Bolivia: A two-week long peasant march on La Paz, in April 2001, supporting coca production, including attacks on participants before and during the march, and treatment of organizers and supporters in La Paz who publicized the event and provided support services and accommodation

Information on the requested subject can be found in BOL36951.E of 7 June 2001, as well as in Country Reports 2001, the Human Rights Watch World Report 2002 and Amnesty International's Annual Report 2002, all of which are available at Regional Documentation Centres.

Please find attached to this Response several articles that provide additional information on the April 2001 protest demonstrations against the government's coca eradication program in Bolivia. One of the articles summarizes the start of these demonstrations organized by the Only National Coordinating Committee of Mobilizations (COMUNAL), which included roadblocks and marches (Weekly News Update on the Americas 15 Apr. 2001). Marches to La Paz reportedly began in Cochabamba on 9 April 2001 and in the Yungas region on 10 April 2001 (ibid.). Additional details on the marches, including security forces' actions, can be found in the article. Another attachment reports on the last days of the protest, which included talks between unions and the government in the last days of April, and the signing of an accord between COMUNAL and the government on 2 May 2001, and the release of coca growers detained earlier (ibid. 6 May 2001). Please note that beginning on 1 May 2001 there were other protest demonstrations in Bolivia, including a march to La Paz sponsored by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), which had also supported the earlier coca growers' protest (ibid.). Various other portests and conflicts between coca growers and the government unfolded later and throughout 2001; information on those conflicts can be found in news articles available through Regional Documentation Centres.

No references to a particular treatment of organizers or supporters in La Paz who had publicized the April 2001 coca growers' protests could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Weekly News Update on the Americas [New York]. 6 May 2001. "Pact Halts Strike, Roadblocks." (Resource Center of the Americas) [Accessed 17 Feb. 2003]

_____. 15 April 2001. No. 585. "Bolivia: Campesinos, Workers March." ([email protected])

Attachments

Agence France Presse (AFP). 25 April 2001. "Bolivian President Rules Out Negotiations With Angry Coca Growers." (NEXIS)

EFE News Service. 14 April 2001. "Bolivia – Protests: Police Arrest More Peasants Marching to La Paz." (NEXIS)

Weekly News Update on the Americas [New York]. 6 May 2001. "Pact Halts Strike, Roadblocks." (Resource Center of the Americas) [Accessed 17 Feb. 2003]

_____. 29 April 2001. No. 587. "Bolivia: Marchers Reach La Paz." ([email protected])

_____. 15 April 2001. No. 585. "Bolivia: Campesinos, Workers March." ([email protected])

_____. 1 April 2001. No. 583. "Bolivia: New Strikes and Marches." ([email protected])