Bolivia, 20 years after the Black February tragedy

At least 34 people were shot dead in the streets of La Paz in an unusual confrontation between police and military in the central Murillo square in 2003.

Sputnik spoke with witnesses who, two decades later, recalled the climate of anarchy generated by an ill-advised announcement by then-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

Former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (1993-1997 and 2002-2003) is usually remembered for his responsibility in the so-called Gas War, which in 2003 cost the lives of at least 67 people, mostly residents of the city of El Alto, in the department of La Paz.

However, another massacre is also attributed to the former leader of the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR), a refugee in Miami, United States, for 20 years.

February 9, 2023, marked two decades since Black February, when at least 34 people from La Paz, police, and military died in the streets of the Bolivian capital.

On that day, Sánchez de Lozada announced on national television the creation of a new tax on salaries.

Depending on the worker’s income, a scale ranging from 4.2% to 12.1% was envisaged.

At that time, the minimum wage was US$60 (Bs440). In an already impoverished population, the government’s measure was widely rejected.

Labor unions, teachers’ unions, and workers’ unions were mobilized. And also, the members of the National Police repudiated the “impuestazo” (huge tax), for which they went on strike.

An unforeseen event unleashed a confrontation between the uniformed and the Armed Forces in the middle of Murillo square, in the center of La Paz.

As a result, dozens of people died, 182 were shot, and Sánchez de Lozada had to back down with his measure.

The political climate heated up on February 12, three days after the presidential announcement.

That day, students from the Ayacucho School, four blocks from the Palacio Quemado, marched because “they had an internal problem,” journalist, writer, and historian Edgar Ramos Andrade told Sputnik.

That same morning, the police had retreated. They did not patrol the streets.

In the capital of La Paz, they had gathered at the headquarters of the current UTOP (Tactical Police Operations Unit) half a block from Murillo Square.

“The boys from Ayacucho entered the square, and there were no police. Because of their protest, they began to throw stones at the Government Palace,” said Ramos.

In response, the military in charge of the presidential custody launched gases from inside the building.

“That’s when the shooting started. The boys from Ayacucho escaped because they were teenagers who did not expect that reaction”, said the journalist.

Throughout the afternoon, Murillo square was a battlefield. Even today, some buildings surrounding it have bullet marks on the walls.

The military took up positions on the roof of the Palacio Quemado and the Cathedral next door. On the other corner, the police occupied the top of the Chancellery.

In addition to the dead and wounded among uniformed, several civilians were hit by bullets while doing their business midday in downtown La Paz.

“Surely some more people have died because many were left dying. Some were on the street and were hit by a stray bullet,” said Ramos Andrade.

SAVE COCA-COLA

All public and private institutions in La Paz closed their doors when the shooting began. Workers were advised to return home.

Ramos Andrade lived in the city of El Alto. In contrast, in La Paz – there were marches and looting of several buildings, including the National Customs warehouse, the El Alto water company, and the headquarters of the municipal government, which has since become known as “the Burnt City Hall”.

The Coca-Cola factory is located in this city, and protesters gathered at its door to take it over.

“But they could not because military reinforcements arrived by helicopter to prevent the assault,” recalled the historian.

In La Paz, the demonstrators looted and burned the headquarters of the political parties that supported Sánchez de Lozada, the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), Civic Solidarity Unit (UCS), Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN), and the MNR, as well as several public institutions.

Congressman Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz during the presentation of allegations in the trial of responsibilities against General Hugo Banzer and his collaborators for crimes committed during the dictatorship of 1971-1978.

BLOOD IN THE SQUARE

Peruvian-Bolivian photojournalist José Luis Quintana, known as El Pata, was in Murillo Square in the middle of the shooting.

He entered when human rights organizations tried to mediate between the two sides. “But there was no agreement; they retreated, and the confrontation resumed with gunfire and gassing,” he told Sputnik.

In a corner, “I took shelter under a small tree when the gassing and shrapnel began. I felt leaves falling on me; I stayed there,” Quintana recalled.

When the gas dispersed, he saw a police fireman a few meters away. “He had an empty grenade launcher. And he shouted at me: ‘Get down, those were for you’.”

The photographer saw that the wall before his eyes was full of bullet holes, except in the space of the tree whose trunk protected him.

“The leaves fell off because of the shrapnel blasts,” he understood.

Luis Arce, presidential candidate of the Movement Towards Socialism, and Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia (Photo internet reproduction)

He was sheltered for several minutes until the fire ceased for a moment.

He used that lapse to tour and capture several images he still preserves.

“I recorded the wounded, police in a shooting attitude, demonstrators,” he said.

Sometime later, he learned the nearby fireman had also been shot in the head.

In 2008, a trial would be held against those involved in the deaths.

In 2021, it was announced that 15 police and military officers and four civilians would be tried.

The victims’ families received compensation but expected proportional punishment for those responsible.

But both Quintana and Ramos Andrade agreed that this would not be possible as long as the golden exile of the now octogenarian Sánchez de Lozada and several of his collaborators in the United States persists.

With information from Sputnik