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Posted on 10/15/2003 8:35:23 AM PDT by EsclavoDeCristo
Bolivia's military sought to crush fears of a coup, 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 organizer 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 rumors.
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 neighbor 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 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 Tuesday that officers had made unauthorized demands for Sanchez de Lozada to step down, fueling coup rumors and prompting the statement of unqualified support later in the day.
Protests have grown against a planned five-billion-dollar natural gas pipeline through Chile which would supply the United States and Mexico.
Over the past three weeks, 70 people have died and 200 injured, human rights groups said, quoting hospital reports.
Despite its poverty, Bolivia has the second-largest deposits of natural gas, after Venezuela.
Opposition to the pipeline is strong among unions, coca growers and government critics, who have other grievances but argue that Bolivia's 18 percent share of the profits from the project is too small.
National resentment toward Chile, which took Bolivia's access to the sea in an 1879 war, also runs deep. Protesters would rather see the gas exported through Peru, even though the costs would be higher.
Seeking to defuse tensions, Sanchez de Lozada, a free-marketeer who has been in office for just over one year, 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 Monday, describing the unrest as "a grand subversive project organized 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 accused 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, but promised continued disturbances until the president is out.
"We won't negotiate until 'the butcher' falls," Quispe told a CPN radio, referring to Sanchez de Lozada.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "is gravely concerned by the continuing violence in Bolivia, which has led to many deaths in the past several days," a spokesman said.
"There must be full respect for human rights -- above all, the right to life," he added.
The United States expressed support for the US-educated president but Washington barred its diplomats from traveling within Bolivia and warned US citizens there to stay indoors.
The Organization of American States late Monday backed Sanchez de Lozada "for maintaining democracy and the state of law in that nation."
Germany and France issued travel warnings while Spain called for dialogue.
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