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Author Topic: Bolivian president offers resignation overnight after pro-nationalisation protests
Anchoress
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Babbler # 4650

posted 07 June 2005 07:47 AM      Profile for Anchoress     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Bolivian President Carlos Mesa offered to resign in a late-night nationally televised address Monday amid weeks of street protests demanding the nationalization of the country's energy resources.
From: Vancouver babblers' meetup July 9 @ Cafe Deux Soleil! | Registered: Nov 2003  |  IP: Logged
josh
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2938

posted 07 June 2005 04:20 PM      Profile for josh     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Uprising continues:
quote:

Mesa announced his resignation only hours earlier as his 19-month-old free-market government unraveled amid swelling street protests and a crippling blockade of the capital. But demonstrators said that wasn't enough and demanded early elections.

Indians, including women in bowler hats and ruffled skirts, joined miners brandishing sticks of dynamite, coca leaf farmers, students and others who had filed into the capital from the satellite city of El Alto. Similar marches Monday drew more than 100,000 people and led to rolling clashes between riot police firing tear gas and violent fringe groups armed with slingshots and wooden clubs.

"Companeros, move forward!" one of the protest leaders shouted Tuesday morning as Indian, labor and leftist student groups advanced down winding mountain roads into the city of 1 million people.

Soon, dynamite blasts rumbled downtown as riot police fired back with canisters of tear gas that wafted over the demonstrators.

Tens of thousands of protesters had advanced in two major prongs on the capital, paralyzed by weeks of street blockades, food shortages and a day-old public transport strike amid the standoff between white ruling elites and protesters wanting a greater say in Bolivia's national affairs.

Mesa's resignation, if accepted by Congress, could ultimately usher in new elections, raising the prospect of Bolivia becoming the seventh Latin American country to move to a leftist government suspicious of U.S. intentions in the region.


http://tinyurl.com/afson


From: the twilight zone between the U.S. and Canada | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
sgm
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posted 08 June 2005 12:06 AM      Profile for sgm     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A first person account from Jean Friedsky, posted over at Znet.

quote:

By noon, people had filled San Francisco for a cabildo abierto (open public meeting) that demonstrated a growing unity and confidence. Within minutes of adjourning the cabildo to encircle the Plaza Murillo, the thousands of protesters were besieged by gas and rubber bullets. The police were relentless, raining gas and rubber bullets upon crowds in all directions. For the next hour, people were pushed block by block away from both San Francisco and the Plaza Murillo by the pursuant police. As we made our way up and over from San Francisco, we could hear the alternating explosions of dynamite (protesters) and gas canisters (police) in the distance.

Everyone's eyes were red; noses were running despite the coca leaves or pink toilet paper stuffed in nostrils for protection. And, it was then - before eyes had a chance to clear, before explosions had even subsided - that I was again reminded of the remarkable strength and will of the Bolivian people. "Bajaremos!," (Let's go down!) people started calling. And within moments, the people on our corner were heading back down into the increasingly hazy area below. Knowing that our companeros descending next to us were making history, Luis Gomez and I returned as well. The next few hours were wave-like: people would fill a corner by the Plaza Murillo, or congregate in San Francisco, but at the first sign of critical mass, police would disperse the crowd.


Other Znet articles on Bolivia are here.


From: I have welcomed the dawn from the fields of Saskatchewan | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
NDP Newbie
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posted 09 June 2005 06:51 PM      Profile for NDP Newbie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
El pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido!
From: Cornwall, ON | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
Anchoress
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Babbler # 4650

posted 11 June 2005 04:37 AM      Profile for Anchoress     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
New president for strife-torn Bolivia
From: Vancouver babblers' meetup July 9 @ Cafe Deux Soleil! | Registered: Nov 2003  |  IP: Logged
Anchoress
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4650

posted 12 June 2005 06:18 AM      Profile for Anchoress     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Bolivia returns to normal as last barricades lifted
From: Vancouver babblers' meetup July 9 @ Cafe Deux Soleil! | Registered: Nov 2003  |  IP: Logged
N.Beltov
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posted 12 June 2005 10:46 AM      Profile for N.Beltov   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
FYI - There's another thread with information on this topic.Where's the coverage like there was for the Ukrainian upheaval?
From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged

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