News is spreading fast that 1) battles between police and protesters killed 20 yesterday, and 2) Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada announced today that plans for a natural gas pipeline have been temporarily cancelled.
The BBC has published a concise piece of analysis that says the protests aren’t just about gas, but about globalization. And the Guardian and MSNBC are running stories, too.
But that’s not it–Al Jazeerah, a media outlet that makes Fox News look, well, fair and balanced, weighs in thusly: “Crisis deepens as death toll mounts in Bolivia: Yes, it’s oil again.” (If you like that article, you’ll love “Zionism, an effectively organized world wide fascist system.”)
My brother, meanwhile, writes from Sucre, in the middle of the country, where he went for a weekend getaway. He’s stuck there and not sure when he’ll be able to return to La Paz:
Goni, the president, is under more and more pressure to step down, and there has been increasing violence up on the altiplano above La Paz. Unfortunately, that´s where he airport is, so we are probably not going to be able to take our flight back today since the airport is temporarily closed.