U.S. Rancher in Bolivia Showdown

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Rancher in Bolivia Showdown
Friday, May. 02, 2008 By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY/LA PAZ

In his native Montana, Ronald Larsen's current legal straits might be the stuff of an old-fashioned Western movie: A cattle rancher who believes the government and its allies are unfairly trying to seize his land, and picks up a rifle to signal his displeasure. But in contemporary Bolivia, where Larsen makes his home, his recent clash with the authorities is but another instance of rising tension over land-ownership between, on the one hand, left-wing President Evo Morales and his supporters among Bolivia's indigenous population, and on the other, political opponents backed by the country's wealthy eastern elite.
(snip)

Both the autonomy and land-reform issues have sparked violent unrest over the past year, pitting the largely white farmers and ranchers of Bolivia's more affluent lowland east against the impoverished indigenous majority who back Morales, himself an Aymara Indian and the nation's first indigenous President. Little surprise, then, that a national furor has erupted over a confrontation involving government officials and Larsen, 64, who along with his two sons, owns 17 properties totaling 141,000 acres throughout Bolivia, three times as much land as the country's largest city. (Larsen insists his holdings amount to less than 25,000 acres.)

Last month, when Almaraz and aides tried to pass through Larsen's Santa Cruz property — they insist it was the only route by which to reach to nearby indigenous Guarani residents to whom they were delivering land deeds — witnesses say the caravan was fired on by Larsen and his son Duston, 29. The incident was followed by two weeks of rancher roadblocks and violent protests that left 40 indigenous people injured.

Larsen, who arrived in Bolivia in 1968, told a La Paz newspaper that Almaraz's vehicle had entered his property at around 3 a.m. Almaraz, he said, "had not presented any identification. He was drunk and being abusive ... I quieted him with a bullet to his tire. That's the story." But the government insists this wasn't Larsen's first run-in with Almaraz: the rancher is accused of kidnapping the vice minister for eight hours in February. The two alleged incidents prompted the government to file a criminal complaint of "sedition, robbery and other crimes" against Larsen and his son two weeks ago. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to press formal charges. Neither father nor son has responded publicly to the accusations, and neither responded to repeated requests by TIME for comment.

U.S.-educated Duston Larsen, referring to Morales' efforts to empower Bolivia's indigenous, wrote on his Myspace page in 2007, "I used to think democracy was the best form to govern a country but ... should a larger more uneducated group of people (70%) be in charge of making decisions, running a country and voting?" The fact that Duston, in 2004, won the Mr. Bolivia beauty pageant, in the eyes of many government supporters, puts him in the company of the country's European-oriented elite. (That same year, Miss Bolivia, Gabriela Oviedo, also from the country's east, suggested Bolivia shouldn't be considered an indigenous nation: "I'm from the other side of the country. We are tall, and we are white people, and we know English.) Morales backers say it is precisely this disdain for the indigenous that is driving what they call the secessionist agenda behind Sunday's autonomy referendum — which is not legally sanctioned by the National Electoral Court or recognized by the Organization of American States. But autonomy supporters say they're only seeking states' rights on questions such as taxation, police and public works. "This is a historic demand based on long-standing differences with a La Paz-based central government," says Edilberto Osinaga, managing director of the Chamber of Eastern Farmers.

More:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1737244,00.html?xid=rss-world

[Judi Lynn]

1. More on that nice Mr. Larsen and his sonny, little Duston:

Little Duston Larsen's fraternity's website:

http://www.geocities.com.nyud.net:8090/msuksig2001/images/dustin.jpg

Duston Larsen

A.K.A. "Big D the Bolivian nightmare"



Major: Business Management

Bio: The 180 Pound Smoker Champion...

Position: Co-Historian, Sorority Liaison
http://www.geocities.com/msuksig2001/members.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photos of Little Duston Larsen as 2004's "Mr. Bolivia:"

http://promocionesgloria.com/galeria/album24

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Landowners’ Rebellion: Slavery and Saneamiento in Bolivia
Written by Alexander van Schaick
Monday, 28 April 2008



In recent weeks, cattle ranchers and landowners in Bolivia’s Cordillera province, located in the south of the department of Santa Cruz, resorted to blockades and violence in order to halt the work of Bolivia’s National Institute for Agrarian Reform (INRA – Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria). As a referendum on Departmental Autonomy for Santa Cruz draws near, the conflict calls into question the central government’s ability to enforce the law in the Bolivian lowlands.


The dispute centers on the region of Alto Parapetí, south of the provincial capital of Camiri, where INRA is currently trying to carry out land reform and create an indigenous territory for the Guaraní indigenous people. Additionally, it claims various communities of Guaraní live and work on white or mestizo-owned ranches in conditions of semi-slavery.

For nine days landowners and their supporters blockaded major highways and virtually sealed off Alto Parapetí. The blockades continued until Bolivia’s Vice-minister of Land, Alejandro Almaráz, left the region on April 18. At the end of February, Ronald Larsen, a major landowner in Santa Cruz, and other ranchers took Almaráz hostage at gunpoint for several hours when he and other government officials tried to enter the region.
(snip)

A group of landowners surrounded their vehicle, led by Larsen, who was armed with a revolver and a rifle. Larsen proceeded to shoot out the tires of the INRA vehicle to prevent the escape of the land reform officials. He reportedly yelled, "Now we are going to carry out community justice on you." He ordered the INRA vehicle to be dragged onto his property with the tractor. Later, he bragged to Almaráz that he had shot and killed three robbers that had come on to his property and no authority had ever found out. Another local landowner, Lino Medrano, allegedly threatened "No one is going to leave here alive, now blood will run.” Two members of the INRA team escaped to Camiri, where they obtained reinforcements who returned and freed the remaining INRA officials after their eight-hour ordeal.


Interestingly, no immediate action was taken against Larsen. According to Almaráz, witnesses are giving testimony before the public prosecutor of Camiri in order to bring a case against Ronald and Duston Larsen for sedition, criminal association, impeding and extorting official government activity, attempted murder, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1254/31/

[Judi Lynn]

2. BBC Bolivia timeline:

Page last updated at 10:43 GMT, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 11:43 UK

Timeline: Bolivia
A chronology of key events:

~snip~
Military coups

1952 - Peasants and miners overthrow military regime; Victor Paz Estenssoro returns from exile to become president and introduces social and economic reforms, including universal suffrage, nationalisation of tin mines and land redistribution, and improves education and the status of indigenous peoples.

1964 - Vice-President Rene Barrientos stages military coup.

Hugo Banzer: Coup leader and elected president

2001 Banzer resigns: BBC's Claire Marshall
1967 - US helps suppress peasant uprising led by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who is killed after being betrayed by peasants.

1969 - Vice-President Siles Salinas replaces Barrientos who is killed in plane crash, but Salinas is himself deposed by the army, which rules with increased severity.

1971 - Col Hugo Banzer Suarez comes to power after staging military coup.

1974 - Banzer postpones elections and bans political and trade union activity in the wake of an attempted coup.

1980 - General Luis Garcia stages coup after inconclusive elections; US and European countries suspend aid in view of allegations of corruption and drug trafficking.

1981 - General Celso Torrelio Villa replaces Garcia, who is forced to resign.

1982 - Torrelio resigns as the economy worsens; military junta hands over power to civilian administration led by Siles Zuazo, who heads a leftist government.

1983 - US and European countries resume aid following the introduction of austerity measures.

Democracy and economic collapse
La Paz: Administrative capital is 4 km above sea level
Population: 1 million
Founded in 1548
Home of national government since 1898

1985 - Siles resigns in the wake of a general strike and an attempted coup; elections held but are inconclusive; parliament chooses Paz Estenssoro as president.

1986 - Twenty-one thousand miners lose their jobs following the collapse of the tin market.

1989 - Leftist Jaime Paz Zamora becomes president and enters power-sharing pact with former dictator Hugo Banzer.

1990 - Some 4 million acres of rainforest allocated to indigenous peoples.

1993 - Banzer withdraws from the presidential race, which is won by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

1997 - Banzer elected president.

1998 - Banzer tells the United Nations that he is committed to freeing Bolivia from drugs before the end of his term in 2002.

1999 - Encouraged by moves to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, opposition demands inquiry into Banzer's role during the repression of the 1970s.

2000 - Banzer announces the almost total eradication of the coca plant in the Chapare jungle region.

2001 January - Government declares almost half of Bolivia a natural disaster area following heavy rains.

Banzer dies

2001 8 August - Vice-President Jorge Quiroga sworn in as president, replacing Hugo Banzer who is suffering from cancer. He dies in May 2002.

Critics say US-backed anti-coca drive spells ruin for farmers

2005: Rural poverty central to Bolivia's plight
2002: New government, same old coca war
2000: My story - The coca grower
2001 December - Farmers reject a government offer of $900 each a year in exchange for the eradication of the coca crop used to produce cocaine.

2002 August - Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada wins a clear victory in a National Congress run-off vote and becomes president for a second time. His rival, coca growers' representative Evo Morales, leads a strengthened opposition.

2003 February - More than 30 killed in violent protests against proposed income tax. President Sanchez de Lozada withdraws the proposal.

2003 September-October - 80 killed, hundreds injured in protests fuelled by government plans to export natural gas via Chile. President Sanchez de Lozada resigns under pressure of protests and is succeeded by Carlos Mesa.

Energy protests

2004 April - President Mesa signs natural gas export deal with Argentina. Opponents say deal pre-empts referendum on gas exports planned for July. Protesters take to streets, demand president's resignation.


Wrangling over gas exploitation has sparked unrest
1,529bn cubic metres (54 trillion cubic feet) of proven reserves
Second largest reserves in continent after Venezuela


2006: Bolivia gas under state control
2006: Bolivia takeover alarms powerful allies
2004 July - Referendum on gas exports: Voters back greater state involvement in the industry and approve exports of the resource.

2004 August - Landmark deal signed to allow Bolivia to export gas via a Peruvian port.

2005 January - Rising fuel prices trigger large-scale anti-government protests and blockades in Santa Cruz, the country's largest and wealthiest city, and in El Alto, near La Paz.

Civic and business leaders in Santa Cruz push for autonomy for the province.

2005 March - President Mesa submits his resignation, blaming protests which he says have made it impossible to govern. Congress rejects the offer, as well as a later request by the president for early elections, and Mr Mesa remains in office.

2005 May - Protests over energy resources bring La Paz, and government business, to a near standstill. President Mesa promises a rewritten constitution and a referendum on autonomy demands from resource-rich provinces.

Socialists in power
Sucre, the constitutional capital: A new charter is on the cards


2006: Bolivia sees anti-reform protests
2006: Push for new Bolivia constitution

2005 June - As angry street protests continue, President Mesa resigns. Supreme Court head Eduardo Rodriguez is sworn in as caretaker president.

2005 December - Socialist leader Evo Morales wins presidential elections. He becomes the first indigenous Bolivian to take office.

2006 May - President Morales issues a decree to put the energy industry under state control.

2006 June - President Morales claims victory in elections for a new assembly which will write a new constitution, aimed at giving more power to the indigenous majority.

2006 October - Clashes between rival groups of tin miners leave 16 people dead in the town of Huanuni.

2006 November - Land reform bill is narrowly approved by the Senate. The bill aims to expropriate up to one fifth of Bolivian land for redistribution to the landless poor.

Nationalisation

2006 December - Bolivia completes its gas nationalisation programme, launched in May, giving the state control over the operations of foreign energy firms in the country.

2007 January - Pro-Morales trade unionists and coca growers set up a parallel local government in Cochabamba and demand the resignation of the state's pro-autonomy governor. Clashes leave two people dead.

Government declares a state of emergency after months of heavy rain leave dozens of people dead and many thousands homeless.

2007 May - President Morales spearheads a protest campaign after world football's governing body, Fifa, bans international games at high altitudes. The ban rules out international matches in cities such as La Paz and Potosi.

2007 August - Presidents of Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina sign joint energy deals worth more than $1bn.

2007 December - President Morales formally receives controversial new draft constitution which he says will give the indigenous majority greater political power. The draft has to be submitted to two referendums.

2008 March - President Morales declares a national disaster after floods leave more than 60 dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1218814.stm