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Bolivia

Description

Sited on the Western coast of mid South America, Bolivia shares the spinal column of the continent between Chile to the South and Peru via Lake Titicaca to the North. Brazil borders to the East.

Despite a sparse population and natural resources - tin mines, Bolivia is one of the poorest nations on earth with an average per capita income of $640. This is further reflected in the 57.52 deaths / 000 infant mortality rate. (2002)

Bolivia is named after Simon Bolivar who defeated and removed the Spanish Conquistadors, whereupon a republic was formed in 1825. Subsequent events have not been quite so productive. A "War of the Pacific" with Chile from 1879-83 lost Bolivia its Pacific coast, then an equally disastrous war with Paraguay from 1932-35 lost it access to the Atlantic via the Paraguay River. Being landlocked served to diminish the country due to higher export and import costs, but it wasn't the final nail in the coffin.

The 1952 Revolution can lay fair claim to that particular trophy. The infiltration of Trotskyism to a Latin American country was anaethema to the United States who took a greater interest Bolivia 1952 by José Villa

In 1967, Che Guevara, hero of the Cuban revolution tried to repeat the same in Bolivia, but was hunted down by the Bolivian Army and a special detachment of "counterinsurgency" 2nd Battalion Rangers and Green Berets. The leading military officer was later assassinated in Paris.

A military coup in 1980 by Garcia Meza Tejada saw restoration of "order" incorporating known cocaine traffickers and the infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie to introduce policies which included a death squad Los Novios de la Muerte (Newlyweds of Death). Handing over to Paz Estenssoro in 1985 to continue the neoliberal agenda with a 10 fold increase in gasoline prices before handing over to his nephew Paz Zamora who introduced the first Bolivian Exchange with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay Uruguay - all founder members of the so called Operation Condor.

Bolivia was one of the original " Operation Condor " countries (6 Latin American countries which Professor J Patrice McSherry describes as;

"Condor specialized in targeted abductions, disappearances, interrogations / torture or transfers of persons across border. According to a declassified 1976 FBI report, Condor had several levels; 1) Shared military intelligence levels, 2) "cross border operations to detain dissidents," 3) "assassin teams for global subversive enemies".J Patrice McSherry Operation Condor

The murder of the Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier in 1976 is now revealed to be Condor-supported. General Contreras, the former Chilean head of Secret Police was proscribed 7 years for his part in the slaying of a critic of the Pinochet regime, following the September 11th killing of Chilean President Allende in 1973. (Caistor N: 1998: 27+55).

So too, the murder of the former President of Bolivia, Jose Juan Torres in Buenos Aires after the 1971 military coup, conducted by Hugo Banzer, was CIA supported Texas politician linked to CIA/SOA military coup

Declassified documents in the National Security Archive reflect the use of Intelligence Battalion 601 in "the kidnapping of Argentines in Peru," the death of one of them in Madrid, and the recent coup in Bolivia" Argentina: Secret U.S. Documents Declassified on Dirty War Atrocities (Doc. 9) in an overrun of political authority and demonstrating the lacking of legal accountability.

Given the Letelier murder in 1976, Torres in 1971, and the killing of Che Guevara - an Argentine national - by Felix Rodriguez in 1967 The Death of Che Guevara It takes little imagination therefore to conclude that the cold war mission of Condor had been conducted for many years, previously to what has originally been thought, on or off the record, most likely under the direct orders of the American paranoia of "reds under the beds" McCarthyism policies of the 1940's and 1950's, and fuelled by acute American embarrassment at the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Either we conclude that while fighting a war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1960's, the "success" of Condor in Latin America was ignored as a military option, or we come to the inescapable conclusion that in fact Condor was undoubtedly conducted in other arenas of cold war duties, both before and after Condor activities in Chile, such as in Afghanistan in support of the Mujahideen against the Russian invading arny or in Iraq against the Iranian Shah. Some might view todays' wars in the same countries are acts of war crime cleansing.

The current unrest in Bolivia has been caused by the building of the world's largest pipeline from Santa Cruz in Bolivia along 3,200km to Sao Paulo in Brazil. The Consortium including El Paso Energy, British Gas, Tennecco, Petrobas and Enron have hit major objections by environmentalists concerns for the integrity of the Amazon rainforest. ENVIRONMENT: Plans Move Forward for Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline In the streets of Bolivia further antagonism has increased due to the proposal of a pipeline taking Bolivian gas through Chile to serve the U.S. which has not gone down well with the locals. The fact that Bolivia only receives 18% of the profits inflames the strikes and social unrest. Aljazeera.Net - Bolivia gas

pipeline protest continues

President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada has ordered the Government into a military siege scenario leaving inflamed protestors with further anger as the protestors clashed against armed troops. As a result over 30 dead have been claimed in recent clashes according to The Seattle Times:Nation & World: Bolivian troops, protesters clash over gas-e. The simmering tension has finally overwhelmed the mining millionaire who resigned (19-10-03) handing over to Carlos Mesa.

For Bolivia, it remains a legacy of its history with the United States that it appears one side would like to be buried for ever. A new leader may offer new hope for Bolivia, but that is unlikely against the powerful background of old Condor / new Condor movements combined with another potential oil pipeline source for the U.S. Equally apparent is the current Bush administration's unconcerned view of any accountability in these past wars, as seen by his personal endorsement of Dewhurst for a Texan political postTexas politician linked to CIA/SOA military coup

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