The New Opium Wars in Bolivia
The IMF Fiddles While La Paz Burns

Last week 27 people were killed in Bolivia. They were in the streets protesting a 12.5 percent income tax increase ("impuestazo") levied on the poor by the government at the behest of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF says this is necessary to reduce a budget deficit and as a pre-condition for four billion in new loans. So the people went in the street to protest and Bolivia's right wing president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozado, sent out the troops. The situation was so bad - - shops and supermarkets were looted and government buildings in Plaza Murillo were torched -- that the president decided it wise to roll back the tax. For now.

On the first day of the riots CBS, NBC, and Fox published stories. Colorful riots and footage of historical buildings aflame will always attract the attention of a corporate media addicted to sensationalism. They mentioned the tax increase but said nothing about the IMF or its austerity plans. "While Bolivia has had some recent success transferring itself into a market-oriented society, the slow growth rates in the late 1990s fueled discontent in the country's low-income sectors, leading to major civil disturbances in both 2000 and the following year," the UPI explained. ABC felt it was necessary to mention the looting of Pepsi and Coca- Cola bottling plants, as well as a Burger King. As usual, little was put in context. No mention of loan sharking by the IMF. No mention of the wholesale looting of Bolivia's economy by international neoliberal bankers, "market-oriented" managers who specialize in dismantling Third World countries for fun and profit.
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