Bolivia’s “Gas War” ten years on

 

“On seeing the tanks, firing shots in the air, everyone dispersed, except one lady. I also went and hid behind a wall. And the woman, holding on to her stone, put it in front of the tank and the tank drove over the stone. She picked up another stone and put it down again,” recalls Luis Saucedo.

He was still a teenager in October 2003 when the so-called “Gas War” broke out.

The city of El Alto, next to the seat of the Bolivian government, La Paz, was the main battleground.

The trigger for the protests was President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico through the ports of Chile, widely considered by Bolivians to be an enemy nation since it had cut off Bolivia’s access to the Pacific.

It was not long before the opposition to the government’s plans developed into the ‘October Agenda’, calling for the nationalisation and industrialisation of Bolivia’s gas.

The protests included a general strike called by the workers’ confederation Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), miners’ and peasant marches to the seat of government and an indefinite work stoppage in El Alto.

Sánchez de Lozada’s government responded to the protests with brutal force, imposing martial law in El Alto, where roadblocks were cutting off supply lines to La Paz.

By 17 October, 2003, when Sánchez de Lozada finally resigned and fled to the United States, 58 people, mostly from El Alto, had been killed, and more than 400 had been injured.

The recently commemorated 10th anniversary of what is also known as Black October was met with a divided society in Bolivia, which is still coming to terms with its aftermath.

There is controversy over the fulfilment of the October Agenda, for example. And although the case against the authorities responsible for the deaths is still pending, the first findings are already starting to emerge.

 

Controversial nationalisation of hydrocarbon resources

“What was 17 October? It was the end of the neoliberal model…the end of a long fight culminating in the Bolivian people’s recovery of their natural resources,” stated President Evo Morales at a rally in El Alto last month.

Morales was elected in 2005, after Carlos Mesa, Sánchez de Lozada’s vice president and successor, also resigned in the midst of massive social protests calling once again for the nationalisation of Bolivia’s gas.

One of the Morales government’s first measures was the decree nationalising hydrocarbon resources, in May 2006.

The decree in fact laid down the conditions for renegotiating the contracts with the companies in the sector.

The main measure consisted in guaranteeing that the Bolivian state would receive 82 per cent of the value of hydrocarbon production, but this would only apply until the renegotiation of the contracts.

In practice, the contracts were later signed in accordance with the legislation passed by the Mesa administration. This law guarantees 50 per cent of taxes and royalties for the Bolivian state, which is considerably higher than the 18 per cent collected during Sánchez de Lozada’s time in office.

Morales defended his legacy at the event on 17 October, asking, “What were the oil and gas revenues in 2005? …Just US$300 million. And how much did we earn in oil revenues this year? Over US$5 billion.”

Still, some critics argue that his policies are not meeting the demands set out in the October Agenda.

“It was absolutely vital that we expel the multinationals, recover our hydrocarbon resources and ensure wholesale nationalisation without compensation,” said Florián Calcina, former head of the Federation of Neighbourhood Committees (FEJUVE) in El Alto.

Another government policy called into question is the export of gas.

Energy expert Justo Zapata raised this issue at a stocktaking conference in October. “The policy pursued by Goni [Sánchez de Lozada], which consisted in exporting gas to Brazil, remains virtually unchanged under Evo. Evo’s plan is exporting gas to Argentina,” he said.

Zapata agrees with those advocating more industrialisation policies and is critical of priority being given to hydrocarbon exports. “I do not understand why our government, be it this one or the previous one, fails to see energy as a vehicle for development.”

 

Bringing the culprits to justice

Above and beyond the October Agenda, there is another Gas War issue that has left a deep mark in Bolivia: the lawsuit against the state authorities responsible.

Charges have been filed against Sánchez de Lozada, his cabinet ministers and five military chiefs.

Rogelio Mayta, the lawyer representing the families of those killed, explains that the government had prepared the army for massacres at the beginning of its term in office.

Declassified military documents have brought to light the so-called Republic Plan, which “authorised the army to deploy all its military potential, including special forces, against any civil unrest,” explains the lawyer.

But the court proceedings against most of those accused, including the former president, are blocked, either because they have secured political asylum or become residents in other countries. They will only be able to testify at the trial if they are extradited.

In October 2011, eight years after the Gas War, five military chiefs and two former ministers were finally sentenced to jail terms of between three and 15 years.

For Mayta, the ruling set a precedent: “No future president will be able to call on the Armed Forces and say ‘go out and control the civil protests, go out armed and repress without restraint.’”

This is perhaps the other profound legacy of Black October. “This was our war for dignity; there were the cannons and bullets on one side and the people on the other, with nothing but their hands,” said Mayta.

He sees the trial as “turning the table” on an unequal and unjust society.

“They killed our grandparents and no trial was held, I mean, it was normal, it was acceptable.” So, for Mayta, the trial represents an acknowledgement that “we are not different, we are not worth less, we are not worth more; we have the same rights.”