It was the longest day yet. For almost twelve hours--from 9:30 am until almost 9:30pm--the Plaza San Francisco and the area surrounding it were filled with people. A reported 100,000 protesters occupied the streets and squares of La Paz today, paralyzing the city.
The protests have morphed, and there has been clashes with the police.
Partly as a reaction to this protest, is congress trying to get some discussion going on a couple of bills, one to discuss Sta. Cruz' call for a referendum, and the other one from the Andes provinces, calling to what amounts to a constitutional convention. The lefties around Evo are desperate to get anything done, so the protesters get off their case. But, the president, the speaker of the house, among others were not there, so they failed to get a quorom.
And partially in response to this, Campesinos announced further blocked roads. Transport Unions have declared a two day strike The Chamber of Commerce has called for Mesa's Head.
Evo, meanwhile is all heated up, because its his base that is running around raising hell in La Paz, and there is already a rift. The firsthand account from Narconews is pretty interesting.
to the worried expression on the face of the MAS congressman with whom Luis and I had coffee; watching Evo and other Parliamentarians chat on the floor of Congress waiting for the session to be convened while their constituencies were being repelled by rubber bullets blocks away;
The president is counting on these to blow over, and split the left.
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