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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Bolivia's president calls unrest an attempted coup |
| 2008-09-16 |
| South America's presidents converged on Chile for an emergency summit Monday aimed at preventing the collapse of Bolivia, whose leftist president has lost control of about half the country and said bloody unrest there amounts to an attempted coup. Evo Morales said he would explain to his fellow presidents how his political foes in Bolivia's rich eastern lowlands have mounted a "civic coup," inciting "crimes against humanity by groups massacring the poorest of my country." At least 30 people were killed in political violence last week, prompting Bolivia's first indigenous president to declare martial law in the rebellious state of Pando _ where Morales says thugs used machine guns against his supporters _ and seek the arrest of its governor. Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez denied any responsibility for the deaths, calling it an armed clash between rival groups and accusing Morales of "mounting a farce." Morales has lost control over most of eastern Bolivia, where protests have blocked highways and closed border crossings and pipeline sabotage has forced a cutoff of nearly half his nation's natural gas exports to Brazil. Many of the blockades were dismantled as a goodwill gesture on Sunday as both sides sought to establish ground rules for negotations, but political unrest continued Monday as more than a thousand Morales supporters marched on the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia's capital, La Paz. Morales expelled Washington's ambassador last week, accusing him of encouraging the protests. Ambassador Philip Goldberg called the allegation "false and unfounded," but a series of tit-for-tat explusions followed between the United States, Bolivia and Venezuela. "If he hadn't expelled him we would be tearing down the U.S. Embassy today," protest leader Edgar Patana said as activists burned an American flag and effigies of opposition governors. |
| Posted by:Fred |