Word: bolivians
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...recent years, the twin pillars of the Bolivian economy have been cocaine and tin. The illicit cocaine trade was jolted in July, when President Victor Paz Estenssoro heeded a Washington request and invited U.S. troops to participate in raids on Bolivian drug labs. Now Paz Estenssoro faces a crisis over tin. When more than 5,000 miners marched toward the capital city of La Paz last week to protest present layoffs and future mine closings, Paz Estenssoro responded by declaring a state of siege. Bolivian soldiers promptly halted the advance. Meanwhile, police arrested at least 162 persons, including labor leaders...
...Administration intends as well to provide military support, like the troops and helicopters sent to Bolivia last month. "Operation Blast Furnace" was ridiculed for failing to catch any drug producers, but last week U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Edward Rowell claimed that the raids achieved a "dramatic impact" on Bolivian cocaine production by shutting down six major labs with a combined production capacity of five tons a week...
...joint U.S.-Bolivian drug raids uncovered no big stashes of cocaine, but the landing of American troops apparently panicked traders in Bolivia's volatile coca market. In a price crash, bundles of coca leaves last week brought just $20 apiece; a bundle fetched $700 two years...
Reporters from all 53 news organizations had signed up for the tour, so they had to divide into two groups. The first section flew north in a battered Israelimade Arava. At El Zorro, a Bolivian official proudly pointed to sacks that appeared to contain white flour and knowingly murmured, "Cocaine." Actually, it was flour. Later the reporters piled into their plane -- then piled out when the fully loaded craft was unable to take off from the makeshift 300-foot runway. After being shuttled to a more suitable airstrip, they lifted off and returned to Trinidad. At that point, antsy members...
Unfortunately, the Bolivian Fokker aircraft that had escorted the Blackhawks on the raid had got stuck on the target site's swampy runway. The Fokker finally arrived at 7 p.m., almost seven hours late. By then the journalists' patience had run thin, and they voted to return to La Paz without touring the newly seized site...