Pubdate: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2003 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Luis Bolivar and Kevin G. Hall, Knight Ridder Note: Luis Bolivar reported from La Paz, Kevin G. Hall from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) RIOTING IN BOLIVIA KILLS 20; PRESIDENT UNDER PRESSURE LA PAZ, Bolivia - Tanks formed an iron curtain in front of Bolivia's presidential palace Thursday as a second day of violent protests swept the Andean nation and calls grew for President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to resign. The death toll climbed to at least 20 on Thursday as scattered violence and looting continued across the country. A clash between police and soldiers, who have feuded for decades, sparked the clash, which was joined by citizens angry over an unpopular income tax. Thursday, authorities met union-led anti-government demonstrations in the capital city of La Paz with bullets and tear gas. Bolivian media reports said at least two looters were shot to death and 12 others were injured, some gravely. Sanchez de Lozada, 72, known by his nickname, Goni, said through his Cabinet chief that he would not resign. Unions, indigenous groups and political opponents Thursday launched what they promised would be nationwide highway blockages and other protests aimed at toppling the pro-U.S. government that took office in August. Leading the opposition effort is Evo Morales, who came close to winning the presidency last year and whose Movement to Socialism Party now controls about a third of Bolivia's Congress. Morales champions poor, mostly indigenous farmers who grow coca, the plant from which cocaine is made. In a heated address to demonstrators in La Paz's Plaza de San Francisco on Thursday, Morales called for civil unrest. Morales' supporters and government opponents then tried to storm the Plaza Murillo in front of the presidential palace, but soldiers repelled them. Wednesday, students stoned the presidential palace while police officers, who were on strike, stood by and did nothing. Soldiers then fired on students and police. Police stayed out of the fray Thursday after the government agreed to raise their pay. Bolivia has been racked with sporadic violent protests for several years, as the poor majority grows increasingly frustrated with an open economy that has brought them few new opportunities. Forced eradication of coca takes away one of the few cash crops for farmers. The tax that drove people onto the streets, and was withdrawn by the president in a bid for calm, affected anyone who made two times more than the monthly minimum wage of $58. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager