Bolivian hospitals face food, gas shortage
Hospitals in La Paz and El Atlo have a severe shortage of gas and food supplies as weeks of violent protests have paralyzed the two Bolivian cities, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said Wednesday.

Philippe Gaillard, chief of the ICRC delegation for Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, told reporters there is simply no cooking gas in the hospitals and there are enough food supplies for just three to five more days.

Some hospitals are also short of oxygen, medicine and fuel, he said.

Concerned about the gravity of the situation, he said a "humanitarian truce" is necessary in the two cities which have been plagued by three weeks of blockades, demonstrations and labor stoppage.

The unrest in Bolivia erupted after the National Congress passed a law on May 17 to levy a 50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in Bolivia, which has the second largest gas reserves in South America after Venezuela.

The opposition demands higher taxes on foreign firms and the nationalization of the country's lucrative oil and gas industry.

Demonstrations have escalated into riots since May 24 when demonstrators blocked a downtown square in La Paz, where the executive and legislative branches of government are located, and began to smash windows in buildings and cars in the surrounding streets.

In a bid to halt oil and gas production, hundreds of peasants in the eastern Santa Cruz province have blockaded roads and entrances to four natural gas fields operated by foreign firms.