Fw: General Strike in Bolivia! (breaking news)

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

 April 30, 2001
 Please Distribute Widely

 BREAKING NEWS...

 Dear Colleagues,

 The Bolivian Central Union (COB, in its Spanish acronym, the AFL-CIO of
 Bolivia) has just decided to begin a National General Strike tomorrow,
 Tuesday, May 1st, and to continue the work stoppage in all industries
 indefinitely until the Banzer regime meets the 15 demands of coca-growers
 and other sectors including urban workers, farmers and retirees.

 The National Strike comes on the Seventh Day of a blockade in which coca
 growers - protesting U.S.-imposed drug policies - have stopped traffic on
 the nation's major highway. And it comes on the heels of
 dictator-turned-president Hugo Banzer's recent trip to Washington where he
 met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other officials.

 If the Banzer regime does not meet the 15 demands by tomorrow morning, this
 will be the first-ever national labor strike against the drug laws in the
 history of the world. It will have profound consequences for the drug war
 not only in Bolivia, but Peru and other Latin American nations, and
 particularly for Plan Colombia.

 Mayday mobilizations are also planned for tomorrow in Bogota, Colombia and
 throughout Mexico (by the Indigenous National Congress). Full reports
coming
 tomorrow with Issue #11 of Narco News.

 Narco News has just translated the French Press Agency report on the
General
 Strike plans in Bolivia to English, once again breaking the information
 blockade....

 http://www.narconews.com/generalstrike.html