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Article published Nov 26, 2007
Two marchers die in police clashes

November 26, 2007

By Martin Arostegui - SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Police fired into a crowd of marchers protesting a government-backed redrafting of the constitution Saturday night, leaving at least two persons dead and dozens wounded.
Violence continued yesterday as protesters attacked police offices and set fire to a jail in Sucre, Bolivia's old capital, allowing more than 100 inmates to escape. National police commander Gen. Miguel Vazquez said police were withdrawing to the nearby city of Potosi.
Venezuelan President Evo Morales said yesterday that he "regretted the bloodletting" but blamed the opposition for "destroying Sucre and causing the deaths."
The marchers, numbering several thousand, were protesting a constitutional meeting convened by Mr. Morales' ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) to pass a new national charter that would strip power from provincial governors and concentrate political and economic authority among Andean Indians.
Violence had flared in Sucre over several days as pro-government peasant groups blocked roads to the city and MAS militants descended on the old colonial capital to "defend" the assembly.
The latest victim was police officer Jimmy Quispe, who was "kidnapped and executed" by unknown assailants, said national police commander Gen. Vasquez.
Two demonstrators died in Saturday's confrontation, and a third was in critical condition, medical officials said.
One of the demonstrators, attorney Gonzalo Duran, died Saturday from a bullet wound, and a government official denied that he was killed by security forces.
The second demonstrator who died at a Sucre hospital was reported to be a female student who died of asphyxiation from tear gas.
Hospitals estimate the number of wounded at more than 100.
According to witnesses, the soldiers fired as the opposition groups broke through a police cordon to storm a military barracks where 145 MAS delegates were gathered to approve the constitutional text.
Sporadic shooting was reported around Sucre until the early hours of yesterday morning.
There were also reports of troop movements around Santa Cruz, Bolivia's second-largest city, and unconfirmed reports that a Venezuelan C-130 landed yesterday in the eastern town of Trinidad, unloading supplies thought to contain arms.
Opposition parties argue that the government is trying to force through its new constitution without seeking the legally required two-thirds majority of the 255-member constituent assembly.
"We have a constitution imposed by bayonets," said Sen. Oscar Ortiz of the opposition Podemos party, who accused the government of a "coup against democracy."
Mr. Morales said any constitutional draft passed by the assembly would be submitted to a popular vote in a national referendum.
The constitutional squabble has sparked violent reactions in eastern Bolivia, where a predominantly white and mixed-race population has long suspected that the Indian- dominated government wants to invade their land and take control of their resources.
Local authorities in Santa Cruz and other eastern provinces were already calling for "resistance" and "civil disobedience" against Mr. Morales's efforts to confiscate local revenues and ration fuel supplies when news of the shootings galvanized popular anger.
Pro-autonomy militants in Santa Cruz broke into and ransacked government tax offices Saturday night, forcing out a small group of police guards.
Other government installations, including offices of the state-run energy enterprise, were targets of similar attacks after a mass rally that congregated at midnight in the city's central plaza at the sound of church bells.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.