Turning Point for Morales: Bolivian Police Repress and Detain Indigenous Marchers
On September 25 at 5 pm, approximately 500 Bolivian police officers tear-gassed and used excessive force against camping indigenous protestors outside of Yucumo, in Beni Department. At least one child is reported dead and multiple wounded,[i] although the Morales administration denies these reports. The violent police action presents the most dramatic example yet in a series of incidents that have acutely eroded Morales’s credibility as a representative of indigenous and environmental rights. These growing contradictions, and the administration’s apparent inability to change course has put into question the long-term viability of this government.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3239-turning-point-for-morales-bolivian-police-repress-and-detain-indigenous-marchers
Police Attack on TIPNIS Marchers Roils Bolivia
On Sunday afternoon [last], 500 federal police using tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons launched a surprise raid on the protesters’ camp near Yucumo, in the department of Beni. Just hours earlier, the protesters had received an invitation from the government to send a delegation to La Paz to resume negotiations, which they were about to consider in a community-wide meeting.
[Video here]
https://nacla.org/blog/2011/9/28/police-attack-tipnis-marchers-roils-bolivia
Ecuador: Criminalization of the Social Protest in Times of the ‘Citizen Revolution’
Despite these achievements concerning basic rights, since 2008 the criminalization of the social protest has grown and has affected social leaders, teachers, students, public workers, journalists, indigenous people and rural communities. Nearly two hundred men and women find themselves involved in prosecution processes for their actions in protest, rejection or protests against projects or organizations of significant social and environmental impact, principally extractive projects- like large-scale mining. Likewise, they find themselves prosecuted by the exclusionary characteristic regime that works to limit the creation of a multinational state, or by their opposition to laws (such as those of mining and water resources) that violate rights established in the Constitution.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/3234-ecuador-criminalization-of-the-social-protest-in-times-of-the-citizen-revolution
Occupy Caracas, La Paz, and Quito!
