BOLIVIA: THOUSANDS OF COCA FARMERS AND MINERS MARCH IN LA PAZ DEMANDING THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA.

Record ID: 648076

  • Title: BOLIVIA: THOUSANDS OF COCA FARMERS AND MINERS MARCH IN LA PAZ DEMANDING THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA.
  • Date: 15th October 2003
  • Summary: (W1) LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (OCTOBER 15, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS: OF MINERS AND COCA FARMERS MARCHING, BLOWING UP DYNAMITE STICKS. (7 SHOTS) 0.41 2. WS: OF DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED IN PLAZA. 0.46 3. MV: OF GROUP OF INTELLECTUALS WHO HAVE GONE ON HUNGER STRIKE, DEMANDING PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA'S RESIGNATION. 0.49 4. CU: PHOTOGRAPHER. 0.52 5. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ANNA MARIA ROMERO DE CAMPERO, FORMER OMBUDSMAN, SAYING: "Enough death, no more deaths among Bolivians. I have also decided to ask the President to resign. Not even during the dictatorship have we witnessed such insensitivity for life." 1.18 6. MV: OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING AGAINST THE LOCALMEDIA, CHANTING: "GONI, YOU BASTARD, THE MEDIA DOESN'T SHUT UP" (GONI IS A NICKNAME FOR PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA) 1.23 7. VARIOUS: OF DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED, YELLING AT LOCAL TV CREW COVERING MARCH. (3 SHOTS) 1.41 8. VARIOUS: OF DEMONSTRATORS ATTACKING TV CREW WITH ROCKS AND CHASING THEM DOWN THE STREET. 1.54 (U1) LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (OCTOBER 15, 2003) (REUTERS) 9. MV: PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE WITH FORMER PRESIDENT JAIME PAZ ZAMORA AND MANFRED REYES VILLA, HEAD OF NEW REPUBLICAN FORCE. 2.07 10. SCU: PRESIDENT GONZALO SANCHEZ DE LOZADA 2.11 11. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON MAURICIO ANTEZANA, STANDING NEXT TO LOZADA, SAYING: "(We will) call for a referendum by departments to establish the policies regarding the exportation of gas." 2.22 12. MV: OF LOZADA, ANTEZANA AND PAZ ZAMORA 2.26 13. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOZADA SAYING: "We are in danger of disintegrating Bolivia with these anarchist movements, narcos, and unionists who cannot prevail. What has to prevail is unity, tranquility and democracy." 2.46 14. MV: OF LOZADA, PAZ ZAMORA AND REYES VILLA LEAVING. 2.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Reuters ID: LVAABVZST6JLTW2L5YPRWD967LCP
  • Story Text: Thousands of coca farmers and miners march
    in La Paz, demanding resignation of embattled President Gonzalo
    Sanchez de Lozada.



    Bolivia's army fought to stop a column of
    dynamite-wielding Indian miners from streaming into the
    besieged capital on Wednesday (October 15), leaving two
    dead as a popular uprising against the president spread.

    Catholic Church officials, who saw the bodies, said two
    miners were killed and nine other protesters injured 50
    miles (110 km) outside La Paz as a convoy of miners threw
    dynamite at soldiers manning a road block. The government
    said the miners carried "a huge quantity" of dynamite.

    Thousands of coca farmers and workers, including miners
    who blew up dynamite sticks on cobbled colonial streets,
    rallied in the center of La Paz only blocks away from a
    presidential palace guarded by a ring of riot police and
    armored vehicles.

    President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, denouncing
    protests from "anarchic groups," addressed the nation with
    his coalition partners and promised a referendum on a
    controversial gas project, reform of an energy law and
    constitutional reforms -- moves that will meet some key
    opposition demands.

    "We are in danger of disintegrating Bolivia with these
    anarchist movements, narcos, and unionists who cannot
    prevail," Lozada said.

    "What has to prevail is unity, tranquility and
    democracy," he added.

    But many Bolivians say the government and a poor Indian
    majority living in poverty are now so far apart that only
    his resignation will end one of the nation's worst crises.

    The month-long revolt against Sanchez de Lozada's
    U.S.-backed policies has resulted in a steady stream of
    fatalities, with the estimated death toll now at 55. No
    official figures were available.

    At least 14 rights activists and intellectuals went on
    hunger strike on Wednesday to demand the president quit,
    the common rallying cry of demonstrators.

    Protesters also attacked on Wednesday at least two
    local media crews with rocks, accusing them of defending
    the government.

    Protests have spread across Bolivia, engulfing
    Cochabamba, southeast of La Paz, the center of unpopular,
    U.S.-backed efforts to eradicate coca. Marchers threw rocks
    at police and Molotov cocktails at a government palace.

    The government in South America's poorest nation, where
    six out of 10 people live on less than $2 a day, is under
    attack for a host of grievances ranging from plans to
    export natural gas to the United States to the eradication
    of coca, the raw material used to make cocaine.

    Columns of workers, farmers and miners from the region
    surrounding La Paz have streamed toward the high-altitude
    capital. Some miners were stopped by the army but others
    have reached the capital. The government says it will not
    allow them to reach the city center, accusing them of
    planning violence.

    There were sporadic clashes in La Paz as police fired
    tear gas at demonstrators in the morning.

    The city was nearly cut off from supplies of fuel and
    basic foodstuffs like bread and eggs. Banks and schools
    were shut and Indian markets sold only rotting vegetables.

    Congress closed its doors, airlines could not land at the
    one international airport and tourists were trapped.

    Thousands of Bolivians in the poor outskirts of the
    city set up barricades of tires and stones along key access
    routes to the capital and stoned anyone who tried to drive
    past.

    The United States on Wednesday warned citizens not to
    travel to La Paz and the surrounding area.

    Spanish oil and gas group Repsol has temporarily
    halted plans to export gas from Bolivia, sources said.

    Criticism of the gas project through Chile, which has a
    border dispute with Bolivia, is one of the rallying cries
    of the Indian-led opposition's campaign to force Sanchez de
    Lozada to resign.






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