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Essay on Ethnic violence and Ethnicity in Bolivia
As public demand for local conflict resolution mechanisms and dissatisfaction with law enforcement institutions mount in Bolivia, the government, judiciary and social organisations are preparing for a decentralisation of the justice system. Over half of the 314 municipal governments in this Andean country of 9.2 million have neither a court of law nor any institution specialising in conflict resolution, according to a report by the Justice and Participation Network, which links more than 100 local civil society organisations. Social and political tensions have led to outbreaks of unrest and violence, especially in remote highland villages and towns and in slum neighbourhoods.
Both the government and non-governmental organisations agree that the absence of local courts and justice services has helped fuel the violence.( Albo, Xavier. (2004)) Illustrations abound. The highest-profile case occurred in June, when the mayor of the Andean town of Ayo, Benjamín Altamirano, was kidnapped and killed, and his body burnt in the town square, by a group of local residents enraged that their continuous complaints of corruption by local officials had fallen on deaf ears. In the following months, other municipal authorities in rural areas quit or were removed, as a result of pressure, threats and violence stemming from local unrest over social and political problems.
Social discontent in the impoverished eastern city of El Alto, located next to La Paz, even led to the collapse of the government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003. The month-long protests, which spread to other parts of the country, were triggered by opposition to the Sánchez de Lozada administration's plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico through a port in Chile, with which Bolivia has a long-standing dispute since that country seized Bolivia's Pacific shoreline in a late 19th century war. (Albo, Xavier. (2004))At least 70 were killed in October when the government called out the army and police to quash the demonstrations......
