Protesting Indians block roads linking Bolivia with Peru, Chile
Roads linking Bolivia and neighboring Peru and Chile were blocked Tuesday by Aymara Indians who demand the nationalization of Bolivia's lucrative oil and gas industry and the rewriting of its constitution.

On the roads La Paz-Desaguadero and La Paz-Copacabana, which link the country with Peru, and La Paz-Oruro, with north Chile, were blocked Tuesday afternoon with vehicles, hampering movement of goods and passengers.

Reports from La Paz, the administrative capital, said a general strike also paralyzed the neighboring city of El Alto. A 14-kilometer-long road between La Paz and El Alto was blocked by strikers, forcing travelers to walk to the international airport in El Alto.

The roadblocks were set up by the Federation of Neighborhoods Boards (FEJUVE) of El Alto and Aymara peasants who press for the nationalization of the oil and gas industry without paying compensation to foreign oil firms, among other demands.

In La Paz, the opposition Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), the Bolivian Central Trade Union (COB) and other trade unions, students and teachers organizations continued their demonstration against the government of Carlos Mesa.

The demonstrators demanded the modification of the newly passed energy bill, pressing for higher taxes and royalties on foreign oil firms, the resignation of Mesa and the closing of the National Congress. They also opposed an autonomy drive by Santa Cruz, Bolivia's richest region and the site of its oil industry.

The current unrest in Bolivia was sparked by a law passed by the congress to raise taxes and breaking existing contracts with foreign oil companies. Firms decried the measure as too drastic while leftist Indian groups called it too weak.