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Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p i. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=1
Adva.ncc
pr3ise
for: 'J1,e Price
of Fire
" With lively narrative and unpretentious but intelligent analysis, Dangl presents a compelhng critique of our baekw:uds global system where1l1 TUt10nS as neh
111
natural
resources as Bolivia are also the poorest, But TIlt" Price ofFin" is not yet another bleak 'tell-311' :account of globalization, its pages are filled with stories of resistance, struggle and, :above :all, hope." Teo BaUve--editor of the NACLA. Report on lfleAmericas and co-editor of Dispatcllcsfrot1l Larin Atm.-Tica: On the Frontlincs Against Neoliheralism "Ben Dang! takes the reader on an unforgettable and inspiring journey through Bo livia and neighboring countries, providing a window on the revolutionary struggles of the poor and dispossessed and particularly on the resurgence of indigenous resistance and le:adership." Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Blood
011
the Border: A Memoir of tile C01ltra
m., "Most Americans know nothing of Bolivia, an ignorance that only plays into the hands of empire. Ben Dang!'s book is both inforlll:ativc and inspiring, a cure for the apathy that grows from that ignorance. A must read for those already interested in solidarity with Latin America and indigenous people," Tom Hayden, author of nle Zapatista Reader and Street J#lrs, among other works "Ben Dangl has found himself under the skin of the Bolivian freedom struggle: he accurately represents its constraints, its opportunities and its hopes. On your feet, Bolivi:a! We're rcady (Q l11:arch wirh you," Vijay Prashad, author of n,e Darker NatiolU:A People's History of tlte Tlu'rd Wtlrld "Ben Dangl s TIl(: Pri((' of Fin' documents how the people of Bolivia , along with '
their comrades in other Latin American countries, are waging a global war against
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p ii. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=2
rcrror--ag:ainst the terror of nor having cnough food ro car, rhe terror of warching children descend into mines to emerge old and wasted, and the terror of Bechtd and the IME With great empathy and lucid prose, Dangl captures the exemplary courage rhar has put l3rin America in the vanguJrd of rhe new internationJlism and has made it one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal global landscape." Greg Grandin, author of Empire's J-UJrks/lop: Latill America, the United State$, alld the Rise of tl,e New Imp('Tialism "Tilt' Priet" of Fin' by Ben Dangl informs. outrages, and builds hope. People's move
ments for societal betterment in South America are an inspiration for human rights
:l("[ivisr.� '\vor1(hvicie :lnci D:lngl give� II� :l fi.ll �crving of t>n("ollr:lgcnl on the impact of the illegal drug trade) (Boulder: L Reilmer Publishers, 1994). 81. Interdiction information from "Bolivia: Military and Police Aid;' Ju!>t the Fact!>: A Civilian's Guide to LIS Defen!>e and Security Assistance to Latin America and the Carribean (Seplember 25, 2006), http://www.ciponline.org/facts/bo.htm. Stefanoni, £vo Morale!>, 39, 41. Gretchen Gordon, "Bullying Democracy;' Mllltinational Monitor Vol 27, N. 1 ('an,IFeb. 2006). http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/012006/gordo n.htmL Phillip Coffin, "Coca Eradication;' Foreign Policy in Focll!> Vol. 3, N. 29 (October 1998), http://www.fpif.org/briefs/voI3/v3n29coca_body.html. Also see Stefanoni, £vo Morales, 39, 4 1 . Information on compensation from Ledebur. ,essie Gaskell "A Coca Grower to Lead Bolivia? How US Intervention May Have Triggered a Populist Revolution;' Council on Hemi!>pheric Affair!> (July 13, 2005), htlp: //www.coha.org12005/07/1 3/a-coca-grower-to-Iead-bolivia-how -us intervention-may-have-triggered-a-populist-revoIution/. Coca eradication policies changed significantly in 2004 under the Mesa administralion and later with the Morales administration in 2006. See Chapter Ten for more details. Keleman, "Bolivian Leader's Stance." From author interview via email with George Anne Potter, 2005 Gill, School ofthe Americas, 6-9, 78, 79. For more information on the School of the Americas see www soaw.org Gill, School ofthe Americas. Some the SOA's alumni include General Roberto .
,
,
54
32 33 34 35
36
THE PJH de la Protesta, 9. Also see Thomas Kruse, "La 'Guerra del Agua' en Cochabamba, Bolivia: Terrenos Complejos, Convergencias Nuevas:' In Sindicaws y nuevos movimienlOs sociales en America Latina, (Buenos Aires: CLACSQ, 2005), 121-161. Bechtel website, www.Bechtel.com. Barlow and Clarke, "The Struggle for Latin America's water,D and Blue Gold: Thefight w stop the corporate theft of the world's wale. Also see Vandana Shiva, "Bechtel and Blood for \Vater: War As An Excuse For Enlarging Corporate Rule;' ZNet (May 12, 2(03). St. Clair, "Straight to BechteI:' Arnie Alpert, "Is Another \'(forld Possible? A Water Activist Reports from Porto Alegre," Common Dreams (February 23, 2005), http://www.commondreams.org/ cgi-bin /pri nt .cgi?fi Ie /vicws05/0223-29. htm. S1. Clair. "Straight to Bechtel:' Ibid Fernandez, Los Reganles de Cochabamba, 128-130. This information on reasons for shared outrage belween urban and rural areas is from an email interview with Susan Spronk. November, 2005. Ana Esther Cecena. La Guerra por el agua y por la vida (Buenos Aires: Madres de Plaza de Mayo 2005),105. All quotes and information from Claudia Lopez are from interview with author in February. 2006. Shultz. "Bolivia's War Over Water� Fernandez. Los Regantes de Cochabamba.132 and Oscar Olivera. Cochabamba: Water War in Bolivia, trans. Tom Lewis (Cambridge: South End Press, 2004), =
.
.
29 30
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 72. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=81
31
32 33 34 35 36 37 38
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46
3 1 -32. Shuilz, "Bolivia's War Over Water� Fernandez, Los Reganles de Cochabamba, 1 35 . Ibid. Finnegan. "Leasing the Rain:' Shultz, "Bolivia's War Over Water� Osc ar Olivera, Cochahamha, 34-36. Finnegan. "Leasing the Rain:' Olivera, Cochabamba, 37. Ibid., 38. In the 2000 Water \'(far. reganles also used skills learned in previous mobilizations regarding water issues. For more information on this school's work, see School of the Americas Watch website: www.soaw.org, also Gill, The School ofthe Americas. Fernandez, Los Regantes de Cochabamba, 146. Cecena. La Guerra por el agua. 103-101. Fernandez. Los Regantes de Cochabamba, 149. Olivera. Cochabamba, 44-45.
Wakr War in Cochabamba
47 Fernandez, Los Regantes de Cochabamba, 149. 48 Ibid. 150-151. 19 From Susan Spronk, "Roots of Resistance to Urban \Vater Privatization in Bolivia: The 'New Working Class; the Crisis of Neolibcralism, and Public Services;' i g Class History. Special Fifth draft submitted to intematiol/a/ Labor and Workn issue on Privatization of Public Services (August 25, 2006). Union problems have also arisen. According to author email interview with Spronk, "Various activists in Cochabamba arc particularly frustrated with the union, which struck a deal with management to increase the number of employees sometime after the new manager (Gonzalo Ugalde) was hired in 2001. The union also seems to have power over hiring practices (not of managers, which are selected by the board of directors)." Also see Belen Salanya, Brid Brennan. Olivier i Public Hoedeman, Satoko Kishimoto and Philipp Terhorst eds., Reclaming Water Achievements, Struggles and Visons/ i rom Around the \Vorld (Netherlands: Transnational Institute and Corporate Europe Observatory, 2005). http://www. tni.org/books/publicwater.htm., Also see Food and \Vater Watch: http: //www. foodandwaterwatch.org/water. 50 From author interview with Spronk. 5 1 Paul HarriS, "Bechtel, Bolivia resolve dispute: Company drops demand over water contract canceling," Chronicle roreign Service (January 19, 2006), http:// www.sfgate.com/cf} .bin/artide.cgi?file= /c/a/2006/01 /1 9/MNGM8GPJAK I . DTL&typc=printable. Also see Jim Shultz, "Bechtel vs. Bolivia: The People Win!" Pt'ace\Vork (February. 2006), hUp://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/ pwork/0602/060208.htm. 52 Harris, "Bechtel, Bolivia resolve dispute:' And Shultz. "Bechtel vs. Bolivia� 53 Finnegan "Leasing the Rain." 54 Rutgerd Boelens and Hugo de Vos, "\Vater \Var and Indigenous Rights in the Andes:' Cultural Survival Quarterly (January 6, 2006). http://209.200.101.189/ publications/csq /csq-artide,cfm?id 1 867, 5 5 The story of £1 Alto's revolt against Suez is told in Chapter Nine. 56 Belen Balanya, Brid Brennan, Olivier Hoedeman, Satoko Kishimoto and Philipp Terhorst cds., Por un mode/o publico de agua: Triunfos, luchas y sueiios, trans. Beatriz Martinez Uuiz (Netherlands: Transnational Institute / Corporate Europe Observatory / EI viejo topo, November 2(05), 179. 57 Balanya et. al.. "Por un Modelo Publico de Agua;' 1 78. 58 Ibid 1 80 1 8 1 . 59 Raul Pierri, "Uruguary, Referendum Gives Resounding 'No' to the Privatization of Water." Inter Press News Service (November I, 2001). http://www.ipsnews.net/ interna.asp?idnews=26097. 60 Eduardo Galeano, "\Vhere the People Voted Against Fear;' Common Dreams.org (November 13, 2004), http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1 1 1 3�20.htm. .
=
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 73. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=82
73
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Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 74. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=83
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 75. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=84
Chapter Four
IMP Backlash :
Que Se Vayan Todos !
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 76. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=85
Protestors demand that former Bolivian I)rcsident Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada be tried for the deaths caused by police and military repression under his administration. The signs read: "What have you done to ensure that the crimes of this man don't go
unpunished?" Photo Crcdit:Julio Mamani
"It didn't occur to the President of Bolivia to do anything else than to follow the rules of the 1MF" -Eduardo Duhalde
A
1
Single rock crashed through a window of the Presidential palace in La Paz around noon on February 12"', 2003.
The tension between the striking police and the military had reached a climax. The rock, tossed by a high school student, set in motion a bloody conflict that would leave over 30 people dead and hundreds wounded. The conflict was the result of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s pressure on the Bolivian government to apply an income tax in crease. Instead of reducing the government's deficit, the move plunged
Bolivia into chaos. The country's police force, already demanding higher
wages, went on strike when the tax hike was announced. Student, labor and social organizations foUowed their lead, and a two-day civil war broke out between demonstrators allied with police and the military, whkh was protecting the interests of the government. In the bloody mayhem that ensued. young. inexperienced military recruits were pit ted against policemen fighting for decent wages. The IMF, along with the neoliberal Sanchez de Lozada adminstration, dug its own grave in a country that echoed with the street cries of Argentina's uprising against similar IMF-backed policies just two years earlier- Que se Vayan Todos! (Kick them all out!) Like thousands of other Bolivians, Abraham Bojorquez, a young Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 77. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=86
rapper from EI Alto. was swept up into the two-day turmoil. I met him in Wayna Tambo, a youth cultural center with a radio station, music studio, cafe, and library. Boj6rquez dresses like a hip-hop artist from the US. with baggy pants, a baseball cap tilted to the side, and a hefty coat. Before being sent off with a rifle to guard the presidential palace on February 121h, he had already had been through several adventures that took him from EI Alto to Brazil and back, and into the IMF conflict in an 2 unexpected way. We talked on the second floor of Wayna Tambo as a rock band practiced downstairs. The sun was setting on one of the high est cities in the world, and cold wind from snowcapped mountains in the distance blew in through the cracks in the window pane. He was 12 years old when he hopped on a bus to Brazil from Bo livia. Economic and family problems forced him to leave his home in EI Alto and try his luck in Sao Paolo. He found his first job working in front of a sewing machine at a Korean tailor's shop from six in the morning 77
78
THE PJH wife wants to keep on being the first lady of the nation:'
As I witnessed the conflicts from the city of Cochabamba, 1 saw a city paralyzed by its own people. While the conflict wore on, shops and restaurants in Cochabamba shut down either because owners were on strike or because they were afraid a protester would throw a rock through their window if they did not strike. Often, taxi and bus drivers wouldn't go on the streets out of fear of running into road blockades. Cochabamba became a ghost town; blockades kept the streets empty. Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 125. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=134
Olga was the mother of the family who ran the hostel where I lived at the time. Though her husband had voted for Evo Morales in the 2002 election, and the political beliefs of the couple leaned toward the left, they did not sympathize with the protesters in the Gas War. Their money came from tourism. and when social conflicts rocked the coun try. tourists avoided Bolivia. "Our hostel used to be full all week long;' Olga lamented, "now it is not even half full on the weekends. We can't feed ourselves. People who depend on transportation of goods and food are also suffering because they can't work while the roads are blockaded. These protests and road blockades are hurting the economy a lot more l than any gas exportation plan ever would� Pickup trucks full of security forces in riot gear looking for pro testers and blockades roamed the streets. Tear gas blew through the air day and night. and flaming blockades constructed out of anything that could impede traffic, including garbage, tires, and wood. covered the
126 THE PJH The constitution also establishes that ..
revenue from the oil business should be used primarily to finance health care and education. Additionally, a change in the tax system was de signed to generate more income for the government. The change created a tax raise from 16.6 percent to 30 percent per barrel of oil, with royalty payments directed to the government. The newfound funds have been
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 128. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=137
largely spent on programs in health care, literacy, education, and subsi 60 dized food for poor communities. Not only is the oil revenue helping to create important social pro grams, the economy has received a boost from Chavez's new policies. Mark Weisbrot, a director at the Center for Economic and Policy Re search, (CEPR) in Washington, wrote that under the Chavez administra tion, the country's economy has grown by 9-18 percent in recent years, making it the fastest growing economy in the hemisphere. This is not all due to oil wealth, either. In the 19705, prices for the resources were high, but from 1970 to 1998, income fell by 35 percent. one ofthe worst declines in the region. Weisbrot attributes the current economic rise in part to more efficient tax collecting on the part of the Chavez adminis 61 tration, as well as benefits caused by social programs. Social programs developed out of oil wealth are empowering the nation's poor and improving educational and employment opportuni ties. According to government statistics, these programs have reached
The Wealth Underground 129 54
percent of the population.
62
Chavez's government began literacy
campaigns. undertook land reform, constructed free dentist offices. hos pitals and schools in the poorest neighborhoods and created systems of subsidized supermarkets and business cooperatives all over the country. In 2003. I visited a newly built community center in a Caracas neighborhood. In one room, women over the age of 70 were attending literacy classes decorated with murals of Chavez. Such profound changes in poor communities can take place in Bolivia if the gas revenue is redirected toward such programs. The literacy campaign. known as Mission Robinson. has reached millions of people of all ages, bringing the literacy rate in 2004 to an impressive 99 percent. Over a million people have enrolled in programs to receive high school diplo mas. Occupational classes teach carpentry, auto repair and other skills 63 to help people gain employment. Programs in education and literacy have also lowered Venezuelan poverty rates by giving citizens new skills b4 with which to gain employment and better their living situations. Nearby the literacy classrooms were the octagonal health clinics that are located throughout the country. In the clinics, Cuban doctors offer emergency medical care, vaccinations, check-ups, and medicine for common illnesses. Free health care improves the quality of life for many Venezuelans. The use of Cuban doctors in Venezuela's new clinics and health care systems has allowed for the quick expansion of services. In some cases, poor families are able to visit the doctor or a dentist for the first time in generations. A lack of health care causes an increase in
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 129. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=138
poverty as poor citizens wait to go to the doctor until they are so ill that drastic and expensive measures have to be taken. This can lead people to 65 be sick more often, and can affect their ability to support their families. A local resident led me to a building under construction that was soon to be a Mercal. Mercals, government subsidized supermarkets providing basic food for low prices, are now all over the country. Beans, bread. milk. vegetables, and other products. largely from Venezuelan 66 producers, are available in the markets. As a result, according to Weis brot. household poverty rates are declining. Alicia Cortez works as the Coordinator of the Local Health Com mittee in La Vega, another traditionally poor neighborhood in Caracas. She has run a government-funded Comedor Lihre. or Free Cafeteria, from her home since 2002. Cortez explained the system to me while simultaneously stirring a pot of soup and sliCing carrots. "Around 150 people come here each day to eat:' she told me. "We go around and look
130 THE PJH., when heavily armed military and police. escorting gasoline trucks, once again tried to pass through the blockades to La Paz, where gas shortages had brought the city to a standstill. EI Alto residents maintained their block ades and refused to let the caravan pass. The confrontation began at 10
am, when police and military fired out of helicopters into crowds of un27 armed people and homes. The death toll by the end of the day was 28. In the book. Agonia y Rebeli6n Social. Teofilo Ba lcaz ar explains
that he and his wife had gone to visit her sister in Rio Seco, EI Alto dur
ing the street protests. They were sitting in the living room, eating, when they started to hear the gunshots. His wife, Teodosia Mamani, suddenly rell to the ground. A bullet had come through the wall and killed her. She was four months pregnant. In the same area, Juana Valencia was layin� on her bed resting. She readIed up to dose the window and was shot. 8 The violence visited on Altenos was also visited on soldiers who refused to commit acts of violence. Nemesio Siancas Garcia, a soldier from Santa Cruz. was executed in Rio Seco in EI Alto during this mas sacre. Residents in the area explain that Garcia refused to follow orders to shoot at the people in the neighborhood. In response, one of his supe
riors punched him in the face, knocking out his teeth, and then shot him in the head, killing him instantly. Other soldiers that were brought into Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 147. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=156
EI Alto from other parts of the country that refused to shoot at residents were tortured. Defectors elsewhere joined protestors; when one police station in EI Alto was surrounded by demonstrators, the police waved 29 white flags in surrender, then joined the mobilization. On October 1311>., while military-escorted gas trucks continued attempts to break through to La Paz, some neighborhoods collected
money to pay for medical treatment for the injured and coffins for the dead. The FEJUVE, COR, and other business unions in EI Alto decided not to negotiate with the government after such massacres had taken place. Altenos not only demanded th e res igna tion of the president. but also continued working to "kick the palace out of the government" -to throw all o f the politicians out of power. The movement w as spreading like wild fire. Protestors marched and maintained road blockades across the country. In Buenos Aires. Argentina, more than a thousand Bolivians
148 THE PIHeos, 36-40. 20 Mujeres Creando, "Mujcr, confia en el sonido de tu propia voz," in La Virgen de fo!> De!>eos, 41. 21 Ibid. 42-23. 22 See Mujere� Creando, "Putas," Mujents Creando, hUp:llmujerescreando.org. 2 3 Many activists in Bolivia were interested in hearing of the Chavez government in
Venezuela. Many of these interviews were conducted just after Evo Morales had been elected in Boli via, so many people who were used to fighting in the streets
as part of Bolivian social movements were now grappling with the fact that a
possible ally was going to take office. For others, the example of Venezuela was
very inte�sting in comparison to possibilities for Bolivia led by Morales.
21 Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes from Maria Galindo are from an interview
with the author in February, 2006. 2' From Maria Galindo "Poncmos EI Cucrpo," MujCTCS Grafitcando, 5. 26 This refers to the quota in the Ley de Convocatoria (convoking the Constitutional Assembly) that 30 percent of the assembly people must be female. 2 7 See Mujere5 Creando, Mujeres Grafiteando. 2 8 Julieta Ojeda, I�osario Adrian, Sdenka Huaranca, Maria Galindo, Florentina Alegre, Maritsa Nina y Gabi, "Por un politica concreta. Conversaci6n del
Colectivo Siluaciones con Mujeres Creando," in La Virgen de los Deseos, 171-172. 29 Mujeres Creando, "Es hora de pasar de la nausea al v6mito;' in La Virgen de los Deseos, 45-47.
30 For more information on the participation of women in the Bolivian informal
economy, see Silvia Rivera, Birchofas, Trabajo de mujeres: e.tplotacitm capitali!>ta Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 178. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=187
y oppTC!>Sion colonial entre fa!> migrante!> aymaras de La Paz y EI Alto (La Paz:
Editorial Mama Huaco, 1996). 3 1 Maria Galindo "Evo Morales and the Phallic Decolonization of the Bolivian
State." trans. A pril Howard, Upside Down \VQrld (September 6, 2006), http://
upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view /417/3 1/.
32 All quotes from Abraham Bojorquez are (rom interview with author in February and July, 2006.
33 All quotes from Grover Canaviri Huallpa and Dennis Quispe Issa are from interview with auth or in July. 2006.
34 All quotes from Sdenka Suxo Cadena are from interview with author in July, 2006.
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 179. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=188
Chapter Nine
Continent on a
Tightrope
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 180. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=189
Thousands celebrate the inauguration ofTabare
Vizqucz in Montcvideo, Uruguay.
Photo Credit: Benjamin Dang!
"TIl is is as far as I can go."
-Carlos Mesa
I
I
n the cool dawn of Buenos Aires. Argentina pedestrians in haled their first cigarettes of the day. Fresh produce, newspa
pers, and shop goods were hauled onto damp sidewalks as the daily cho rus of car horns began. I bought a cup of coffee and waited ten minutes to cross the street. The traffic seemed to know something I didn't. "Road blockades," the man next to me quipped between a yawn and a stretch. "The traffic is moving like this to get through before the route is cut oW' Before I could ask what he meant, the sea of taxis and buses came to a halt, and drivers leaned into their horns and cursed. I sucked down the remainder of the coffee just before the tear gas set in. Down the street, people were waving signs and chanting in front of burning tires. Black smoke choked the air, mixing with the tear gas. Police, taxi drivers, and protestors converged in that smoky axis, battling with clubs, fists, and incessant horns. I ducked into a bar to escape the tear gas, ordered another coffee, and asked what was going on. A man b ehind the counter with :l towel slung over his shoulder w:lved his h:lnd in the air in exasperation, "They don't have jobs, so they block roads:' It wasn't the last blockade or protest I would see in the city. Demands in later mobilizations included better working conditions in subways, and speedier justice against those implicated in the country's dictatorships.
Dangl, Benjamin (Author). Price of Fire : Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland, CA, USA: AK Press, 2007. p 181. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dominicanuc/Doc?id=10408019&ppg=190
My eyes slowly stopped burning as I spoke with a few men at the bar who looked like they had been there all night. "The whole continent is blockaded," one of them mumbled, pointing to the television. I looked up to the screen and sure enough, there were the familiar chants and marches from the altiplano in Bolivia. The images of tear gas-shooting cops in both countries seemed to mesh into one street conflict. People on the TV screen also rubbed their eyes and shook fists in lhe air. I even noticed a line of Lraiflc behind the burning tires in EI Alto. similar to the one outside the bar. For a moment, I felt as though I was in two countries at once. Outside, a group of angry Argentines was demanding work and better wages. The crowd in Bolivia was protesting against high water prices. As Bolivia's Carlos Mesa began the difficult task of presiding over a divided country, the rest of Latin America was going through similarly tumultuous changes. Lahor unions and social movements were increas ing their collaborative efforts in various countries. Progressive political 181
182 THE PJH