© teleSURFamily members of victims of the 2003 repression
Every year, thousands of Bolivians march in the month of October to remember the 2003 "Gas War," also known as the "Black October" massacre. Eleven years ago on October 17, 2003 Bolivian President Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada fled Bolivia on a commercial jet, leaving behind a trail of blood.
More than 60 people including men, women, and children were indiscriminately mowed down by the military's bullets under Sanchez de Lozada's command. Protests that began in the countryside quickly spread to the bustling city of El Alto, perched 4,100 meters above sea level overlooking Bolivia's administrative capital of La Paz, and the deadly response of the military was swift.
Demonstrators were opposed to a plan to export Bolivia's then privatized natural gas through neighboring Chile, perceived by many Bolivians to be a historical national enemy due to the loss of their coastline to British-backed Chile in the War of the Pacific.
The residents of El Alto risked life and limb in the streets demanding the nationalization of Bolivia's natural gas reserves so that all Bolivians would benefit from the country's natural resources rather than a small and privileged class of businessmen.
As the death toll mounted, Sanchez de Lozada's key supporters resigned one by one, and he narrowly escaped by helicopter to the airport of El Alto where he then flew to the eastern city of Santa Cruz before fleeing to the United States.
© teleSURNeighborhood associations of El Alto organized the march
Bolivia's current social transformation is largely funded by the nationalized natural gas, and the government has undertaken a massive initiative to industrialize the reserves in order to create greater state incomes and continue Bolivia's self proclaimed "Process of Change." But for the residents of El Alto, there is still unfinished business from October 2003.
Each year, they demand the extradition of Sanchez de Lozada from the United States so that he may face trial in Bolivia and end the now 11-year stretch of impunity surrounding the crimes he has been accused of.
Sanchez de Lozada currently lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, a wealthy suburb of Washington, DC. A Bolivian extradition request filed with the US government insists that he return to Bolivia to face trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
But up until now, the US Government, who supported Sanchez de Lozada during his brief tenure as president, have shown no interest in complying with the extradition request.
For the residents of El Alto, every year on October 17, now nationally declared Bolivia's "Day of Dignity," they will continue to march until Sanchez de Lozada is brought to Bolivia to face trial and finally close the book of the bloody story of Black October.
Comment: See: Bolivia nationalization further sidelines U.S.