Here’s a message that has to get widely distributed:
BOLIVIA UNDER MARTIAL LAW
As of 10 am Saturday morning Bolivia was declared under martial
law by President Hugo Banzer. The drastic move comes at the end of a
week of protests, general strikes, and transportation blockages that
have left major areas of the country at a virtual standstill. It also
follows, by just hours, the surprise announcement by state officials
yesterday afternoon that the government would concede to the protests’
main demands, to break a widely-despised contract under which the city
of Cochabamba’s public water system was sold off to foreign investors
last year. The concession was quickly reversed by the national
government, and the local governor resigned, explaining that he didn’t
want to take responsibility for bloodshed that might result.
Banzer, who ruled Bolivia as a dictator from 1971-78, has taken an
action that suspends almost all civil rights, disallows gatherings
of more than four people and puts severe limits on freedom of the
press. One after another, local radio stations have been taken
over by military forces or forced off the air. Reporters have been
arrested The neighborhood where most of the city’s broadcast antennas
are located had its power shut off at approximately noon local time.
Through the night police searched homes for members of the widely-
backed water protests, arresting as many as twenty. The local
police chief has been instated by the President as governor of the
state. Blockades erected by farmers in rural areas continue across
the country, cutting off some cities from food and transportation.
Large crowds of angry residents, many armed with sticks and rocks are
massing on the city’s center where confrontations with military and
police are escalating.
Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia
TelFax: (591-4) 248242, 500849
TelCel: 017-22253
