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Eight killed as violent protests continue in Bolivia
At least eight people were killed as violent anti-government protests flared in Bolivia on Thursday, creating havoc in the natural gas industry and raising tensions with the United States.
- Reuters
- Published: 22:59 September 12, 2008
Santa Cruz, Bolivia: At least eight people were killed as violent anti-government protests flared in Bolivia on Thursday, creating havoc in the natural gas industry and raising tensions with the United States.
Opposition activists shot dead seven peasant farmers in the remote Amazon region of Pando, a government official said, describing the incident as a massacre. An employee of the opposition-led regional government was also killed.
"We're talking about a real massacre and the person responsible is the Pando governor," said Deputy Minister of Social Movements Sacha Llorenti.
President Evo Morales' leftist government blames the unrest on rightist governors who control four of the poor country's nine regions.
The opposition demands greater autonomy and energy revenue and opposes plans by Morales, a former coca farmer and Bolivia's first indigenous president, to rewrite the constitution and distribute land to the poor.
Close ally
Washington ordered out the Bolivian ambassador on Thursday a day after Morales, a close ally of Venezuela's fiery leftist leader Hugo Chavez, expelled US Ambassador Philip Goldberg. Morales accused Goldberg of fanning the protests.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement that Washington "officially informed the government of Bolivia of our decision to declare Ambassador Gustavo Guzman persona non grata."
Chavez said he was expelling the US ambassador from his oil-rich country in a show of support for Morales.
"The yankee ambassador in Caracas has got 72 hours to get out of Venezuela, in solidarity with Bolivia," he shouted at a political rally. He vowed earlier to come to the Bolivian president's aid if there was a coup.
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