GARCIA LINERA URGES CAMPESINOS TO TAKE UP ARMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LA PAZ 002557

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2016
TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL BL
SUBJECT: GARCIA LINERA URGES CAMPESINOS TO TAKE UP ARMS


Classified By: Charge d'Affairs Krishna Urs for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.


1. (SBU) Although Acting President Alvaro Garcia Linera met
with all nine prefects (governors) September 19 in an effort
to resolve continuing stalemate over the Constituent
Assembly's rules of order and to express the GOB's
willingness to negotiate, he sent a very different message
September 20 in the village of Warizata (in Omasuyos province
in the La Paz department). (NOTE: Warizata is known for its
radical Aymara leanings and for being the place of origin for
the events that led to President Gonzalo de Lozada's fall in
October 2003. END NOTE).


2. (SBU) Wearing a red poncho, Garcia Linera said that in
Omasuyos he learned "to battle, to love and here we've also
learned to kill in defense of our country and its natural
resources." He then called upon the people of Omasuyos to go
to Santa Cruz to "overthrow the Santa Cruz oligarchy." He
also made the following additional remarks:

--He said he used to hide his rifle in his poncho when he was
a guerrilla with the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK) in
the early 1990's. "This red poncho shouldn't be put away yet.
This war poncho has to continue to be used. The fight is
not over. With happiness and with enthusiasm we must continue
this fight."

--"To defend the conquest of the Constituent Assembly,
nationalization of hydrocarbons, land distribution, criminal
trials of responsibility, requires a permanent state of
emergency, a permanent state of mobilization in your
communities, your provinces and if necessary in the cities."

--"We can't leave President Morales alone, our president is
being attacked on all sides and you are his protection of
steel, his shield and you have to be permanently mobilized."

-"The battle has not ended, the fight has not ended; the
mobilization has to continue; be ready for an immediate
calling like the guerrillas of the indigenous liberation."

--"And now, in 2006, over 50,000 Aymaras and Quechuas can die
if necessary to defend our gas. If it's necessary to fight
again, we'll do it 10, 20, 50 times."

--He warned "some gas companies" and "some political
criminals" that the indigenous "will defend this revolution
with their chests, with their hands, with stones, with Mauser
rifles."

--"In this victory the indigenous population will not have to
back down. Beginning now, since December, 500 years of
coming fights and victories are unleashed."



3. (C) On the same day, Garcia Linera met privately with
campesinos in the Santa Cruz department. Before speaking,
Garcia Linera asked all journalists to leave the room. One
remained covertly and subsequently reported that Garcia
Linera criticized the eastern elites and asked campesinos to
take up arms to protect the government. He then asked social
sectors to begin mobilizations (e.g. marches, blockades) to
pressure Congress to modify the INRA (land reform) law. His
speech also included the following:

--"Every action of the president should be accompanied by a
mobilization ... In eight months we haven't mobilized and our
enemies now think we are weak. Our reforms have to be
approved due to pressure."

--He asked social sectors to create alliances with the urban
poor in order to control their neighborhoods.


LA PAZ 00002557 002 OF 002


--Regarding the Constituent Assembly, he said "next week we
will look for allies and then we will act as a block, and if
Podemos wants to leave, they should."

--He said the campesinos should organize to support the
agrarian revolution in early October, at the end of October
when the gas companies have to sign new contracts, and again
in December and January to support land distribution.

--He declared that the GOB's friendliness with the press has
ended, especially in Santa Cruz.



4. (C) Comment: Given the MAS' failed "siege" of Santa Cruz
September 20 (septel),Garcia Linera's comments indicate
increasing GOB frustration. The GOB has implicitly
threatened violence in the past as a means to achieve its
ends, but the September 20 comments mark the first time that
a high-level GOB official has made an outright call to
violence. Although Morales recently accused the United
States of participating in a plot to destabilize his
government, Garcia Linera's remarks are more disturbing.
Early September 21, Garcia Linera said "I apologize if people
have been offended by what I said yesterday, but I've been
misinterpreted." Despite this half-hearted apology, it
appears that Garcia Linera, who publicly purports to be the
GOB's voice of reason, has not shed his more radical past.
End comment.

URS