOPLE CLOSING IN ON POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE TEAR GASSING PROTESTERS ARRESTED INDIGENOUS PROTESTERS BEGINNING TO ESCAPE
  • Embargoed: 12th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3K2FRF9BKJ2PT4SI334ORJ34D
  • Story Text: Indignation spread through Bolivia on Monday (September 26) a day after a violent police crackdown against indigenous people protesting a government highway plan through a rainforest reserve.
    Indigenous officials said a three-month-old baby had been killed and dozens of protesters were missing after police cracked down on activists, who were trying to march to La Paz.
    Supporters of the indigenous gathered at Rurrenbaque airport near Yucumo to show their support for the protesters, burning tires and closing in on police which allowed the arrested protesters to escape.
    Clashes ensued with police firing tear gas.
    The crisis has driven much of President Evo Morales' indigenous base away, and it threatening to become even more divisive for the president.
    "We want these innocent people to be freed. We don't want them to scooped up and abused. We've seen on TV that there is a woman and a child dead, which is what President Evo Morales wants. All these people voted for him and now they are paying for it. These people haven't done anything. We are peacefully asking they be released," said one local resident.
    The indigenous protesters, many of whom were women and children, were attempting to march from their Amazon homeland to La Paz against a proposed highway that they say will put an end to their lifestyle of hunting and fishing in the protected rainforest.
    But last week police blocked and coca growers who support the Amazon road blocked their way.
    After Sunday's fighting, representatives from the protest groups issued a list of 37 people, including 7 children and 2 protest leaders, whose whereabouts are unknown since they were taken away by police. Five indigenous senators of Morales' MAS (Movement to Socialism) party were also reportedly detained by authorities.
    In Santa Cruz, indigenous people started a hunger strike on the steps of a local church in support of the indigenous.
    The $420 million dollar road, to be built by Brazilian company OAS and largely financed by Brasilia, would stretch 185 miles (300 km), linking the plains of Beni to Chapare.
    It pits Amazon tribes against coca growers who have been encroaching on the region and stand to benefit from the road.
    Morales, the country's first indigenous president, started his political career as a coca grower activist in the region.
    If built, the road would pass through the Isiboro Secure indigenous territory and national park.
    Indigenous leader Hemigio Poiche said many felt Morales had betrayed them.
    "We thought we would were being represented by an indigenous government, but now we've realized it's not like that, that it was all talk, cheating the poorest people," he said.
    But Poiche warned there would be no backing down.
    "We aren't going to lay down, now less than ever. We are going to keep fighting until the final consequences against this oppressive government, that is only looking to divide and terminate the indigenous people of the lowlands," he said.
    In June, the Bolivian president angered activists after he said the highway project would continue whether they liked it or not.
    Several former members of Morales' government have taken sides with the indigenous people.
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