LA PAZ, Bolivia - Supplies of food, gasoline and other essentials ran short yesterday as protesters demanding the president's resignation blocked roads and virtually paralyzed the capital of La Paz and the nearby city of El Alto.
Clashes between demonstrators and soldiers left at least 16 dead Monday, bringing the death toll from two weeks of protests to as high as 60, according to human rights groups and local media. Authorities have not confirmed this figure.
Shops, banks and offices were closed in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, home to about 1.5 million people. The few people going to work were forced to walk. Many intersections remained blocked by street barricades erected by demonstrators using tires, rocks, tree branches and other debris.
The protests in South America's poorest nation began more than three weeks ago in opposition to President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico. The demonstrations grew violent over the weekend and grew into calls for his ouster.
Sanchez de Lozada said Monday he was freezing the gas project, but the protests raged on in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and other cities.
Leaders of labor and indigenous groups opposed to the president's free-market initiatives announced plans for new demonstrations.
Among those hit by the growing shortages were the La Paz newspapers, which had to reduce the number of pages of their editions yesterday for lack of newsprint.
Sanchez de Lozada defiantly rejected the demands for his resignation, which he said were part of an international plot to topple his government.
He remained secluded at his heavily guarded home, instead of going to the presidential palace in the downtown Murillo plaza, which was also under heavy military guard. Four small tanks were deployed in the plaza and soldiers with automatic weapons erected barricades nearby.
Sanchez de Lozada's support appeared to be strong from the military, but it faltered elsewhere. His vice president, Carlos Mesa, withdrew his backing Monday, citing tactics used to quell the demonstrations.
Mesa did not resign, although Economic Development Minister Jorge Torres quit his post, also protesting government moves to repress the street protests.
Sanchez de Lozada blamed two indigenous congressmen - Evo Morales and Felipe Quispe - for the alleged plot to oust him. Both denied the accusations but insisted that he must go. The president's five-year term ends in 2007.
Morales, who is the leader of Bolivia's coca leaf growers, said Sanchez de Lozada should be succeeded by an indigenous government.
Coca is the base ingredient of cocaine, but many Bolivians chew the leaves or use them to brew tea. About 30,000 acres of coca can be cultivated legally, but growers want the limit increased.
In Washington, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria, condemned the violence, warning that any government that arises anti-democratically is absolutely unacceptable in the Americas.
The U.S. government backs Sanchez de Lozada, a millionaire businessman who grew up in the United States. U.S. officials have urged calm in Bolivia.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States and other nations will not tolerate any interruption of constitutional order and will not support any regime that results from undemocratic means.
The embattled president addressed the nation Monday on radio and television after meeting with top advisers and military leaders.
He vowed to defeat the sedition and restore order
and called the massive protests a plot encouraged from abroad aimed at destroying Bolivia and staining our democracy with blood. He did not elaborate.
The marches began peacefully Monday but clashes broke out when soldiers turned away demonstrators from the plaza where the presidential palace is located.
In the Rio Seco neighborhood, protesters set fire to a gas tank, killing a female bystander, witnesses said. The TV UNitel network said six people were killed in Chasquipampa, another working class area. 17
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