Bolivia

Bolivia at the Crossroads
October 19, 2003
The recent events in Bolivia have to be viewed in context of the emergence of new social actors: indigenous uprisings, the small traders many in running their own business, often in the informal sector of the economy, the farmers be they coca farmers or not, are the new living forces. During the Anarchist Meeting in Porto Alegre, 2001, we had analysed and give examples of, the fact that in the closest years the social conflicts in Bolivia would somehow have to do with the clash of interests between the indigenous and peasants interests and those of the gas concessions.

Statement from the Mujeres Creanda
October 19, 2003
Since the beginning of the unrest in the city of El Alto on Wednesday 8th, Mujeres Creando as a movement decided to join in the fight and mobilization in the streets, without any self-promotion either by the group or its members, united shoulder to shoulder with the people. That has been the case since then, fully united with the people, our people, who have always planned pacific actions in the occupation of the streets.

Solidarity Campaign for victims of the massacre in Bolivia
October 17, 2003
The 8th of October marked the start of a massacre of the Bolivian people during protests to defend the natural gas in the city of El Alto. As of Tuesday the 14th of October there have been more than 54 people killed and approximately 200 wounded as a result of the government's violent repression which has included live ammunition, impact of 'sub-lethal' grenades, and the toxic effects of tear gas.

Bolivia: NO Gas Export, NO Free Trade, NO Globalization
October 16, 2003
Globalization is just another name for submission and domination," Nicanor Apaza, 46, an unemployed miner, said at a demonstration this week ..."We've had to live with that here for 500 years, and now we want to be our own masters."

Uruguayan anarchists view on Bolivian uprising
October 15, 2003
According to a recent communication from the Uruguayan comrades of the FAU (Uruguayan Anarchist Federation), dated 15th Oct., the events in Bolivia are truly insurrectional, bearing in mind that the FAU are following the events by Internet, not through the mass media which have published little or anything. (Of course it doesn't interest the mass media to publish a rebellion when there are social situations of the same likeness and similar oppressors.)

Venezuela today: two anarchist views
October 14, 2003
Michael Bakunin, big because of his height but also of his ideas, said in 1874 that it was impossible to carry out any type of social emancipation via centralist and authoritarian systems. The Russian thinker, one of the basis of the libertarian thought, led an intransigent polemic against Marx's ideas. Even though they both agreed on the suppression of inequalities taking the anti-capitalist struggle until the very end, the bearded anarchist opposed the idea that the only source of power was private ownership,contrary to what Marxists claimed. Bakunin went further in the understanding of human nature by introducing social and psychological elements in the revolutionary struggle.

Interview with Julieta Paredes of Mujeres Creando, an anarcha-feminist group in La Paz, Bolivia
March 16, 2002
Mujeres Creando is a "craziness" started by three women (Julieta Paredes, Maria Galindo and Monica Mendoza) from the arrogant, homophobic and totalitarian Left of Bolivia during the '80s, where heterosexuality was still the model and feminism was understood to be divisive. It's not really a new design in a society such as ours. So we had already been developing this kind of criticism.

Bolivian Stalemate and Social Upheaval Continue
February 10, 2002
Since February 1, road blockades carried out by different sectors to protest Executive Order 96415, Evo Morales's removal from Congress and the mass detention of union leaders, have impeded transit in an around Bolivia's major cities. Farmer's unions around Oruro, Copacabana, El Alto, and the La Paz Yungas blocked highways with varying success. Truck and bus drivers denounced harassment by blockaders as well as broken windshields and other damage to their vehicles. As a result, they have suspended interdepartmental transportation for 48 hours.

Bolivia: To a Passage of the Insurrection
February 9, 2002
One death per week, one wounded per day, dozens of reports of tortures, dozens of persecuted unionists, a hundred political prisoners, the closing of radios stations related to social and union movements. In less than six months, that is the balance of the regime, more atrocious than it has been in Bolivia since the fall of the military dictatorships, 20 years ago.

Blockades Multiply Across Bolivia
February 8, 2002
With the face of a young boy and a peaceful smile, the current president of Bolivia has never had the aura of firmness that the ex dictator Hugo Banzer maintained until the end of his last command. But the image of Jorge Quiroga is more deceptive, because his refusal to negotiate with the coca growers has become a new model of authoritarianism, accompanied by a hefty quantity of repressive acts in Cochabamba (don't forget, readers of Narco News, that in the last 13 months 59 farmers in the Chapare region have died in this dirty war and almost 50 leaders continue being held prisoner illegally in the jails of Cochabamba).

Bolivian Activist Arrested
November 27, 2001
Our friend, brother and comrade, Oscar Olivera is in trouble. Oscar, as you know, was one of the leaders that led a movement to successfully reverse water privatization here in Bolivia. Today he was arrested on charges of, among other things, "sedition, conspiracy, instigating public disorder, and criminal association." Oscar's crime? Leading protests against water privatization.

The Tyrant Falls
August 7, 2001
During the course of a year a general strike almost forced president Banzer to resign, but in the end it is illness that has forced him to resign today, August 6th. He walks amidst the cheers of the church vultures, the imperialists, the national bourgeoisie, and the cynicism of politicians left and right. But history will ever know him as the gorilla, fascist, killer, and drug dealer that he has always been.

Tanks and Troops Attack Bolivian Workers
July 7, 2001
The Bolivian workers are continuing their battle against the government without letup. The regime is trying desperately to defuse the conflicts by giving in to the demands of various groups one at a time. It is expecting to keep its essential policies in effect. The exploited have no confidence in the government's promises or in the church's call to the producing population for social peace.

Anarchists Occupy Government Buildings with Dynamite and Molotovs
July 2, 2001
Small debtors have been calling for a solution to their credit problems for 95 days. At ten o'clock this morning some of them took over government buildings. Among them were members of the anarchist-feminist group Mujeres Creando (Women's Initiative), whom the government named as responsible for the action.

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