September
15: Peasants led by Felipe Quispe set up roadblocks on the highways leading southward from La Paz, in support of two sets of demands: the fulfilment of promises made by the government a year earlier, and the government's reversal of the policy to export natural gas to the US.
20: In an attempt to lead trapped travellers through the roadblocks, troops clash with the protesters: a soldier and four civilians are killed in Warisata, close to Lake Titicaca.
25: The umbrella labour confederation, COB, announces a general strike in support of the peasant protests and demands the resignation of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
26: The Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), the country's second-largest party, headed by Evo Morales, leader of the coca growers (and arch-rival of Quispe's) joins the protests, focusing mainly on opposing the export of gas.
27: Ministers travel to El Alto, next to La Paz, to negotiate a solution with Quispe's Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (CSUTCB). They fail.
28: A convoy brings to La Paz 198 travellers who had spent a fortnight isolated by the roadblocks.
29: Halting launch of the COB's general strike.
30: Thousands join a march in La Paz against the export of gas, organised by the COB and backed by the MAS. Quispe refuses to talk with the government unless it meets him at Warisata.
October
6: Mass demonstrations bring La Paz to a halt.
8: A `civic strike' is launched in El Alto, with marches and roadblocks.
9: Clashes between protesters and police in El Alto leave two dead and at least 16 injured, many of them miners who had marched there from Oruro.
11: The government orders the army to restore order in El Alto. Clashes claim two more lives.
12: Renewed clashes between security forces and protesters in El Alto leave a toll of at least five, perhaps more than 20, dead.
13: The government issues a decree stating that no gas will be exported without prior consultation with the population and social organisations. This fails to mollify the protesters; marches multiply and a transport strike paralyses La Paz. Clashes kill at least 14 more people (including two soldiers). Vice-President Carlos Mesa withdraws his support from the President in protest against the violent repression.
14: The OAS states its support for Sánchez de Lozada. The US expresses `deep concern'. A tense calm is broken in the Chapare region by a bombing that injures two soldiers on patrol. The Nueva Fuerza Republicana (NFR), most recent and smallest partner in the ruling coalition, threatens to pull out unless the unions' demands are met. The COB declares an indefinite strike.
15: The government announces that it will call a referendum on the export of gas, the convocation of a constituent assembly, and the reform of the hydrocarbons law. The Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), second-largest partner in the ruling coalition, joins the demand for a constitutional reform. Some 2,000 miners marching towards La Paz clash with the army and police in Patacamaya. Rioting spreads to Cochabamba. At least two more people are killed in clashes.
16: Sánchez de Lozada states that his resignation would spell the end of democracy, the disintegration of Bolivia and the establishment of a `narco-unionist or narco-terrorist dictatorship.' The protesters reject the referendum and insist on the President's departure. The governments of Brazil and Argentina send a joint team to try to mediate a solution to the crisis.
17: The NFR withdraws from the ruling coalition and demands Sánchez de Lozada's resignation. Congress is convened, but Evo Morales stays away. Sánchez de Lozada meets the Brazilian and Argentine envoys, later tells former President Jaime Paz Zamora that he will tender his resignation to congress. Instead, he flies away to Santa Cruz, en route to Miami, leaving behind his letter of resignation.
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