Is Bolivia heading for coup?

2003-10-15 11:10

La Paz - Bolivia's military sought to crush fears of a coup on Tuesday, renewing support for President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who faced riots around the South American country demanding he stand down.

Three days of clashes between police and protesters have caused 60 deaths.

Protest organiser Felipe Quispe called Sanchez de Lozada "a butcher" and vowed disturbances would continue.

The army clarified its commander's ambiguous support earlier Tuesday and voiced its "subordination, obedience and support" to the president, seeking to quash coup rumours.

Food shortages worsened in La Paz, which was cut off from the rest of the country because of strikes. El Alto international airport serving La Paz remained closed to commercial flights.

Strikers held more protest marches in La Paz while soldiers and police used tear gas to try to disperse looters in El Alto. A hospital official said three children aged under two in El Alto were among 28 people killed on Monday.

Protests spread across the country. Truck drivers blocked a bridge into southern neighbour Argentina. In Chapare region, coca growers blocked Bolivia's principal highway. Quechua, Guarani and Aymara Indians blocked routes into Chile, Brazil and Argentina.

Vice President Carlos Mesa withdrew support for Sanchez de Lozada on Monday and four cabinet ministers resigned.

Armed forces chief, General Roberto Claros, had said early on Tuesday that the military did not support Sanchez de Lozada "as a person" but had vowed only to "defend a legitimately constituted government."

The army said later on Tuesday that officers had made unauthorised demands for Sanchez de Lozada to step down, fuelling coup rumours and prompting the statement of unqualified support later in the day.

Protests have grown against a planned $5bn natural gas pipeline through Chile which would supply the United States and Mexico.

Seeking to defuse tensions, Sanchez de Lozada has suspended the project until the end of the year to allow a public debate.

However, opponents demand a referendum on the pipeline and for the president to stand down.

Sanchez de Lozada rejected the calls, describing the unrest as "a grand subversive project organised and financed from outside the country to destroy Bolivia's democracy".

"Democracy cannot be replaced by a union dictatorship," the president said.

Sanchez de Lozada has claimed that opposition lawmaker Quispe, an ethnic Aymara, and coca leaf growers' union leader Evo Morales, who narrowly lost the 2002 election to Sanchez de Lozada, had plotted against him.

Both have denied leading the uprising.

"We won't negotiate until 'the butcher' falls," Quispe told a CPN radio, referring to Sanchez de Lozada.

- AFP