Pubdate: Sat, 07 Oct 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
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Author: Clifford Krauss

BOLIVIA MAKES KEY CONCESSIONS TO INDIANS

LA PAZ, Bolivia, Oct. 6 - The Bolivian government today agreed to a broad 
range of demands by Indian peasant leaders, buckling under the pressure of 
three weeks of road blockades that paralyzed the economy, caused food 
shortages and threatened to force the resignation of President Hugo Banzer.

The government gave in to the most important demands of the Aymara-speaking 
peasants after Indian leaders threatened to surround La Paz and starve the 
capital in a replay of an Indian rebellion in 1781.

Sitting across a table from Indian leaders who chewed coca leaves 
throughout the night, government ministers agreed to prop up corn prices, 
reverse a land titling process that would have raised taxes, and return 
water rights from the government to Indian peasants.

It was the second time in six months that President Banzer was forced to 
retreat on government initiatives in the face of large-scale protests to 
avert a collapse of his authority and the shaky Bolivian economy.

Political analysts including Peruvian journalists and academics said his 
growing signs of weakness would probably invite more costly protests in the 
coming months by the restive labor and peasant movements.

Shortly before reaching an agreement in the predawn hours today, Economic 
Development Minister Jose Luis Lupo said this country of 8.1 million people 
had suffered losses of at least $120 million in damaged roads, spoiled food 
and interrupted exports during the last three weeks.

"This is the worst crisis Bolivia has faced since 1985, when we had a 
24,000 percent inflation rate," Mr. Lupo said.

Despite its concessions to the Indians, the government has refused to 
accept demands by coca growers in the Chapare region to stop short of its 
goal of eradicating all coca plants by Feb. 1 and to allow peasant families 
to grow small private plots.

The Chapare coca growers, who continue to block roads between the cities of 
Cochabamba and Santa Cruz with stones and logs, agreed today to resume 
separate talks with the government.

With money and technical help from the United States and the United 
Nations, the Bolivian government has reduced coca plantings in Chapare, the 
principal cultivation area for Bolivian cocaine exports, to 4,050 acres as 
of Thursday from 70,400 acres in 1998, according to the American Embassy here.

In previous negotiations with the coca growers, the government agreed last 
month to forgo plans to build three new army bases in Chapare. But 
President Banzer has vowed that he will not back down on his pledge to 
destroy the remaining coca crops in Chapare in the next three months and 
then destroy 6,000 acres of illicit coca cultivation in the Yungas region 
early next year.

"We say illegal coca cultivation will be zero in 2002, and we intend to 
keep to that goal," said Mr. Lupo, the economic development minister, in an 
interview.

Congressman Evo Morales, the leader of the coca growers, said today that 
his movement would continue to march and block roads until the government 
backed down.

But Mr. Morales appears to be in an increasingly isolated position now that 
the larger peasant confederations have agreed to halt their protests. He is 
widely expected to give up the road blockade in the next few days or face 
military action.

Felipe Quispe, 58, a former guerrilla leader who was imprisoned for six 
years on terrorism charges, emerged from the recent protests as the 
dominant leader of the Indian peasant movement.

Mr. Quispe, who is better known as Mallku - the Great Condor in Aymara - 
used fiery oratory, going so far as to say that "the whites should leave 
the country."

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Quispe said his ultimate goals were to 
force Mr. Banzer to resign and reverse his pro-market economic policies. 
"Banzer is incapable, inept and he can't govern," Mr. Quispe said. "He has 
to go."

Mr. Quispe's road blockade was so effective that the air force was sent to 
deliver food to cities. Meat became scarce, and vegetables and fruits more 
than doubled in price in many markets. Ten people were killed in the 
protests, and thousands were left stranded and destitute throughout the 
country. An affiliated teachers' strike left more than half of the 
country's public schools closed for weeks.

The situation became so desperate that housewives began threatening to loot 
grocery stores and businessmen in Santa Cruz warned that they would mount a 
tax boycott until the government used whatever force necessary to reopen 
the roads.

President Banzer showed great restraint, in part because he is trying hard 
to overcome his old reputation for brutality garnered when he ruled as a 
military dictator in the 1970's. But the analysts also noted that when he 
declared a state of siege in April to end protests over water prices in 
Cochabamba, protests only grew and the national police went on strike for 
higher wages.

With two years left in his five-year term, Mr. Banzer increasingly looks 
like a lame duck. His governing coalition is fraying, and his credibility 
continues to suffer from widespread reports of government corruption.

The husband of one Mr. Banzer's nieces faces charges of cloning cellular 
phones and running an illegal gambling ring, and three trial judges who 
acquitted him on drug charges last year are themselves now being 
investigated on corruption charges. Under American pressure, the acquittal 
has been overturned.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens