The Narco News Bulletin
"The
Name of Our Country is América"
--
Simón Bolívar
Press
Briefing
October 5-11, 2000
October 11:
US Ambassador
Rocha Demands Bolivian Blood
"Banzer Must
Be Inflexible" says Manuel Rocha
Rumors of Military
Invasion at Dawn
AP Continues Media Blackout of Historic
Events
Morales: "We
Will Offer Our Lives"
from the daily Los Tiempos, Cochabamba,
Bolivia
Wednesday, October 11, 2000
Ambassador
Rocha: "The Eradication Must Not Be Delayed"
La Paz | Los Tiempos.- Not a single half-cato
of coca nor delays in the December 15th deadline for "zero
coca." That is the position of the US Ambassador Manuel
rocha, who recommended to the government of General Hugo Banzer
that he not be flexible in negotiations with Evo Morales.
Rocha made these statements in the moments
in which the tension is building in Chapare.
Interview
with the Ambassador:
Q.
How does the United States view the request by Evo Morales to
maintain a cato (40 by 40 meter garden) of coca per family?
A.
I'm not going to comment on this request. This is a negotiation
that this man is making with the government and it is internal
to the country. I want to respect the negotiations and the posture
of the government of President Banzer that Minister Guillermo
Fortún is conducting. What I do want to say is that the
policy of Bolivia and its government, regarding Plan Dignidad,
has and will continue to have the total support of the U.S.
Q.
If the government agrees to what Evo Morales has asked, with
the US continue cooperating in the drug war?
A.
From what I understand, the posture of the government is very
clear and doesn't merit any speculation.
Q.
Without compromising the goal of "zero coca," does
the U.S. regard the probability of postponing the compliance
of this goal for some months while the parties try to achieve
consensus and improve the offers of alternative development?
A.
I don't believe there is any need to think about that, given
that the eradication is underway. During these three weeks of
social agitation, the eradication has continued without any impediment
and I don't believe the government is contemplating a delay.
And, definitely, in the colaboration that we are giving Bolivia
in the process of eradication, we don't see a need to think about
a recess in the eradication activity.
As for alternative development, I would
like to invite you to see what has been done in recent years,
so that you can see the ex-coca growers that today participate
in alternative development and how they have been affected by
the blockades of these people who don't want to see that coca-cocaine
is part of a criminal activity. We have people, many peasants,
that have worked very hard that now have suffered three weeks
without being able to export bananas, pineapples and palm to
Argentina and Chile.
Of the 110 million dollars that the US
has approved (as additional budget), the bulk of the funds is
going to be destined to alternative development... in something
viable for the coca growers who have left this business and are
dedicated to something legal.
Q. The
mediators are making an effort to bring the parties together.
The positions of each side are at the point of provoking violence
in the clearing of the blockade and at this moment everyone awaits
signs of a peaceful solution. What signal would the US give to
facilitate a peaceful solution?
A. The
best signal that could come is that those who still insist in
this illegal activity of growing illicit coca acknowledge that
there are people of more conscience in the Bolivian population,
people who understand the coca-cocaine destroys the country's
reputation and the dignity of the work of its people. The coca
growers contribute to something that is illegal not only in Bolivia
but also in the entire world.
The best signal would be that those who
are conversing with the government rethink their position and
desist an activity that has no future, will not have any future,
nor acceptance nor legimitacy.
US Will
Withdraw Money for Cancelled Military Bases
La Paz | Los Tiempos.- The United States
had budgeted nearly $2 million dollars to construct the military
bases in Chapare, an amount that will be withdrawn until the
Bolivian government makes a new request, said the US Ambassador
Manuel Rocha.
"We would have to see what other
plans or proposals the Bolivian government has for this region
where they wanted to put the military bases. We will see and
we are open to any other proposal," he said.
Government
and Coca Growers Declare War
Military
Invasion of Chapare is Imminent
The coca growers decided to plant a cato
per family "or die trying," declaring the Tropic a
Zone of Free Production and Intensifying the Blockades. The government
did not give an inch in its slogan of "Zero Coca."
The Mediation Commission suggested to
the authorities that they enact a 30 day truce, without blockades,
soldiers nor eradication, but the petition was rejected.
The government will not stay still with
its arms crossed. This dawn, extra official reports circulated
that confirmed the military invasion of Chapare beginning at
4 a.m. The operation will begin at three points. The Interior
Minister, Guillermo Fortún, confirmed that the clearing
of the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway could begin at any moment.
The
United States Asks Banzer to Be Inflexible
The
Coca Growers Want Dialogue, but will Resist with Self-Defense
Committees, Armed with Rustic Rifles and Molotov Cocktails
The
Government and Coca Growers Choose Confrontation
The clearing of the blockade could occur
on three fronts and with troops from three divisions. The Ninth
Division of the Army will attack from Chimoré with 5,000
soldiers. The Eighth Division from Santa Cruz and the Seventh
Division from Cochabamba.
"Nothing. Not a Cato or anything.
Coca or Death!" These were the words most repeated during
the assembly of the six federations of coca producers yesterday
in the tropical town of Shinahota. The producers did not back
down on their demands and went even further to decide new plantings
of coca everywhere in the region.
And they decided to harden their tactics
and the blockade of the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway.
The
Growers are not Tired
The government, from the beginning, gambled
that the coca growers would grow tired. But the coca growers
created a system of organizing the blockades that can last much
more time still.
The blockade is present for 24 hours a
day. While one group guards the blockade, three more (each with
a similar quantity of 300 persons at each blockade point) work
with the crops and in the planting of pinapple, rice, oranges
and yuca root.
The coca growers say that these products
are not sellable. Yuca root is produced for domestic consumption
and the pineapple only bring .5 bolivianos.
Also, the market for coca is assured.
The principal consumers of Chapare coca are the peasants of Santa
Cruz, Cochabamba, Potosí and other tropical regions.
Coca Growers Decide to Offer Their Lives
Mor than 1,000 coca growers met at noon
on Tuesday... and decided to declare Chapare a Free Trade Zone
for coca until the government shows its will to negotiate with
the base of "one cato per family."
"The decision by the rank-and-file
is to continue the resistance including by offering our lives,"
warned Congressman Evo Morales.
October 10, 2000
Netwar
in Bolivia
Banzer Regime
Cuts Phone, Radio, and Internet Access from Conflict Zone
Coca
Growers Declare Chapare to be a "Free Trade Area"
Act of War: In Violation of International
Law, Water and Electricity Are Also Shut Down
Narco News Analysis:
From Chiapas 1994 to Bolivia 2000, "it's Deja Vu all
over again."
The Zapatista
uprising in Mexico -- still going -- combined the demand for
autonomy of indigenous peoples with high-tech weapons of communications.
The internet entered the popular struggle.
The regime of
dictator-turned-"president" Hugo Banzer is so worried
that the Indians are using the Internet that he has shut down
all phone, internet and radio access to and from the region.
The demand is
the same as in Chiapas: Autonomy.
And the rhetoric
by the US and Bolivian governments about "freedom of the
press" proves hollow when tested.
Narco News will
continue to break the blockade. Today, fresh reports out of Bolivia,
where the peasants are taking up arms to defend the ancient tradition
of coca cultivation so feared by the United States government
and its hypocritical drug war.
From somewhere
in a country called América,
Al Giordano
Publisher
The Narco News
Bulletin
Tuesday, October 10, 2000:
Cochabamba | ANF news
agency.- By decree of the producers in the Tropic of Cochabamba,
the State of Chapare will be a zone of free production of coca
and they announced that they will not negotiate until the government
accepts the condition of "one kato per family."
The announcement was confirmed
yesterday by Congressman and coca growers leader Evo Morales
Ayma, and he denounced that since noon on Monday, telephone service
and electricity had been cut from the entire tropical zone of
Cochabama, as well as Radio Sovereignty, the station owned
by the six coca-grower federations of the Tropic.
He said, at the same time,
that in the more populated areas the electricity had been cut
since the weekend as well as potable water supplies.
Monday, October 9, 2000:
Government
Prepares Military-Police Invasion
"A
Mini Colombia," Warn Peasant Farmers
LA PAZ/Jatha News Service:
The government reported
on Sunday that the roads of eastern Bolivia are completely unblocked
and public forces are preparing the intervention to clear the
Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway that is blockaded by coca growers....
Coca Growers Arm Themselves
for a "Cato" of Coca
The coca growers are armed
and asked the government to respect the position of one "cato"
of coca per family in Chapare, leader Evo Morales warned on Sunday.
He said that coca-leaf producers showed their leaders that with
the use of machine guns they will turn back the eradicators.
He also warned that explosives
and rockes will be used to confront troops dedicated to the eradication
of coca fields. The congressman and coca growers leader assured
that in the six federation of the Cochabamba Tropic the proposal
of the government to reduce the allowed coca field to a half-cato
(20 by 20 meters) per family was not accepted. He then warned
that the conflict will be serious because hunger, misery and
unemployment continue increasing in Chapare.
He insisted that there
is no market for products of the Tropic of Cochabamba. "Step
by step we are advancing toward armed conflict. Here, a mini-Colombia
is about to happen."
from the daily Los Tiempos,
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Monday, October 9, 2000+
Coca
Growers say the Enemy is now the Government of the United States
Chapare and La Paz - Los
Tiempos and news agencies: The struggle of the peasants in Cochabamba
Tropic is now against the government of the United States, not
that of Bolivia, said Congressman and coca growers leader Evo
Morales yesterday. This decision came due to the role of the
US Embassy in the conflict and its total opposition to allow
the acceptance of a half-kato of coca per peasant family, an
idea, said Morales, that was adopted in some government circles.
October 8, 2000
"Now
or Never! Coca or Death!"
Farmers Chant as
they Arm Themselves
"Civil War"
Vows Evo Morales
"The
government pledges not to eradicated coca leaf crops in traditional
indigenous zones, as established in Article 9 of Law 1008."
--
Agreement Signed (10/7) with Peasant Farmers from Some Regions
"The Two Bolivias:
Still Separated by Blockade"
The scant US
media coverage of immediate history in Bolivia has turned from
black-out to distortion. The spin -- that the crisis is over
-- is false. With dicator-turned-"president" Hugo Banzer
pulling troops out of some regions in order to concentrate the
full wrath of destructive power upon the defiant coca growers
of Chapare, the peasants are arming themselves to repel the invasion.
Meanwhile, on
the 33rd Memorial of the October 7, 1967 assassination of Comandante
Che Guevara in Bolivia, two of the sectors that signed agreements
with the government in recent days -- the peasant farmers from
other regions and the Bolivian water use movement -- warn the
government that all is not settled. Campesino leader Felipe Quispe
("El Mallku") gave the government 90 days to comply
with its promises or vows to reinitiate the blockades in his
regions. Some of Quispe's regions refused to give up the blockade
and offered their backing to Evo Morales and the Chapare growers.
And the Coordinating Committee for Water and Life reiterated
its support for the unconquerable peasant farmers of Chapare
and their spokesman Evo Morales.
In the drama
building on the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz Highway 5,000 troops march
toward 60,000 coca growing families, armed and ready to fight.
From the daily Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Sunday, October 8, 2000:
Evo
Insists: "Coca or Death!"
Chapare Los Tiempos.-
A tense anticipation characterized the mood of the people of
Chapare. The six federations of coca producers met yesterday
in large assemblies that ratified their intention to resist with
the slogan of "¡Coca o Muerte! ¡Ahora o Nunca!"
-- "Coca or Death! Now or Never!"
The coca growers are arming
themselves to the teeth with the intention to await the military
troops that entered the zone, but as of the closing of this edition
the feared "armed clearing of the blockade" did not
happen.
State Police Commander
Eduardo Wayar signaled that they still don't have a precise order
to begin the clearing of the road blockade. A high military source
told Los Tiempos that they will await the moment when the population
is found most scattered, and this might not occur until the end
of next week.
The leader Evo Morales
said in Villa Tunari that with the dialogue fracased on the theme
of eradication of coca plants, they have decided to resist and
offer their lives to the struggle.
The blockade of the Cochabamba-Santa
Cruz highway remains intact after 24 days with innumerable blockade
points that cover more than 200 kilometers.
The Congressman and coca-grower
said that in his bicycle trip from Chimoré to Villa Tunari
he saw the readiness of the coca growers to continue resisting
in the blockades.
If the government represses
us we are disposed to defend ourselves and if a social revolt
occurs this will be the exclusive responsibility of the government
of the United States that imposes a false policy," he said.
The leader Luis Cutipa
said that the coca growing bases "are ready to respond bullet
for bullet" and that there is rage and indignation that
some leaders like Felipe Quispe and Alejo Véliz allied
themselves with the government.
Morales, however, received
the support of some sectors of peasants in Valle Bajo (territory
of Quispe's organizations) who still have not lifted the blockades.
The coca growers continued
transporting the women and children to internal forest zones
to keep them from the danger of a possible confrontation with
the forces of order.
At the same time they
loaded their hunting arms, Mauser rifles and slingshots. In Shanahota
they informed that they had also acquired sufficient fuel to
make molotov coctails...
The
Final Solution in Bolivia:
Coca
for Some Regions, Violence for Others
Bolivia Divided
by Drug War Hypocrisy
Narco News Analysis: The
Banzer regime has granted one of the two major coca growing unions
the rights to continue to grow "traditional coca,"
along with pledging massive financial investment and agreeing
to "95%" of their demands, in order to isolate the
coca growers of Chapare.
Chapare is the central
region of Bolivia that Washington DC has targetted for the next
phase of its "zero coca" policy, in which the dictator-turned-"president"
Hugo Banzer is a key player.
The government claims
it will allow coca growers in Yunga and other states where coca
eradication had been scheduled for after the upcoming Chapare
operation, and those regions lifted their road blockades that
have paralyzed the country for 18 days.
First, the government
will go after Chapare. Does anyone really believe they will stop
there?
From the daily Los Tiempos,
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Saturday, September 7,
2000:
La Paz | Los Tiempos.-
The government was arrogant and the coca growers of Chapare unmoveable.
The dialogue only served to shoot verbal aggressions without
coming to agreement. The final word was given by Government Minister
Guillermo Fortún, who upon standing up from the table
warned the mediators that if the the blockade does not disperse
today, force will be used to clear the roads.
The leader of the six
coca growing federations of the tropics, Evo Morales, began the
day demanding that the government permit the planting of one
cato (40 by 40 meter parcel) per family, but Fortún eradicated
this proposal by planting his position expressed to not tolerate
even a half a yard of coca bush.
Going even further, the
government minister set a date of December 15th to eliminate
all 1,840 hectares of coca in the state of Chapare...
"Only a miracle can
avoid violence," said the Public Defender, Ana Maria de
Campero, saying that the negotiation harvested failure...
Evo Morales... repeated
that, in reality, the people condemn "narco-connections,"
including the "narco-airplane" of the government, and
if they want to speak of drug trafficking, they ought to begin
at the Government Palace. This statement made Fortún furious.
As chief government negotiator he got up and left the table...
...Morales demanded half
a cato (a 20 by 20 meter plot) per family to avoid that the coca
growers, due to their poverty, opt to take up arms to resist
forced eradication and accused the United States of pressuring
the Banzer government.
October 5, 2000
7:41 p.m. Update
Below: Government Claims Deal Set
Bolivia
Makes Secret Offer to Coca Growers:
400 Sqare
Meters Per Family
Growers Demand
Double, Blockades Rage On
State Makes New
Ultimatum to Social Forces
A Narco News October 4
Commentary Predicted:
"Read between the lines of the US and Bolivian government
statements. The only way they can end the unrest is to allow
peasant families to grow a small amount of coca per family. As
US officials micro-manage the situation from afar.. they are
finessing the bottom line: coca growing may be decriminalized
for small scale producers. In other words, harm reduction in
Bolivia. And yet the governments, rather than trumpet such a
move as progress, will instead go to all lengths to claim it
didn't happen. This,
of course, is only one possible outcome of these earthshaking
events...."
What we predicted on Tuesday
became a governmental offer on Wednesday. According to the daily
La Razon in La Paz, State negotiators contacted coca-grower leaders
by telephone to make the behind the scenes offer.
Here is the report from
La Razon today, and other fast-breaking news from Bolivia.
From the daily La Razon, La Paz, Bolivia
Thursday, October 5, 2000:
"Secret"
Negotiation Between the Coca Growers and the Government Fails
COCHABAMBA (LA RAZÓN).- With the most absolute reserve
and via telephone, the Government proposed to the coca growers
the eradication of coca crops over 400 square meters (20 by 20
meters) per family, as an option to solve the conflict that has
paralyzed Cochabamba for more than three weeks.
The proposal was made
by state governor José Orías, by telephone, yesterday
morning to coca growers leader Evo Morales, who is in Chapare.
The information was known by government sources, union leaders
and coca growers. Unofficially, it was known that the congressman
and coca growers leader responded that the minimum acceptable
crop per family would be half of one cato, that is to say, about
800 square meters of crops per each coca growing family.
A peaceful solution to
the conflict was made possible if the Government suspends the
forced eradication of coca gardens and leaves more than 1,900
hectares intact that have not been destroyed. Morales did not
want to speak of the government proposal, but admitted that he
received a phone call not just from a government representative,
but also from the commander of the Seventh Division of the Army,
General José Antonio Gil. The coca growers leader did
not offer details of the conversation, but admitted that on the
part of both parties there is now more will to come to an agreement
and impeded a new confrontation.
Morales said that the
proposal by his sector of one catu per family would foster a
social control by the coca growing peasants themselves and would
also be a more effective way to combat against drug trafficking.
"Every end of the year this measure would be applied and
any family that cultivated more would lose all its production,"
he said, later adding that it would be the very same coca growers
then helping in the fight against drug trafficking. The proposal
by the government also avoided that the Coordinating Committee
of the social movement escalated their pressure tactics, according
to its leaders, in a display "of support for dialogue and
in the interests of solving the conflict."
Morales spoke with representatives
of the Coordinating Committee not only about the option of maintaining
the blockades, but also to consider the proposal made by Orías
as "serious"...
However, at around 8 p.m.,
in a new phone call to the coca growers leader, the Government
rejected the counter-proposal of this sector and continued with
its policy of "zero coca." Orías declared that
he had not spoken at any moment with the coca growers leader
Evo Morales and said the Government had neither offered any proposal.
"Maximum
Red Alert"
The clock runs against
the government. Every day that passes the economy deteriorates
more. Other problems are generated by the conflict. The negotiations
advance but at a tortoise's pace. A new deadline imposed by the
Executive Branch over the explosion of social revolt. The coalition
is thinking about adding new tactics to the conflict this morning,
but first will expend all effort to find solutions.
The government minister,
Guillermo Fortún, explained that the negotiations can
not last much longer because producers and consumers cannot continue
living under the current situation. And the situation is dramatic.
The businessmen shout in Santa Cruz. Hunger strikes are begun.
The soldiers are tired. The sleep temporarily in those moments
when it rains in Chapare. The markets are almost empty. The transport
workers complain. The despair grows.
The teachers and coca
growers are trapped with the government. Yesterday, President
Hugo Banzer met with some of his ministers in the Government
Palace to receive information about the negotiations and blockades.
This has happened every day. The official spokesman, Manfredo
Kempff, said that the President is confident that the negotiations
in the high plains region are going well, "but disgracefully
the matter in Chapare did not end well. Evo did not concede on
the theme of the catos and the Executive Branch can not just
be discounted. The government has given all it can give in concessions,
but it can not do any more on the Chapare issue."
Does this mean that a
plan of using force has been put into march? He answered that
the Executive Branch can not permit that the country remains
blockaded.
From the daily Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Thursday, October 5, 2000:
Congress Rejects Martial
Law
The country worried this
dawn over the possibility that Congress would decide to impose
a "state of seige" (martial law), a possibility denied
vigorously by Vice President Jorge Quiroga.
After six hours of energetic
speeches, the congress members decided to postpone their deliberations
until today. Anything can happen. In the increasingly tense political
environment, there surged an expression of fear from the instransigent
and charismatic peasant leader, Felipe Quispe, as he temporarily
sought refuge in the headquarters of the press corps of La Paz,
less than 300 kilometers from the Quemado Palace.
The slow dialogue stays
alive but hopes of progress are tenuous. In the end, the coca
issue continues being key. The government as well as the coca
growers are disposed to maintain diametrically opposed positions.
The future of the school
year continues to be unknown. The government has a test of fire
today, after the warning that the teachers strike could today
cause the closure of classes in those schools whose teachers
don't accept the (government) offer....
Civil
War if they Arrest Mallku
La Paz; ANF News Agency.-
The Union of Peasant Workers of Bolivia threatened to declare
civil war if the government orders the detention of its executive
secretary, Felipe Huanca Quispe ("El Mallku")... in
response to the intention of the Government Minister, who, hours
prior... had solicited the suspension of provisional liberty
and called for the apprehension of the mentioned leader.
Government:
Deal set for Bolivia's farmers
By Paul Keller in Lima,
Perú
Last Updated: October
5 2000 18:41GMT
The Bolivian government
said on Thursday it was on the point of striking a deal with
angry farmers who have paralysed the country's major towns with
road blocks.
The widespread protests,
which centre on a government clampdown on coca leaf production,
have sparked bloody clashes between protesters, who include peasants
and teachers, and troops, who have tried to dismantle makeshift
barriers that continue to block several crucial roads. So far
10 people have died in the 18-day conflict, which has produced
the worst scenes of rioting for many months.
"We are in full negotiation
with various groups involved in the conflict and it is expected
that today (Thursday) we will find a solution which is line with
farmers' demands," a government ministry official said in
a telephone interview.Many growers of coca the raw material in
cocaine may still reject any deal. Large numbers of indigenous
farmers survive only by growing coca, a crop that still has traditional
uses and has been cultivated in Bolivia for thousands of years.
The government estimated that some 180,000 people had been cut
off by the protests.
President Hugo Banzer's
government is determined to press ahead with the US-sponsored
eradication of coca plants in the Chapare area in the Bolivian
jungle. It expects to have wiped out almost all of the 38,000hectares
of illegally grown leaf in the region by the end of the year.
"The government's
policy of coca eradication in Chapare is not negotiable,"
the minister said. But the government has agreed not to build
military barracks in the region a major source of friction with
the farmers.
More
Reports As They Come In
Recent
Press Briefings
This
is your war. This is your war on drugs. Any questions?
History Hangs
on 1,874 Hectares of Coca Plants