Weekly Report - 8 February 2007

The first sustained protest action against the "nationalisation" of the gas industry compelled President Evo Morales to cede ground this week. Protesters from Camiri, in the Chaco region, began on 29 January by blocking the main road from Santa Cruz to Argentina to demand "real" nationalisation. But, on 2 February, they took the protest one step further and forced the shutdown of a natural gas pipeline operated by Transredes, which serves the departments of Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca. Three days later the government met their terms, setting a precedent that radicals to the left of the Morales government could now seek to exploit.