"Gringo, Go Home!"

By Benjamin Dangl, WireTap. Posted December 15, 2003.

Protesting the sale of gas. All photos from IndyMedia Bolivia.

On the second floor of an old building shared by worker unions, lawyers and environmental groups, Cochabamba's main youth activist group gathered for an organizational meeting. The walls of the room were covered with propaganda from Cuba, feminist posters from Sweden, an anti-FTAA banner, a Bolivian flag and news clippings about child soldiers in Colombia.

One person at the table idly strummed a guitar; another kept checking his cell phone while a young woman spoke with a visitor from outside the city about plans to start activism groups in small schools in the mountains.

When asked what they were majoring in, a few students replied, "activism," referring to the fact that they had put off their studies indefinitely to focus on what they saw as a more pressing issue -- Bolivia's Gas War. A massive grassroots movement against the exportation of the nation's gas to the US through a Chilean port had been taking place for weeks. The strikes, blockades and protests in the conflict resulted in over 70 dead and 500 wounded. On October 17, the president of Bolivia resigned, marking the beginning of an uncertain peace there.

The activists looked tired. They had been participating in endless protests for weeks, writing articles on Indymedia about the conflicts, making banners, and handing out flyers to gather more recruits for the marches. They began the meeting by discussing plans for a massive march scheduled for the next day, then talked about the costs for the publication of a recent magazine they produced and argued over how they would fund an upcoming trip to a social forum in Santa Cruz. Some students spoke of a series of seminars they had planned with other citizens, students, and professors.

One student pointed out, "We have to inform as many people as possible about these issues, the gas, the FTAA, and the Citizen Security Law. Once they realize what is going on, they will head to the streets to protest with everyone else. It is only a matter of time before the whole city is out there."

"Police, Who Are You Defending?"

One of the many street protests that took place in September and October of 2003.

The next morning, the whole city seemed to be marching in the streets, waving banners and chanting, "Our gas is not for sale!" and "Gringo, go home!" referring to their now ex-president, Sanchez de Lozada, who grew up in the US and speaks Spanish with a heavy American accent.

A large group of young people, many from the activist meeting the day before, were waving placards still wet with fresh paint. They marched alongside campesino families who had ridden all night from the nearby Chapare region, a tropical area where much of the country's coca is produced. Mothers carried babies on their backs in colorful folded blankets which were slung over their shoulders. Members from Bolivia's Worker's Union marched behind an enormous red banner. Next to them was a group of miners wearing hard hats and waving signs that said, "The Gas Is For Bolivia."

Soon, groups that had begun marching from various areas in the city had all congregated in the main plaza and were listening to speeches from opposition leaders such as Oscar Olivera, the leader of the People's High Command and Evo Morales, coca grower leader, as well as union leaders from the Chapare and teacher unions from within the city. The speakers hollered over the excited crowd from a balcony above the plaza.

Though the protesting sectors had diverse demands, they were gathered in the plaza for a common cause: the rejection of the government's plans to export the nation's gas to the US. Many believed the exportation plan would only benefit the US investors and business leaders in Bolivia. Protesters demanded that the gas be nationalized to benefit the neediest social sectors in Bolivia.

After the fiery speeches were over, many protesters marched to major intersections in the city to construct road blockades out of rocks, tires, dumpsters, and bonfires. The students from the youth activist group blockaded an intersection just outside the central plaza. The traffic, which was usually congested day and night in this part of the city, was almost immediately backed up for blocks. Angry taxi drivers pressed on their horns while the activists fueled blockade fires.

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