Lula confirms 'logistics' support for Bolivia against armed groups

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Lula confirms 'logistics' support for Bolivia against armed groups
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:56:01 GMT
DPA

Brasilia - Brazil is to provide "logistics" support to Bolivia, to dismantle armed groups in the northern province of Pando, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday. Lula, however, made it clear that Brazil will not be sending troops to its Andean neighbour.

"Do not even think of a Brazilian interference in Bolivia, much less troops," Lula said in an exclusive interview with state television channel TV Brasil that was set to be aired later Wednesday.

He explained that Bolivian President Evo Morales had requested such assistance, and that it would probably probably involve the sale of trucks and buses for the Bolivian Army and in the surveillance of the common border by the Brazilian Federal Police.

"We will try to see whether the Brazilian motor vehicle industry can produce - and quite fast - some trucks for Bolivia," Lula explained.

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/232591,lula-confirms-logistics-support-for-bolivia-against-armed-groups.html

[bemildred]

1. Excellent. nt

[burythehatchet]

7. WHo is supporting the other groups?

[bemildred]

8. I dunno, not Lula though. nt

[EFerrari]

12. Who doesn't want democracy in Bolivia?

[Robbien]

2. Lula can't have his Brazilian troops fight people funded by the US

But at least he is showing support for Bolivia and actually delivering help.

Good for Lula.

[Ian David]

3. How many is a Brazilian? n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. A shit load. nt

[Nambe]

5. Obama has a passionate backing in Brazil.

¨Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.*

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/15/brazil.barackobama

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Holy crapola, I did NOT know that.

Well, about the backing, yes I knew -- but not about our ersatz Obama! :rofl:

[benevolente]

6. the US provides "logistic" support to everyone it wishes

Double standard.

[Peace Patriot]

9. Figure THIS out....

(down further in the article)

"Lula declined to comment on the diplomatic crisis between the United States and Bolivia, after Morales accused Washington of interfering and expelled US Ambassador Phillip Goldberg.

"However, the Brazilian leader noted that the United States has indeed interfered in Latin America, through its embassies, "at various moments in history."

"'If it is true that the US ambassador was meeting with the opposition to Evo Morales, Evo is right to expel him. The ambassador's role is not to do politics inside the country,' Lula said."

----

In fact he did comment on it. He said "if" the US ambassador met with the opposition (which we know he did), then Morales was right to throw him out.

----

I imagine that the main help that Lulu can give Bolivia is to make it crystal clear that Brazil will not trade with these rich racists, should they somehow succeed in splitting the country up. Brazil is a major gas customer--also Argentina. They have already said this publicly. The private messages need to be--and probably are--even stronger. In everyone's minds, I think, is a South American-only peacekeeping mission, if the Bolivian military can't stop the violence. Brazil gets half its gas from Bolivia, so it is essential that the gas pipelines and facilities get back under the control of Bolivia's government. The separatists will only try to blackmail Brazil and Argentina, and they have already tried to do this. If Evo can't regain control over Brazil's and Argentina's gas supply, then he really should ask for their military help. His military doesn't want this. But they may need to agree to it. If that happens, it will be done through UNASUR--which the U.S. (Bush) is not a member of. That is very likely why the South American leaders took this to the new institution, rather than the OAS (where Bushwhacks can obstruct proceedings). However, Colombia (Bush Cartel client state) IS a member of UNASUR. Although Colombia WAS present at the UNASUR vote, and voted with majority--making it unanimous--I hope that the Colombian military can be kept out of any peacekeeping involvement in Bolivia. They are very fascist, and closely tied to rightwing death squads, and could conceiviably be a "Trojan Horse" (change sides, once in place). They are very dangerous. I trust that Morales would never let them in.

One other thought on the UNASUR meeting: Peru's Alan Garcia did not attend. He is a corrupt "free tradist" close to the Bushwhacks (and like them has a 20% approval rating). I would suspect from his absence at this meeting that Peru may be a weapons route, and possibly a fighters' route, into Bolivia in support of the separatists (--Colombian military or rightwing paramilitary hit squads? Blackwater? U.S. special forces?). Peru's border should be watched as vigilantly as Brazil's, in my opinion (and all other borders--Paraguay, Argentina, Chile). Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chle are squarely on Morales' side. Paraguay, though, has only recently elected a leftist president (after 61 years of rightwing rule), and its new leftist president has already warned of a military coup plot against him. I think that Paraguay was supposed to be the staging area for U.S. (Bush) military support of this coup in Bolivia. Fernando Lugo's election put a monkey wrench into that plan. But that doesn't mean that there isn't strong rightwing collusion with the Bushites involving spiriting troops, weapons or other support over the border of Paraguay right into the adjacent eastern secessionist provinces in Bolivia.

I also think the Bushwhacks' main interest and target is further north: Venezuela (in Zulia, the Venezuelan state with most of its oil, and a coastline on the Caribbean). The Bushites may not care that much what happens, ultimately, in Bolivia. It may be a diversion/distraction for their move on Venezuela. This, too, needs to be watched closely--as I'm sure Venezuela and most of South America are doing. As to this, the quicker that peace is restored to Bolivia, the better. I was hoping that a peacekeeping force would come out of the UNASUR meeting, but I know that the Bolivian military doesn't like that idea, and wants to prove itself. It's also possible that Colombia--knowing that its military would surely be excluded from Bolivia--obstructed quicker movement to a peacekeeping force. This may be one of the reasons that Colombia joined UNASUR--to hamper South American self-defense and to aid and abet Bushwhack war plans. I'm not sure what Uribe is up to. He is very slippery and and can be very treacherous. But I'm sure that Colombian Defense Minister Santos is colluding with the Bushwhacks--in their "war room" in the U.S. embassy in Bogota.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Peru is most likely very capable of slipping in additional death squad people to augment the troops

Leopoldo Fernandez has been hosting already for a while. They've been reported swaggering around the area, carrying their weapons openly, intimidating people, some of them from elsewhere. It was reported that foreign paras participated in Fernandez's massacre of the 30+ citizens attempting to cross the bridge, by firing down at them from treetops and from a flatbed truck, dumping some of them in the river...

Alan Garcia made his "bones" in the 1980's by ordering several massacres, one high in a mountain village where he sent troops who chased down villagers who were trying to hide from them in fear, taking the men, ordering them to dig a pond, telling them the government would fill it with fish for them, then, when it was completed, the earth hollowed sufficiently, killed them, using the hole to bury the whole bunch, neat and clean. Bye bye.

It's this exact area in the mountains where Alan Garcia has allowed _Bush to send American troops some months ago, an area where Venezuela had opened a clinic to treat the villagers for free, since they have NO DOCTORS, to build the lucky villagers a HOSPITAL, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayers. It was noted at the time that the people were afraid of the troops, didn't want them there.

This means there are already American soldiers up there in Peru already who could also come across the border with Peruvian soldiers to join up with opposition forces if they decided to get even more deadly about this.

Paraguay will still have some American soldiers there until Lugo tells them to clear out finally. It would be hard to tell how many _Bush has actually sent there, since there's probably NO OVERSIGHT, and they have that huge airstrip, Mariscal Estigarribia, built in the time of Alfredo Stroessner, the fascist dictator for over 30 years who provided haven for Dr. Mengele after WWII, and occassionally Klaus Barbi, and other Nazis, as well as some Nazi-supporting missionaries. Paraguay developed a name as a truly radically racist country during that time.
No doubt a great many of those creeps are still there, seeing Stroessner only died a couple of years ago. OH, yeah. Rev. Sun Myung Moon owns a colossal tract of land directly above the Guarani Aquifer, the largest inland subterranean body of fresh water in the Western Hemisphere. Sounds like a real fascists' nest riding herd over the indigenous citizens, doesn't it?



Mariscal Estigarribia, large enough to accomodate the largest
supply aircraft the U.S. has, and huge hangars, although their
own air force has much smaller aircraft itself. Wierd, isn't it?

From Benjamin Dangl, on Mariscal Estigarribia:

The base’s proximity to Bolivia may cause even more concern. Bolivia has a long history of popular protest against U.S. exploitation of its vast natural gas reserves. But the resulting election of leftist President Evo Morales, who on May 1, 2006 signed a decree nationalizing all of Bolivia’s gas reserves, has certainly intensified hostilities with the U.S.1

When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Paraguay in August of 2005, he told reporters that, "there certainly is evidence that both Cuba and Venezuela have been involved in the situation in Bolivia in unhelpful ways."

Military analysts from Uruguay and Bolivia maintain that the threat of terrorism is often used by the U.S. as an excuse for military intervention and the monopolization of natural resources.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/431/44/


Looks like it will be important to watch for information on both Peru and Paraguay in the next future.

Thanks so much for taking the time to outline your thoughts, observations. I have not been at all surprised to see many of your predictions manifesting months later, just as you said they would. Even had to tell my husband about that only a few days ago, as in having to have a witness to tell about it!

[Judi Lynn]

15. Link for facts on that Peruvian massacre: RIGHTS-PERU: Unburying the Evidence of Biggest ‘Dirty War’

RIGHTS-PERU: Unburying the Evidence of Biggest ‘Dirty War’ Massacre
By Ángel Páez

Victims of Putis massacre.

Credit:Courtesy of Asociación Paz y Esperanza.

LIMA, May 30 (IPS) - It was not hard to find the remains of the victims, some of whose bones were actually exposed to the elements. But it took 24 years for the people of the highlands village of Putis in southern Peru to get a response to their insistent requests for exhumation and identification of the remains.

In 1984, 125 men, women and children were shot to death by army troops after being tricked into digging their own mass grave.

The biggest single massacre of civilians in Peru’s 1980-2000 civil war is just now coming to light, thanks to the unflagging efforts of the victims’ families.

Since May 17, 60 bodies have been found, including those of 10 children between the ages of six and 10.

On a visit to the area in November 2006, this reporter found that the relatives were going from one public agency to another, asking them to exhume the victims of the massacre of Putis, located in the district of Santillana in the southern province of Ayacucho.

More:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42605

[Judi Lynn]

16. George W. Bush has sent at least 900 men into this very same area in Peru,

under the pretext of conducting a humanitarian outreach:

U.S. Army aviators support humanitarian mission in Ayacucho, Peru

by Airman 1st Class Tracie Forte
Task Force New Horizons Public Affairs

7/10/2008 - AYACHUCHO, Peru -- U.S. Army CH-47D "Chinook" aircrew members and soldiers with Task Force New Horizons are providing heavy-lift helicopter support to more than 990 U.S. servicemembers deployed to Ayacucho, Peru in support of New Horizons Peru-2008, a humanitarian effort focused on bringing a better quality of life to the people of the Peru.

The aircrews and support personnel, deployed from the 5th Battalion, 159 Aviation Regiment out of Fort Eustis, Va., are providing cargo lifting capabilities, troop transportation, and medical/casualty evacuation support during the New Horizon missions.

"In order for the Army to move large amounts of equipment, supplies and personnel quickly around the battlefield and to high altitudes, they need a specific capability," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. George Burbules, the Task Force New Horizons aviation task force commander. "The Chinook was designed just for that."

The Chinook's aircrews each consist of at least two pilots, a flight engineer, and a crew chief. Fully loaded this aircraft can weigh up to 50,000 pounds, and is capable of seating 33 combat loaded troops when flying at sea level. At the present altitude of 9,000 feet in Ayacucho, the Chinook is capable of carrying up to 20 people, and 8,000 pounds of equipment.

"Given optimum conditions, our Chinooks are capable of carrying 26,000 pounds of equipment externally," said Lt. Col. Burbules. "They have also operated at altitudes as high as 15,000 feet."

The Chinooks are also on call in case of emergencies that require servicemembers to be transported back to base camp.

"It is essential for personnel to be brought either back to base camp or a local hospital," said U.S. Air Force Dr. (Capt.) Ronald Khoury, the Task Force New Horizons chief medical officer. "The Chinooks can transport patients from Huanta to Los Cabitos in about fifteen minutes versus a one to two hour bumpy drive.

Along with supporting the mission, the aviation teams have taken advantage of the training opportunities that can be found in the Peruvian environment.

"Our main goal is to support the global war on terror in either theater," said Lt. Col. Burbules. "Flying in this environment allows us to train for missions in areas such as Afghanistan."

More:
http://www.12af.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123106116

[Peace Patriot]

17. Thanks for this military info Judi! Nearly a thousands U.S. troops and Chinook helicopters

in Peru, near the border. Very interesting. I may be right about why Alan Garcia did not attend the UNASUR meeting--he's colluding with the Bushwhacks and the Bolivian white separatists. Maybe also the Bushwhacks told him he had to vote against the Morales government, and he could not do this without inviting the ire of everyone else in South America. Uribe voted with the others, without blinking an eye. But that may have been to have a Bushbot within UNASUR to obstruct the peacekeeping force or something else coming down the line, and to cause trouble in the future. Uribe is not to be trusted.

I didn't know about Garcia ordering massacres in Peru. Ye gods! I thought he was merely corrupt. This makes it even more likely that he is colluding with the Bushwhacks and white separatists in Bolivia.

I tend to think that the Bushwhack scheme in Bolivia is so nuts that it must be intended primarily as a distraction--a way to cripple or preoccupy a close ally of Chavez/Venezuela, and cause trouble for other allies (for instance, Bolivia's gas customers, Brazil and Argentina). But if the Bushwhacks have these troops in Peru, to answer a request for support from the white separatists in Bolivia, or to ferret in mercenaries and death squads (and wasn't one of the murderers of the peasants in Pando a Peruvian?), weapons and other support, and if Fernando Lugo cannot stop similar support from Paraguay, at the other end of insurrectionist provinces, then maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe they really do intend, somehow--with all of South America against them--to split off these provinces into a fascist mini-state in control of the gas and oil. I still say: who are they going to sell the gas to? Brazil and Argentina are strongly opposed to this secessionist ploy. The Buswhacks can't take gas out with Chinook helicopters.

Maybe it's just to have fighting, mayhem, bloodshed--a state of siege within a Venezuelan ally. Or maybe they intend to disrupt Brazil and Argentina. If the secessionists gain control of the gas, and those countries' presidents refuse to trade with the secessionists, they are going to have moneyed business interests on their backs to give in, no doubt with Bushwhacks advising and funding them. Rumsfeld could have billions stashed away, to support the secessionists while the Bushwhacks try to bring down the Brazilian and Argentine governments.

If I was Morales, I would request a UNASUR peacekeeping force to line Bolivia's borders with Peru and Paraguay. The Bolivian military could occupy whatever secessionist provinces they need to, within Bolivia, while Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and others have their back at the borders. They need lots of eyes and ears, and surveillance equipment.

[Judi Lynn]

19. I just found a map of Bolivia, too see where the area is in which the last massacre occurred.

Pando is marked on this small map:





Cobija is the town, site of the slaughter
of citizens by the governor's mercenaries.

Articles have stated the Governor (who has been arrested) has hired mercenaries from Brazil and Peru who have walked around in broad daylight carrying weapons, menacing people well before this massacre. One article I just saw said after the massacre they headed off toward Brazil. Another said that they have dispersed into groups of the Youth Union (fascist thug criminals who have been pounding and killing indigenous people for ages). Apparently hiring brown people serves the interests of the fascist governors and other opposition leaders like Branko Marinkovic, who is Croatian.

You may find this is interesting, detailing movement of the U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg who has been banned from Bolivia in the short time leading up to this massacre:

~snip~
The plan to remove Evo from government was impacted by the results of the Referendum. Evo's mandate was legitimized with 67% of the vote and the only alternative left for Goldberg was to activate his 'Plan B' which included a series of stoppages, road blockages and violent actions which would lead to one of two outcomes:

I) The conflict would spread through the east and part of the west and as people grew weary, the armed forces would act, resulting in deaths. Then Evo would have to call for new elections or resign, due to the high number of casualties. The continual provoking of the Police and Army to incite them to act and fire on union members was a part of this plan.

II) In the event that this did not play out, once the Police and Army were dispatched from the regions, in the midst of violence and the eastern provinces in rebellion, Goldberg would offer the Governors to bring in international mediators, including UN troops, to concretize the separation of the 4 rebel departments, as he did in Kosovo.

As part of this Plan for a Coup, Goldberg traveled to Sucre to meet with Governor Savina Cuellar, who then demanded the resignation of the President.

On Thursday, August 21st, Goldberg meets clandestinely with Ruben Costas (Governor of Santa Cruz and leader of the Autonomy for Bolivia party) and 4 U.S. Congress people. (There are TV images of this).

Monday August 25, Goldberg holds another clandestine meeting with Ruben Costas. (There were images of this on Gigavision).

At the same time, CONALDE rejects dialogue with the government and calls for a general strike beginning on August 24th.

Following the strategy proposed by Goldberg, the Governors implement a medium term plan to destabilize the government via destruction of public institutions, takeovers, and persistent provocations (including beatings) of the Police and the Army.

Also as part of the coup attempt, in Santa Cruz and Tarija there is talk of federalism and even independence. (El Mundo, August 22nd)

Since the business sector of Santa Cruz was more interested in the Festival of Santa Cruz (which begins on September 19) than in strikes and roadblocks, the State Department calls Branco Marinkovic (a large landholder and influential civic leader) to the United States.

-Sept.1: Marinkovic travels to the United States in a small Beechcraft C-90A airplane, where he is convinced that the plan is in its final stages and that all stops must be pulled out.

-Sept. 9: Hours after Marinkovic returns to Santa Cruz, a wave of violence is unleashed, with the burning of institutions and new acts of aggression against the Army and Police.

This is the plan for a coup that is playing out now with the help of the U.S. Embassy. Why is it not able to consolidate? Because the government of Evo Morales is able to control a conflict that has become regionalized, with patience and according to the rule of law.

Based on information received, the president of the Republic declared Ambassador Goldberg persona non grata and authorized Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca to carry out appropriate procedures.

The violence generated by groups involved in the coup attempt is an expression of the conservatives' sector decision to abandon democracy, as it no longer serves their interests. On August 10, (in the Referendum) the people of Bolivia defended democracy, national integrity and autonomy.

The Armed Forces and the National Police, steadfast and respectful of the constitution, are aware that despite particular interests, the unity of Bolivia must be preserved.

La Paz, September 10, 2008

More:
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/

Really sad, isn't it? No wonder Bolivia threw _Bush's ambassador out, after it all came together for them last weekend.
I haven't seen a final total of the murder victims but I've seen estimates it's over 30 by now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times does a pitiful job explaining what this photo is, and exactly how it happened. From everything I've heard, the Bolivian farmers had NO WAY of "fighting" against anyone as they weren't armed, and it was all over in the twinkling of an eye as the assassins, hiding in trees and on a flatbed truck opened fire on them with submachine guns as they came across the bridge, killing children and pregnant women, as well, then throwing them into the river.



Bruno Domingos/Reuters
Bolivian farmers who support President Evo Morales
fought Saturday against those who called for more
autonomy from his government.

A Crisis Highlights Divisions in Bolivia

By SIMON ROMERO
Published: September 14, 2008

LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales is facing the most acute crisis of his presidency as deaths from violence in rebellious northern Bolivia increased to almost 30 over the weekend. Supporters of Mr. Morales said Sunday that the death toll could rise with dozens of people caught up in the violence and still unaccounted for.

Relative calm returned to the northern department of Pando on Sunday after Mr. Morales declared martial law there and troops dispatched from La Paz seized the airport and other facilities in Cobija, the departmental capital. But the threat of unrest persisted in other parts of Bolivia, and political leaders in the tropical lowlands bordering on Brazil said they would resume protests if killings in Pando continued.

Mr. Morales said that the violence was a massacre carried out partly by “Peruvian and Brazilian mercenaries” hired by the governor of Pando, Leopoldo Fernández, who went into hiding to avoid arrest. In comments to a local radio station, Mr. Fernández denied that accusation, asserting that the deaths resulted from clashes between antigovernment protesters and the president’s supporters.

On Sunday, Juan Ramón Quintana, a top aide to Mr. Morales, told a local radio station that Mr. Fernández had been arrested, The Associated Press reported.



Dado Galdieri/Associated Press

Supporters of the president stood guard at a road blockade on
Sunday about 30 miles from Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia.More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/americas/15bolivia.html?hp

These are the people the governors fascists plan to grind into the ground, apparently, and with the support of the _Bush administration. Who among the racists has the grace to feel shame, finally?

[Peace Patriot]

18. Some further thoughts on the fascist strategy in Bolivia....

I just read this article by Justin Podur, which has detailed analysis of the situation in Bolivia, as of 9/15/08. It is an excellent and informative article.

"Bolivia’s elites seek a media coup"
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18822

This article reminded me that the ostensible goal of the white separatists is to prevent a vote on reform constitution on Dec 7. I have no doubt that that is one of their goals--the most immediate one. The insurrection may have been planned for the purpose of increasing intimidation of Bolivian voters in the eastern provinces. Podur points out that one of the people they murdered in the Pando massacre was Bernadino Racua, whom Podur describes as "a well-known indigenous leader" of one the groups that helped get out the vote for Morales in the recent referendum on his presidency (which he won with 67% of the vote, including majorities in several of the fascist-controlled provinces; Podur says 63% for Morales, but that is old information--the final tally was 67%). This may well have been a targeted assassination, with the massacre used to 'cover it'--as a message of fear to voters and get out the vote organizations.

It has been difficult for me to understand this massacre--until now. It seemed nuts to commit such a crime, when the secessionists clearly want, need and seek sympathetic Corpo 'news' coverage. And it was an act seemingly designed to turn all the leaders of South America even more strongly against the secessionists. They basically disgraced their cause--by this massacre and by their rioting and destruction, including blowing up one of the gas pipelines to Brazil/Argentina. But Podur has provided a vital clue to the "why" of the massacre. It is the ultimate form of vote suppression--kill key community organizers and scare voters away from the polls.

However, I still think that, a) stopping the Dec 7 vote (or reducing the vote for the new constitution) is an immediate goal of the white separatists, but it's only part of longer term agenda (mostly pure greed--they want the gas revenues that Morales DOUBLED by nationalizing the gas and re-negotiating the contracts--greed and theft); and b) the Bushwhacks have their own goals, and are merely using these rich white extremists for their larger purposes--among which are grabbing Venezuela's oil reserves in Zulia on the Caribbean (probably with a similar secession scheme).

Podur mentions Correa's statements about the three-country Bushwhack strategy (stoking civil war and secessionist groups in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela). He seems to be the only other writer who noticed it. It certainly jumped out at me--especially in combination with Rumsfeld's 12/1/08 op-ed in the WaPo urging "swift action" by the U.S. in support of "friends and allies" in South America. The Bushwhacks don't have any "friends and allies" in South America, except the fascist thugs running Colombia, the corrupt "free tradists" (and I have just learned from you, fascist thugs) running Peru, and these fascist cells within two very oil rich countries and members of OPEC, Ecuador and Venezuela, and their closest ally, gas-oil rich Bolivia.

The counterforce to these dirty rotten schemes is South American unity--which seems to be holding up well. The great weakness in South America in the 1980s' period of fascist coups and heinous dictatorships was disunity--the inability of the left, across country borderlines, to pull together and defend their democracies. The South Americans have done a whole lot of work on that issue, as leftist government after leftist government has been elected--following a whole lot of work on honest, reliable, transparent elections. It always comes down to that--transparent vote counting, which we have lost here, and is why we are being totally looted and our democracy destroyed by global corporate predators. True democracy is a very strong defense. And true democracies having each other's backs is the strongest defense of all.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Bolivians report children killed in Porvenir Massacre

Bolivians report children killed in Porvenir Massacre
September 17, 2008
They Killed Children; Many Bodies are in Mass Graves


Erbol

Translation: Machetera

Tuesday, September 16, 1:53 a.m.

La Paz. - On Monday, survivors of the “Porvenir Massacre” or the “Cobija Massacre” denounced the killing of a number of children last Thursday in the town of El Porvenir, when assassins shot peasants who were heading toward the area.

In statements to the Erbol Network, the leader of the Pando Peasant Federation, Cristian Domínguez, denounced the fact that vehicles belonging to the Prefecture had been given the work of collecting the lifeless bodies of the peasants in order to inter them in a mass grave.

“The comrades told us that they had seen dump trucks that had collected corpses, where they were stripped and had gone to throw them into a mass grave,” said Domínguez.

Tearfully, the leader questioned the departmental autonomy that the Pando Prefecture is trying to implement. “This is autonomy, killing children,” said Domínguez. Claudia Alpire, a peasant from the town of Filadelfia denounced the fact that a number of children had been riddled with machine-gun fire, while they begged their mothers for their lives.

More:
http://machetera.wordpress.com/

[Judi Lynn]

14. Here's a quick look at the political map in South America, from Benjamin Dangl:

September 18, 2008

Bolivian Crisis in the New South America
The Machine Gun and the Meeting Table
By BENJAMIN DANGL

On Monday, September 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Santiago, Chile for an emergency meeting of Latin American leaders that convened to seek a resolution to the recent conflict in Bolivia. Upon his arrival, Morales said, "I have come here to explain to the presidents of South America the civic coup d'etat by Governors in some Bolivian states in recent days. This is a coup in the past few days by the leaders of some provinces, with the takeover of some institutions, the sacking and robbery of some government institutions and attempts to assault the national police and the armed forces."

Morales was arriving from his country where the smoke was still rising from a week of right-wing government opposition violence that left the nation paralyzed, at least 30 people dead, and businesses, government and human rights buildings destroyed. During the same week, Morales declared US ambassador in Bolivia Philip Goldberg a "persona non grata" for "conspiring against democracy" and for his ties to the Bolivian opposition. The recent conflict in Bolivia and the subsequent meeting of presidents raise the questions: What led to this meltdown? Whose side is the Bolivian military on? And what does the Bolivian crisis and regional reaction tell us about the new power bloc of South American nations?

~snip~
US Influence in a Changing South America

The current crisis in Bolivia and the ongoing diplomatic drama between the US and Latin America says a lot about the future of the region and its cooperative handling of economic and political questions. In an interview via email, Raúl Zibechi, a Uruguayan journalist, professor and political analyst who writes regularly for the Americas Program, said he believes the expulsion of US ambassadors, and the regional leaders' response to the conflict in Bolivia, "is the manifestation of the fact that the USA can no longer impose its will on Latin America, and very concretely in South America." He says there are two reasons for this change: "the birth of a regional power that seeks to be a global player, such as Brazil, a capitalist power but with different interests from the USA, and the existence of governments born of the heat of the resistance of social movements in countries that are large producers of hydrocarbons, as in Venezuela, Bolivia and perhaps Ecuador."

Zibechi emphasized Bolivia's importance as the leading supplier of gas to Argentina and Brazil, and how this contributes to the support Morales receives from these nations. "Brazil has big stakes in much of Bolivia and it already announced that it would not permit a destabilization of the country," Zibechi explained. "The key alliance in the region is between Brazil and Argentina. They have problems, but in this topic they are very united."

Back in Santiago, Chile, after six hours of talks between the nine South American presidents, the UNASUR group issued a statement which expressed their "their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a big majority." In the statement, the leaders "warn that our respective government energetically reject and will not recognize any situation that attempts a civil coup and the rupture of institutional order and which could compromise the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bolivia." They also decided to send a commission to Bolivia to investigate the killings in Pando.

Though working to overthrow leftist governments is unfortunately nothing new in South America, region-wide cooperation between left-leaning governments, without the presence of the US, is new. As Morales and other regional leaders forge ahead with progressive policies, there may be no turning back for this changing continent – regardless of the challenges posed by the Bolivian opposition. The geopolitical map of the hemisphere is being redrawn, in large part by the new alliances between South American nations, and the region's increased resistance to Washington's political and economic interference.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/dangl09182008.html