Bolivia from the streets
Por by Sebastian Hacher/Indian Pablo (((i))) - Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 at 2:35 PM

The story of the events of today,in direct from the streets of La Paz.

The agitacion in the chest feels same that the 20th of December in our country but is not the same thing. The machine-gun fire, the desperate shouts, the shots that come from unknown places sound different. At 11 we arrived at the Plaza de Murillo, and we find military scenes. One demonstration of secondary students, all very young, reached the own door of the government palace, and broke all the windows of the entrance with wood clubs and hammers. The army, which went off the streets to replace the riotous police force, started to throw tear gases, and policias intrenched in the cancillería and the quarter of the GES (Special Group of Policia) began to throw tear gas against the military.
People crowded themselves against cords of soldiers armed with guns FAL, shouting in their faces for them to rebel. We were still inside of the Plaza, a bit on the hindding spying the nervous movements of the battalions who did not stop to arrive and the tear gases that once in a while spread over us.
Sound of shots, we run with the other colleagues journalists to shelter in the arcade of a building and are backing down like we can, in a roundtrip that never finishes. There are soldiers lying down and lots of nervousness. When it begins the shooting is impossible to keep there. We run and we mixed ourselves with the people who crowd themselves a block away. We left behind a colleague, apparently of Channel 5 that receives a FAL shot. We do not know still of its state, but several colleagues in the street say that he's probably dead. Machine-gun fires are listened to. We don't know the ammount of time that has passed; we lose track of time. The army backs down, lying down, and take refuge in the government palace, 100 meters ahead of us. Seems that the police is advancing forward. Three of the solidiers are left behind, and the crowd becomes arrogan, surrounds them and removes the arms from them. Somebody says that they are going to give it to the police force, but the guns are lost in the mist of the crowd and we do not know of its luck.
We left the streets around the Plaza. Thousands of people are congregated espontaneamente in the environs; in the Plaza Perez there are unexpected barricades with blocks and some bonfires. On launching slips, 200 people improvise an assembly where is requested that the president resigns. It is the same shout that we listened in Murillo. The mass advances, and mixed with them we arrived until the Ministry of Work. There is a bonfire done with furniture, and the building totally destroyed. Little by little, people are entering and empty it; everything, inflammable or no, feeds the flames. There are young people, cholitas ladies, men of suit and old people. Behind us somebody wants to destroy a kiosk. He opens it and immediately is surrounded by tens of people; "we are the people, and we cannot do that" says somebody, and take the kiosk to a safe place.
In this moment, there are already 89 wounded people and between 13 and 18 have died and the declarations of the president saying that there is not going to be "impuestazo" seems to have been heard by nobody; now the slogan is "gringo go home".
While he Ministry of Work is burning, the building of the vice-presidency burns as well. In the place where we are university students from Red Barricade, MST and others that I do not get to see clearly arrive shouting slogans. Somebody outcry "to the pink house" that is the historical seat of the Revolutionary National Militia, the party that - until today governs the country. And the crowd advances. In each place, different militants play a role organizing retirement, shouting the news and even giving a speech with proposals. Everything is well received; the Bolivians are a people very organized and with a long combative tradition. When we go towards the house of the Revolutionary National Militia we crossed some policemen. They are poorly armed, and some have helmets of motocycle to protect themselves. They are part of the upraising and the crowd ignores them.
Throughout the day, the relation with the police is contradictory; some shout encouragement cries to them, others insult them; others shout to them that they do not have to return to repress more never.
In the meanwhile, hundreds of young people destroy the premises of the party in the government; other buildings are sacked in the city. In the television the government gives calls to keep calm. The night falls and the sackings become general. We go off a group that burns the premises of the MIR, the other party on coalition on the government.
The general lack of faith in the media explodes: there are four channels that are out of service and some of them have been sacked and destroyed. Computers and other equipment fall from the high floors of their offices. In the entire city there are sackings to big commercial surfaces, toll posts and banks, that end up burning. There is police no to repress, so people feel free to do whatever want. In the Plaza Murillo there are still tension scenes, with snipers and soldiers in hidden. We are trying to obtain information of the other cities; we know that in El Alto, 20 minutes from here, were confrontations throughout the day, that in Cochabamba the mobilization is enormous and that in other cities are police riots. Minutes ago, the government announced that the military will patrol the city. The rumors speak of State of siege and curfew. There are no cameras in the street; the few television channels that are on line do it with telephone reports. The sackings follow on and even there are rumors that some prisions were opened. Nobody wants to be filmed; the revolution, finally, will not be televised.

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