BOLIVIA: Government on Tenterhooks in Wake of Deadly Protests

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Raúl Pierri

MONTEVIDEO, Feb 13 2003 (IPS) - (Latin America Bureau) Protests to demand the Bolivian president’s resignation continued to simmer Thursday in La Paz, in spite of the withdrawal of the much- criticised income tax hike and the signing of an accord to end the violent clashes between police and military soldiers, which left 18 people dead.

In addition to the general strike called by trade unions, peasant farmer associations and the leftist MAS party (Movement to Socialism), headed by lawmaker and former presidential candidate Evo Morales, "peaceful" marches took place in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba to condemn President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s economic policy and fiscal adjustment plan.

Morales, who is also leader of Bolivia’s coca-growing peasants, initiated contacts with labour leaders to organise roadblocks on the country’s main highways.

Roadblocks have been the hallmark of the farmers from the central region of Chapare in their protests against the government’s anti-drugs plan. Coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, is an important source of income for impoverished peasant communities, which also use the leaf for traditional purposes.

Wednesday’s protests by police demanding a wage increase turned into a clash with government troops outside the main government buildings in La Paz, killing 18 people and wounding at least 80 more, according to official figures.

The chaos and continued tensions prompted Sánchez de Lozada to withdraw his draft budget for 2003, which included an income tax of 12.5 percent, to replace the existing revenue-generating sales tax, which has proved inefficient and easily evadable.

The violence erupted after soldiers were deployed to control the situation in the capital and confront the protesters, many of who were police and were also armed. Meanwhile, some people took advantage of the lack of police patrols and the confusion on the streets in and around Murillo de La Paz plaza to loot the shops in the area.

Government sources confirmed Thursday that a deal had been agreed with the protesting police, who said they would return to work after receiving a promise that their demands for a salary increase would be attended to.

But the Bolivian Labour Central (COB) and MAS said they would continue their protests and have set their sights on forcing Sánchez de Lozada to resign through work stoppages, roadblocks and other pressure tactics.

On another front, MAS and fellow opposition party New Republican Force announced that they will file a criminal complaint against the president and his ministers, who they hold responsible for the people who were killed and injured on what the press has dubbed "black Wednesday".

"The president only withdrew his tax bill after a great deal of blood had been shed. This was a political defeat for the government, but things have not calmed down and Morales is maintaining his stance that Sánchez de Lozada must resign," MAS lawmaker Filemón Escobar said in a conversation with IPS.

Morales was himself very close to reaching the presidency last year, after winning in the first-round elections in June and facing Sánchez de Lozada in the final challenge, which was decided by the Bolivian Congress.

The constitution establishes that Congress chooses the president from among the two most-voted candidates if no one receives the minimum percentage of votes needed to win the presidency outright.

Sánchez de Lozada is running into difficulties even within his own party, the MNR (Revolutionary Nationalist Movement).

MNR lawmakers have called for the resignation of the ministers in charge of the economic and political portfolios, saying the administration’s budget bill is "imprudent" at this time of social "disagreement".

Business leaders, who have also come out in opposition to the government’s economic policy, have distanced themselves from the militant attitudes of COB and MAS, and are urging the Bolivian people to remain calm.

Roberto Mustafá, vice-president of the Confederation of Private Businesses of Bolivia, told IPS, "We are extremely concerned about what is occurring here. Many factories have been vandalised and automatic banking machines have been robbed. We believe that the way out of the crisis is not through protests, but through work."

"Our objective was to oppose the government’s economic policy, but now that Sánchez de Lozada withdrew the bill, there is no reason to strike," said Mustafá.

"I think COB is moving to another level by demanding the president’s resignation," he added. "We in the business community are always going to defend democratic stability."

However, he did agree with COB and MAS that the president’s budget proposal was the result of requirements established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is pressing the government to reduce Bolivia’s fiscal deficit of 8.5 percent of the gross domestic product, or some eight billion dollars.

The bill that Sánchez de Lozada presented to Congress on Tuesday would curb state spending and impose a tax of 12.5 percent on all salaries greater than 130 dollars a month.

Bolivia, with a population of more than eight million, is considered the poorest country in South America.

The proposed tax would not have affected most police officers, because they earn less than 130 dollars. But the 10,000-strong force took part in the protests because they are seeking a 40- percent pay hike, versus the two-percent raise the government had offered.

"I have taken the decision to withdraw the budget bill that I sent to Congress. I am saddened to see two institutions of our democracy (the police and military) fight each other. This must stop," Sánchez de Lozada said in a televised message Wednesday when La Paz was seemingly immersed in a climate of war.

Government officials have resoundingly rejected the possibility that the president would step down as a result of the social tensions Bolivia is suffering, and said MAS’s demand for Sánchez de Lozada resignation smacks of "political opportunism".