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Bolivian troops called in to quell deadly protest clashes
AFP
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia
Petroleumworld.com 01 12 07
Bolivian troops mobilized here Thursday to back police attempts to quell deadly clashes between autonomy seekers and government backers that left at least two people dead and more than 100 injured.
Soldiers fanned out through Cochabamba, in central Bolivia, as separate demonstrations by coca farmers and middle-class youths degenerated into pitched street battles over plans by the local governor for regional autonomy.
The coca farmers, all supporters of leftist President Evo Morales and his controversial reform program, were calling for the resignation of the Cochabamba region's governor, Manfred Reyes, for proposing a referendum on state autonomy to counter the central government's expanding authority.
Young people, mostly of middle-class background, held a counter-demonstration in support of the governor and against the socialist policies of the Morales administration.
As rival protesters beat each other with sticks and stones, police responded with tear gas to disperse them after failing to keep the two groups apart.
Killed in the violence was coca grower Nicomedes Gutierrez, 36, who was fatally shot, and Christian Urrestia, 20, a Reyes supporter.
The city of a half million people has been paralyzed since Monday by protesting farmers who have cut all road access to Cochabamba and have staged daily demonstrations.
The unrest followed similar clashes Monday between thousands of coca farmers and the police that left 31 people injured, including 10 journalists, in this city 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of La Paz.
Bolivia has been increasingly divided between the poor, mostly indigenous highlands and the wealthy lowlands since Morales, 55, a one-time legislator on behalf of coca-growing districts and the country's first native Indian president, took power a year ago with an ambitious socialist agenda.
The four wealthy, eastern lowland provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija have laid claim to greater autonomy in the wake of Morales's moves to redistribute land holdings among poorer Bolivians and rewrite the constitution.
Cochabamba leaders recently joined the autonomy movement.
AFP 12 0016 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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