Bolivians report children killed in Porvenir Massacre

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivians report children killed in Porvenir Massacre
September 17, 2008
They Killed Children; Many Bodies are in Mass Graves


Erbol

Translation: Machetera

Tuesday, September 16, 1:53 a.m.

La Paz. - On Monday, survivors of the “Porvenir Massacre” or the “Cobija Massacre” denounced the killing of a number of children last Thursday in the town of El Porvenir, when assassins shot peasants who were heading toward the area.

In statements to the Erbol Network, the leader of the Pando Peasant Federation, Cristian Domínguez, denounced the fact that vehicles belonging to the Prefecture had been given the work of collecting the lifeless bodies of the peasants in order to inter them in a mass grave.

“The comrades told us that they had seen dump trucks that had collected corpses, where they were stripped and had gone to throw them into a mass grave,” said Domínguez.

Tearfully, the leader questioned the departmental autonomy that the Pando Prefecture is trying to implement. “This is autonomy, killing children,” said Domínguez. Claudia Alpire, a peasant from the town of Filadelfia denounced the fact that a number of children had been riddled with machine-gun fire, while they begged their mothers for their lives.

More:
http://machetera.wordpress.com/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bolivian Crisis in the New South America: The Machine Gun and the Meeting Table

September 18, 2008

Bolivian Crisis in the New South America
The Machine Gun and the Meeting Table
By BENJAMIN DANGL

On Monday, September 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Santiago, Chile for an emergency meeting of Latin American leaders that convened to seek a resolution to the recent conflict in Bolivia. Upon his arrival, Morales said, "I have come here to explain to the presidents of South America the civic coup d'etat by Governors in some Bolivian states in recent days. This is a coup in the past few days by the leaders of some provinces, with the takeover of some institutions, the sacking and robbery of some government institutions and attempts to assault the national police and the armed forces."

Morales was arriving from his country where the smoke was still rising from a week of right-wing government opposition violence that left the nation paralyzed, at least 30 people dead, and businesses, government and human rights buildings destroyed. During the same week, Morales declared US ambassador in Bolivia Philip Goldberg a "persona non grata" for "conspiring against democracy" and for his ties to the Bolivian opposition. The recent conflict in Bolivia and the subsequent meeting of presidents raise the questions: What led to this meltdown? Whose side is the Bolivian military on? And what does the Bolivian crisis and regional reaction tell us about the new power bloc of South American nations?

~snip~
US Influence in a Changing South America

The current crisis in Bolivia and the ongoing diplomatic drama between the US and Latin America says a lot about the future of the region and its cooperative handling of economic and political questions. In an interview via email, Raúl Zibechi, a Uruguayan journalist, professor and political analyst who writes regularly for the Americas Program, said he believes the expulsion of US ambassadors, and the regional leaders' response to the conflict in Bolivia, "is the manifestation of the fact that the USA can no longer impose its will on Latin America, and very concretely in South America." He says there are two reasons for this change: "the birth of a regional power that seeks to be a global player, such as Brazil, a capitalist power but with different interests from the USA, and the existence of governments born of the heat of the resistance of social movements in countries that are large producers of hydrocarbons, as in Venezuela, Bolivia and perhaps Ecuador."

Zibechi emphasized Bolivia's importance as the leading supplier of gas to Argentina and Brazil, and how this contributes to the support Morales receives from these nations. "Brazil has big stakes in much of Bolivia and it already announced that it would not permit a destabilization of the country," Zibechi explained. "The key alliance in the region is between Brazil and Argentina. They have problems, but in this topic they are very united."

Back in Santiago, Chile, after six hours of talks between the nine South American presidents, the UNASUR group issued a statement which expressed their "their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a big majority." In the statement, the leaders "warn that our respective government energetically reject and will not recognize any situation that attempts a civil coup and the rupture of institutional order and which could compromise the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bolivia." They also decided to send a commission to Bolivia to investigate the killings in Pando.

Though working to overthrow leftist governments is unfortunately nothing new in South America, region-wide cooperation between left-leaning governments, without the presence of the US, is new. As Morales and other regional leaders forge ahead with progressive policies, there may be no turning back for this changing continent – regardless of the challenges posed by the Bolivian opposition. The geopolitical map of the hemisphere is being redrawn, in large part by the new alliances between South American nations, and the region's increased resistance to Washington's political and economic interference.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/dangl09182008.html