Bolivia Declares State Of Siege
Bolivia's president declared a state of emergency Saturday, sending police with tear gas and rubber bullets into the streets of the country's third-largest city to try to quell demonstrators who hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails back at them.
It was the seventh time that such an emergency, which suspends many constitutional guarantees—but is much less serious than a call for martial law—has been imposed since democracy returned to Bolivia in 1982.
The government's move came after a week of protests over rising water rates, unemployment and other economic difficulties plaguing this nation in the heart of South America.
Thousands of people were involved in the protests, which began in Cochabamba, the country's third largest city, but quickly spread elsewhere.
Three protesters were reported killed in separate clashes with police, and Government Minister Walter Guiteras said scores of protest leaders were detained and confined to San Joaquin, a remote town on the border with Brazil, 460 miles from La Paz.
The body of one of the victims, reportedly shot and killed by police on Saturday, was carried through the streets of the eastern city of Cochabamba, where thousands of protesters hailed him as a martyr.
Police in Cochabamba seized radio stations to prevent independent reporting on the situation.
President Hugo Banzer claimed the protests in Cochabamba and road blocks throughout the country were threatening democracy. Food shortages were already being felt in La Paz and other cities, and officers in four La Paz police units refused to leave their barracks and obey their superiors over a wage dispute.
"We find ourselves with a country with access roads to the cities blocked, with food shortages, passengers stranded and chaos beginning to take hold in other cities," Information Minister Ronald McLean said.
A state of siege allows for arrests and confinement of protest leaders without a warrant, imposes restrictions on travel and political activity and establishes a curfew. It was called for up to 90 days.
Among those arrested, Guiteras told a news conference, was the leader of the country's main farmers' organization.
The protests began over a 20 percent increase in water rates in Cochabamba, which is 350 miles east of La Paz. The government claims the increase is needed to fund extension of supplies in a city that has suffered recurrent water shortages in recent months. Rates now average $30 a month—10 to 15 percent of average household income.
By PETER McFARREN