Patterns of Protest: Politics and Social Movements in Bolivia

Bolivia leapt onto the front pages of the news in October 2003, when the 'Gas Wars' protests caused the ousting of Bolivia's President, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. In the Gas Wars the indigenous inhabitants, trade unions, and other civil society groups came together to protest the sale of Bolivian natural gas to the United States through a pipeline leading to Chile. In the unrest protestors were killed, and calls for the President to resign grew ever louder. Bolivia has a long history of soc...