Four more dead in Bolivia coca protests

LA PAZ, Bolivia, Sept 28 (Reuters) -- Three Bolivians died and another was found dead on Thursday in protests by peasant farmers fighting government moves to restrict the cultivation of coca leaf, the raw ingredient for cocaine, an independent human rights group said.

According to the independent Human Rights Association and a rural teachers union, three Bolivians were killed on Thursday when military troops near the town of Huarina, about 43 miles (70 kms) northeast of La Paz, fired on protesters blocking a road.

Another Bolivian was found dead in the tropical town of Chimore, in a strong coca growing region, asphyxiated by gases used by the military and police to break up protests, said Sacha Llorenti of the Human Rights Association.

The four deaths raise the casualty toll to nine people during 11 days of roadblocks and marches protesting the Bolivian government's U.S.-backed programme to severely restrict the cultivation of coca.

The roadblocks have already caused shortages of some products in major cities in this South American country of 8 million people. Human rights groups say up to 95 people have been injured in the protests.

The coca protests have also been accompanied by separate protests by 130,000 teachers demanding a 50-percent wage hike and by demonstrators demanding the repeal of a water rights law, land rights for indigenous groups, the preservation of forests and new social development efforts.

President Hugo Banzer, a former military dictator who was democratically elected in 1997, met with his top military chiefs on Thursday for two hours to seek a strategy to end the unrest. The government and military have not commented on the deaths.

The United States has put pressure on impoverished Bolivia to stamp out excess production of coca, which Andean mountain peasants traditionally use to combat altitude sickness and reduce the pangs of hunger and thirst.

Banzer's government wants to eliminate all illegal coca cultivation by 2002. After 2002 Bolivia will only allow the existence of 30,000 acres (12,000 Hectares) of coca for local consumption by peasants and for traditional tea and medicine.

Unlike nearby Colombia, wracked by guerrilla and drug cartel violence, Bolivia is largely peaceful. Nestled in the heart of South America, Bolivia is the poorest country in the region, so American threats to cut off financial aid tend to be taken seriously.

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