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