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Opposition marches for early Bolivia vote
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-15 07:54
Thousands of Indians, labor activists and peasant farmers marched peacefully
Tuesday in renewed pressure for early elections and demands Bolivia nationalize
its oil industry as Congress reconvened for the first time since widespread
violent protests forced a presidential upheaval last week.
Some 7,000 demonstrators including campesinos in bright ponchos and bowler
hats tied up downtown traffic in Bolivia's main city as they filed past
Congress, their peaceful protest reiterating demands that brought down a
president through strikes and opposition protests in recent weeks.
Thousands of Bolivian workers, some members of
the Comerce Union of La Paz, congregate at the San Francisco square after
they marched demanding the country's natural gas wealth be nationalized in
La Paz, Bolivia on Tuesday, June 14, 2005.
[AP] | "The oil is ours!" and "early elections!" they chanted as secretaries and
office workers scurried out of the path of the marchers while firecrackers
exploded overhead. It was the first major protest rally since a grave political
crisis ended last week and culminated on a plaza that was the scene of last
week's clashes.
No violence was reported as police looked on and Indian banners in a rainbow
of colors fluttered on the breeze.
The protest came as House and Senate lawmakers regrouped in separate chambers
on procedural matters as they got back to work. In coming days, they are to
begin examining opposition demands that forced the ouster of president Carlos
Mesa, a U.S.-backed free market ally who lasted 19 months in power and was
replaced last Thursday by caretaker President Eduardo Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has called for elections in about five months and demonstrators
here said they wanted not just the president and vice president to be up for
grabs as required by law, but also legislative and other local posts.
"We want the government to call general elections and we want those elections
to include the Senate, House deputies and other posts," said protester Ubaldo
Aquino. "We will not surrender. We will continue this protest until the
government engages us in a real dialogue."
Opposition leaders announced a truce last weekend to nationwide highway
blockades that isolated major cities and triggered gas and food shortages in La
Paz. But they warned a national blockade could be imposed later if demands go
unmet.
A nationwide opposition uproar by tens of thousands of Indians, miners, coca
leaf farmers and labor activists began May 16 and forced Congress last Thursday
to appoint Rodriguez, a 49-year-old Supreme Court justice as caretaker president
until new elections.
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