Bolivia COUp

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They quickly settled upon Colonel Natusch Busch, who had once been Banzer's minister of agriculture and peasant affairs.

Natusch was already established as a prominent right wing figure within the army and had an important base of support in the peasant organisations of the fertile Cochambamba valley.

Natusch was recently described by a diplomat as "an ambitious alcoholic whose chief aim is to seize power for himself and retire a whole generation of officers who prevented coloneis like himself from advancing to the rank of general"

Open secret These qualities are far rare in the Bolivian army.

The leader of the MRAutentico, Victor Paz Estenssoro, joined with his cronies in actively encouraging Natusch, and the conspiracy became almost an open secret.

Guevara knew about it at least three weeks ago, and his son predicted the timing of the coup to within twelve hours.

. When Paz was summoned to the palace to explain his behaviour he denied complicity -claiming that 'democracy is a nice thing to have around'.

There is a certain attention to form in the 'high' politics of Bolivia.

Guevara was palpably unable to arrest Natusch and knew perfectly well that Paz would continue to plot and bargain until the bitter end.

Accordingly the President set about rearranging his cabinet to include Paz's men as well as the supporters of the other wing of the MNR, who were backed by a different sector of the army.

Unholy alliance

Guevara preferred to entice supporters of Banzer into the government and preside over an unholy alliance. Dreservino the last vestiges of 'democracy' the face of the consolidation the right.

The resulting confusion proved, too much for the military high command and they settled on a policy of supporting the first army leader that made a move.

General strike

It was, unsurprisingly. Natusch. But the colonel, fully aware of the growing strength and militancy of the working class, immediately announced his new regime to be "a popular force for left nationalism" which would respect trade union and democratic rights, maintain parliament and even appoint a leading member of the miners union (FSTMB) as manager cf the state mining corporation COMIBOL.

This ambitious scenario lasted a mere twelve hours and was brought to an abrupt end by a surprise statement of full support for Guevara by Congress and the declaration of the COB general strike-against the coup and "in defence of democracy".

As of Saturday November 3 La Paz is completely closed down, the mines idle and large parts of the country at a standstill.

Mass opposition

The students immediately occupied the university and large crowds came into the streets to demonstrate against the army. The troops replied with gunfire. A score of people were killed and nany more wounded.

Although there has been no sustained fighting, the mass opposition has immediately weakened Natusch's position.

Four members of the new cabinet have gone into hiding and even Paz has disowned his hireling; Congress is continuing to meet secretiy; and significant sectors of the military (includinq the powerful Grupo GenerThe cuts struggle featured prominently on the agenda

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This conference recognises capitalism is gripped by a deep, international economic and political crisis.

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