Bolivian government appeals for calm after soldiers retake airport

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Bolivian government appeals for calm after soldiers retake airport
1 hour ago

LA PAZ (AFP) — Bolivia's government and an opposition figure appealed for calm Saturday, after days of violent unrest that prompted President Evo Morales to declare martial law in one of five rebel states.

The plea, relayed by Tarija state governor Mario Cossio after a night of negotiations in La Paz, came amid a diplomatic crisis triggered by the insurgency that pits Bolivia and its allies in South America against the United States, which is accused of meddling.

The US ambassadors to Bolivia and Venezuela have been ordered to leave, prompting a tit-for-tat response by Washington against the envoys from those countries. Honduras has also refused to accept the credentials of a new US ambassador in solidarity with Bolivia.

Brazil and Argentina, which depend on Bolivia for natural gas supplies, have voiced support for Bolivian President Evo Morales.

In a media conference, Morales said he was grateful for "the great solidarity of the international community."



Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gcNx45ZcyMe9b7C-1HsagLoYdgDQ

[trthnd4jstc]

1. I support President Morales. It is a shame that there are five rebel states.

I understand the grievances to a point of the bourgeousie of Bolivia, to an extent. Yet, it is strange that many of the bourgeousie have so much, and have exploited the people, and resources of Bolivia, and have given so little back, while claiming to be Christians. Really? Christians. I do not support exploitation of anyone. I support President Morales, way more than the bourgeousie. May G-d have mercy on us all. At least President Morales is serving the 90% as opposed to the 10%, unlike how it is being done here in the US.

[bemildred]

2. This gets curiouser all the time.

I would certainly like to know more about the discussions that are going on behind the scenes.

[judasdisney]

38. Curious timing. Just in time for President Obama, a wedge with Chavez &

one staged-terror False Flag event (using Nazi Colombia as a base of operations) away from Latin America being the "communist, terrorist" wedge issue used to box-in Obama before and after the election.

[bemildred]

45. I don't see how it boxes in anybody, except maybe Bush and his minions. nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. Death toll in Bolivia unrest reaches 18

Sep 13, 4:21 PM EDT
Death toll in Bolivia unrest reaches 18

By CARLOS VALDEZ
Associated Press Writer

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- President Evo Morales on Saturday accused an opposition governor of using foreign thugs against government supporters in violence that has claimed at least 18 lives and prompted him to declare martial law in a breakaway province.

In a bid to defuse the bitter dispute over a new constitution and land reform that threatens to tear apart the poor Andean nation, Chile called for an emergency meeting of South American leaders for Monday.

"A larger tragedy has to be avoided," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a strong ally of Bolivia's leftist president, confirming he would attend the meeting.

Morales described as an ambush a gunbattle in the eastern province of Pando on Thursday that led him to impose martial law the next day. "These people were massacred," he told a news conference on Saturday.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BOLIVIA_PROTESTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-09-13-16-21-10

[dgibby]

4. Foreign thugs?

Hmm, wonder where Blackwater is?

[nerddem]

6. venezuelans?

[EFerrari]

8. Why would "venezuelens" fire on their allies?

:crazy:

[nerddem]

43. well i don't get all conspiratorial about things,

but on principle they too (along with any other armed, interested group) are foreign thugs.

chavez is trying to build a hegemony in south america, and as we well know from other hegemons, often you have to get your hands dirty.

[Judi Lynn]

7. That really sounds ugly, doesn't it? I'd like to find out more about this.

From the link:

At Saturday's news conference, Morales said "Brazilian and Peruvian assassins under the command of the governor of Pando" took part in what he said was an ambush of government supporters.

Pando Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez denied having anything to do with the violence, saying it was not an ambush but rather an armed clash between rival groups.

"The government has a great ability to distort things, and its arguments are always the same, accuse without reason," Fernandez told Radio Fides.

Peasant leader Antonio Moreno told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the violence began when he and several truckloads of companions came upon an opposition blockade on a jungle highway. He said there was some fighting, then suddenly a man exited a vehicle and fired on the farmers with a submachine gun.

"The campesinos fled to the mountain, while others jumped into the river," Moreno said.

It would be important to learn more about these guys who can be hired to go to Bolivia to slaughter the poorest people in South America.

[trthnd4jstc]

5. I hope that Venezuala and Argentina will assist Bolivia with troups.

This rebellion in Bolivia needs to be nipped in the butt.

[hack89]

9. Foreign military intervention?

I thought that was a bad thing.

[mikehiggins]

10. intervention refers to imposing your power upon some other state,

say, for example, the US invading Iraq in violation of international law and our own traditions.

If the legally elected head of the Bolivian government asks for foriegn aid to stifle an uprising supported and encouraged by foriegn interests, there would be nothing wrong with that.

[EFerrari]

12. Exactly. That's not intervention but support.

I doubt it will go that far, but it's good for Morales to have as many nations offer their support to him publicly because everyone knows who is funding the white separatists.

[Zorro]

14. Everyone knows who is funding the white separatists?

Care to inform those who don't know who's funding the "white separatists" who's funding them?

[EFerrari]

20. Enjoy.

http://bolivia.usaid.gov/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/10/2158726.htm

[Zorro]

27. USAID is funding "white separatists"?

USAID reportedly is providing funds for:

Financial services for the urban and rural poor
Agricultural development for small producers
Maternal and child health
Improved community-based health initiatives
Expanded access to family planning services
Greater awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease
Infectious disease control (Chagas, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis)
Partnerships with private organizations to enable sustainable health services
Sustainable tropical forestry management in collaboration with communities
Sound management of areas of significant biological diversity and value (parks and protected areas); and reduced industrial pollution
Development of rural competitiveness and market linkages, rural roads, municipal strengthening, access to justice, land titling and community and social development
Support to all levels of Government and all branches to strengthen democratic institutions
Improve civil society participation in democratic processes
Increase access to more efficient and transparent justice services
Strengthening local and regional governments
Enhance household food security through improved agricultural production and storage techniques, marketing, and productive infrastructure
Irrigation
Improved maternal and child health through better water sanitation
Education for household nutrition and hygiene
Food for work projects
Small self-help projects that respond to the expressed and perceived needs of low-income communities in urban and rural areas

I don't see a "funding white separatists" description anywhere.

Are you implying that USAID should not be provided to Bolivia? Or that the US should have no interest in knowing what representatives of other countries are doing?

[EFerrari]

28. Do you have a broken arm? No access to the Google to look up

USAID on your own?

I'm sorry, Zorrito. If you want research services, I'll have to charge you the same as everyone else.

[Zorro]

33. You're the one implying USAID is funding "white separatists"

If you have just a suspicion and no proof, then just say so.

It's not up to me to prove your assertion.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Of course we all know. By "we," I mean those of us who stay sober enough to keep track!

Is Washington Undermining Democracy in Bolivia?
By Mark Weisbrot

February 16, 2008, AlterNet


This week's news that the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia has repeatedly asked Peace Corps volunteers and then a Fulbright Scholar to spy on people there is much more serious that it has so far been treated. In fact, together with other activities funded there by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and National Endowment for Democracy, there are grounds for a Congressional inquiry.

These actions reinforce Bolivian officials' claims that Washington seeks to destabilize and even topple their democratic government. This has potentially severe consequences in a region where in recent years approval of the United States, and especially its foreign policy, have reached the lowest levels in the non-Muslim world.

These interventions are also morally reprehensible, and put the United States on the wrong side of a struggle for civil rights, justice, and equality that has much in common with our own civil rights movement of the 1960's. It is perhaps not surprising that the Bush Administration, whose party was on the wrong side of that struggle, too, would be intervening against the government of Evo Morales.

Morales, an Aymara Indian, broke more than 500 years of tradition by being elected Bolivia's first indigenous president at the end of 2005. While vowing to end centuries of discrimination against Bolivia's indigenous majority, who are much poorer than their compatriots of European ancestry, most of the government's measures have benefited the vast majority of Bolivians - of all ethnic groups. For example, the government's re-nationalization of its hydrocarbons industry - mostly natural gas - has brought more than a billion dollars of additional revenue to the government. (This would be equivalent to more than $1.4 trillion dollars in the United States). The government has begun to use this revenue to build hospitals and schools, promote land titling and land reform, and to increase social security payments for the elderly - a major anti-poverty initiative.

All of this has run into opposition from Bolivia's traditional elite, and especially opposition governors who want to keep the gas revenues in the provinces where the gas is located, rather than sharing more of it nationally. It is ironic that the United States ostensibly supports the national sharing of such revenues in Iraq, but not in Bolivia.

USAID has a special "Office of Transition Initiatives" (OTI) that is operating in Bolivia, funneling millions of dollars of training and support for right-wing opposition governments and movements, and trying to influence other political actors as well. According to USAID, "OTI intervenes rapidly and undertakes quick-impact interventions through short-term grants that catalyze broader change." The OTI also claims to support democracy, but they appear to be mostly supporting the "white separatist movement" that has already had four governors declare their provinces autonomous, threatening to break up the country.

More:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-columns/op-eds-columns/is-washington-undermining-democracy-in-bolivia/

[Zorro]

32. Since the USAID budget is public

I seriously doubt OTI is up to something nefarious.

For someone who's never been to South America, you certainly are prone to be misled by what you read on the internet. You consistently dismiss MSM reporting that doesn't support your myopic view of foreign affairs as "propaganda", while never questioning unproven claims of US perfidy you discover while scouring the internet as the "truth".

Peace Corps volunteers I have met are tremendously dedicated to helping the poor in foreign countries. It's not surprising that you slander an organization that actually works to improve the lives of the impoverished, since it's sponsored by the US government. I'm just as sure you cheer the presence of Cubans performing the same activities.

[High Plains]

37. You're funny. If you're real interested in what's going on down there...

...try this link. I know these people and recommend them:

Andean Information Network, based in Cochabamba

http://www.ain-bolivia.org/

[hack89]

13. What are your views on using foreign intervention

as a ruse to invite your neighbors to help you violently suppress your own citizens?

[Judi Lynn]

15. You must be mad. The opposition has been nothing BUT violent since Evo Morales was elected.

If you had only taken the time to inform yourself during any of this time you wouldn't be so wildly off base.

Did you happen to read bemildred's link posted today from Newsweek? The subject of violence was very directly discussed:

From: Revolt of the Rich
Despite winning last month's recall election, President Evo Morales faces escalating violence from protesters who don't want to share the nation's natural-gas wealth.

By Michael Miller | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 13, 2008 | Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET Sep 13, 2008

~snip~
Will Morales's mandate enable him to act more forcefully toward the breakaway provinces or is he going to have to wait for the constitutional referendum in December?

I think he is going to have to do something. The government has been very pacifist and I think they don't get enough credit for thatMost governments in the world would have sent in the military in force and a lot of people would have been killed. He has been extremely restrained. He has tried to avoid violence at all costs and the opposition has been emboldened by that. They just keep escalating. Now they are taking it to a different stage and I don't know how much more the government can just try to ignore it. They really depend on these gas exports, as do Brazil and Argentina. Brazil issued a statement the other day that said they will not tolerate an interruption in the constitutional order in Bolivia. Whether that means they will send troops, I don't know.

Mor:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158825/page/1

bemildred's post #16:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3486135#3487289

[hack89]

16. You are so rude and insulting to any opposing view

are you surprised that no one take you seriously? You live in such a back and white, cartoonish world that it defies belief.

Bye

[Judi Lynn]

21. Really? How would you evaluate your remarks to the poster immediately above?

What are your views on using foreign intervention
as a ruse to invite your neighbors to help you violently suppress your own citizens?

You don't have a case for your claim of Morales' intention toward violent suppression of citizens. It's not there. To pretend it is, is rude, and unprincipled.

[ronnie624]

46. What you consider rudeness

is probably just your own embarrassment at being called out for posting crap as fact.

Those who don't take Judi Lynn seriously, are just the resident neocons and other right-wingers who 'debate' with slurs and unsubstantiated claims.

[EFerrari]

22. Morales subjected himself to a referendum and he was overwhelmingly

approved.

You are misstating the situation, to be diplomatic.

The United States has tried to destabilize his government just about as soon as he was elected.

And the white separatists have been getting lawyers, guns and money from Bush.

These are the same people that wouldn't allow the Bolivian Indians on the sidewalks until the 70s. They must be about to explode that one of them is now the national elected leader.

[rayofreason]

30. So it would be fine...

...if Georgia requested foreign troops to come and help them deal with their rebellious provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?

[bemildred]

34. It was fine. Unfortunately Bush lied to them about that. nt

[Judi Lynn]

11. I've read that Venezuela has offered help, and Brazil's Lula has said he will help Bolivia, as well.

I haven't covered too much of the new material today, but no doubt Argentina is concerned, as well, as a customer of Bolivia's gas, like Brazil.

Both Brazil and Argentina have stated that if the white separatist governors attempt to hijack the gas business, they will NOT buy gas from them.

I have no doubt they would both assist Evo Morales.

[trthnd4jstc]

31. Wonderful. n/t

[bemildred]

17. I doubt that it will be allowed to go that far.

A few assholes with automatic weapons are enough to attempt to provoke a government over-reaction - which I suspect is the game being played here - but not enough to force ones will on the government, especially if the government has the support of its neighbors.

[Spouting Horn]

49. You're for sending

foreign occupiers to sovereign Bolivian territory?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Brazilian paper O Globo's site says he'll meet with the opposing governors tomorrow.

Looks like cooler heads will prevail, to the chagrin of the rightist ogres who flat-out admitted they want to see Evo's and Chavez's heads on spikes.

[EFerrari]

23. Evo is very cool headed, very measured. I can only imagine

what he found that pushed him to expel our Ambassador. :shrug:

[bemildred]

24. One trick ponies.

These are the same sort of tactics employed repeatedly in Venezuela. But Chavez would not play the dictator, and neither will Evo, and the end result is that the anti-government forces look like the dishonest trouble-makers they are. You can see a lot of analogies with what was tried back then to weaken and unseat Chavez.

But Evo is actually in a much stronger position then Chavez was back then, and he is controlling the agenda better than Chavez did.

[EFerrari]

25. And that leaves the jackals.

Thoughts and wishes with the forces of democracy in Latin America.

[bemildred]

26. Well, theres always the Jackals(*).

But they cannot operate in a vacuum, they require support if they are to do more than random killing. Chavez is still there.

(*) - A reference to the book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"

[EFerrari]

29. The insanity and murder in Iraq has given Latin America a head start.

I hope they can maintain their lead.

[bemildred]

35. It's going to be hard to undo at this point.

This is 2008, not 1908.

[bemildred]

36. Morales rejects U.S. Ambassador, Citing His Support for Lowland Protests

In the wake of the August 10 Recall Referendum, tensions and rifts have grown between the Bolivian executive branch, currently governed by the MAS political party, and the lowland regional prefectures, represented by opposition leaders. Conflict between these groups centers on several issues, including disagreement over constitutional reform, private land tenure caps, the distribution of national natural gas revenue and departmental autonomy. These issues are all complicated, multi-faceted and interrelated. However, MAS’s recent initiatives to address these issues have been repeatedly blocked by opposition leaders.

Although legal limits have been stretched by both the central government and the departmental leaders, it is especially clear that the prefects are overstepping the boundaries of the current laws defining their power. USAID made a decision early in the Morales administration to carry out projects directly with departmental governments, the majority of which opposed MAS. Furthermore, the funding of a trip for prefects to Washington created the impression that the Embassy sought to strengthen a political opposition block after the deterioration of traditional political parties, which had received support in the past.

---

In his speech, Costas demanded that the MAS government cease its “bullying.”1 He went on to address Evo Morales directly: "most excellent, murderous Bolivian President, you sir must take responsibility. He is the true criminal in his demands that Santa Cruz refrain from provocation, because 'patience has a limit and it's reaching the end.'”2 Costas also accused Morales, claiming “he is what divides us; he wants to pit us against each other. He doesn't respect women, he doesn't respect the press, he doesn't respect the disabled, or the capital of the Republic, a town which is the capital of the Bolivian people, a town that has told him 'you, sir, have to beg for forgiveness.’”3 "Evo reaps the discord and resentment that he has sown,"4 Costas stated.

Costas aggressively asserted his questionably-attained mandate, warning that he would not accept any new departmental leaders designated by the central government. Instead, he claimed, "it will be under the authority, under the guidance, by the decision and with the approval of the general commander of the department, Ruben Costas."

http://ain-bolivia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=134&Itemid=32

[Judi Lynn]

41. Interesting seeing the list of responsibilities of the prefects in your link.

I don't see any area open which would allow what these pigs have been doing. Ruben Costas is a slimy, hideous, treacherous monster. He cries out for a chastened view of the world, as he surely thinks he has power which actually is not given to him. Someone needs to wake him the #### up.



Creepy, slimy Ruben Costas,
right-wing friend of _Bush.

[bemildred]

44. Well, I was interested in the USAID stuff, but yeah.

If I read it right, they have no independent authority, they are hired help.

[Gillian]

39. Ortega just snubbed bush out of respect for Morales.

[Nambe]

40. Snub, snub, snub; poor dubya can´t get his war on.

[Judi Lynn]

42. Morales calls for the arrest of opposition Pando governor

Morales calls for the arrest of opposition Pando governor
Americas News


Sep 14, 2008, 7:41 GMT

La Paz - The government of Bolivian President Evo Morales on Sunday ordered the arrest of Leopoldo Fernandez, the influential opposition governor of Pando province, as a regional insurrection in the Amazonian province continued.

Fernandez has been charged with defying government-ordered martial law, said Juan Ramon Quintana, a minister in the office of the president.In
addition, the government accuses Fernandez of responsibility in a 'massacre' of aboriginal farmers who were killed on their way to a demonstration.

The Bolivian government confirmed Sunday at least 16 deaths from a regional insurrection in Pando.

According to various reports, at least 14 people, among them 13 Morales supporters, have been killed in violence related to the insurrection.

Two further deaths including that of a 17-year-old soldier occurred as the military reclaimed city airport of the Ponda provincial capital Cobija, which according to Quintana, was once again under government control.

The Cobija city airport had been presumed to have been initially taken over by assassins hired by the prefecture in rebellion against the Morales government.

More:
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1430655.php/Morales_calls_for_the_arrest_of_opposition_Pando_governor__1st_Lead__

[happydreams]

48. That sounds like a very calm and measured response by Morales, especially

when you consider that it was mostly his supporters who were murdered.

[happydreams]

47. Is Evo trying to get permaculture going? I've heard some things

about it. He is trying to get the poor back on the land. Wouldn't it be cool if the permaculturists could do for Bolivia what they did for Cuba!