Pubdate: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 Source: Reuters (Wire) Copyright: 2003 Reuters Limited Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) BOLIVIAN OPPOSITION RIDICULES FAILED COUP CLAIM LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) -- Bolivian opposition politicians on Saturday laughed off government claims of a failed coup during bloody protests this week that killed 29 people, while a human rights group also voiced skepticism. Government officials claimed late on Friday two days of bloody anti-government protests had veiled a "failed coup attempt against democracy," and said unidentified sharp-shooters fired at new President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's palace quarters. But the government did not say who it believed was behind the alleged coup attempt, which it claimed happened on Thursday as thousands of Bolivians marching to demand Sanchez de Lozada resign because of unpopular fiscal policies torched public buildings. Opposition parties dismissed the claims out of hand, suggesting they were aimed at diverting attention from the protests, which had begun on Wednesday when police demanding a wage rise became embroiled in a shoot-out with the army. "These claims don't convince anyone, actually they are laughable," said lawmaker Dionisio Nunez of the main opposition Socialist Movement. "No-one is going to believe them." Indian leader Evo Morales, who ran against Sanchez de Lozada for the presidency last year, also dismissed the government's claims. This weeks clashes were the latest in a series of violent protests against the 72-year-old president, one of Washington's key anti-drug trafficking allies who is deeply unpopular for a drive to wipe out illegal crops of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. Bolivia's Human Rights Assembly called for a comprehensive inquiry into the coup claims and the clashes in which 10 police, four soldiers, a nurse and more than a dozen civilians were killed, according to government officials. Another 190 were injured. Wednesday's clash between the police and soldiers came amid a bitter feud between the two security forces that stems from a popular revolt 50 years ago, when the police helped miners and the public to defeat the army in street battles and overthrow the government. However the government said it in no way suspected the police or security forces of having a hand in the alleged failed coup. Sanchez de Lozada was forced on Wednesday night to scrap the income tax measures, designed to slash the fiscal deficit and win aid from the International Monetary Fund, in a bid to defuse the protests. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager