Soldiers with Lanyards, and a Tense Wait

This morning on my walk into work through Plaza Colon I passed by a few of the couple of dozen young soldiers stationed there for the past few days. Young conscripts wearing green ponchos against the morning drizzle sat sending text messages on their cell phones and weaving green lanyards out of what looked to be old shoelaces. I am sure that they hope boredom is the worst they will have to deal with today.

To the untrained eye, Cochabamba looks pretty normal today, even the Plaza Principal which is now empty of the large crowds of cocaleros and others that have been occupying it, though the charged façade of the empty state building is a clear reminder that things are not normal in Cochabamba.

Negotiations seem to be continuing in various places, with little fruit. The national government has beckoned Manfred Reyes Villa home to Cochabamba to address the crisis. Manfred continues to declare that he will stay in Santa Cruz, for safety and other reasons. The social movements that are demanding his resignation still insist that nothing short will end their protests and they are scheduled to hold a "cabildo" (an assembly at which actions are voted on, like the ones held by autonomy groups in Santa Cruz earlier) in the Plaza at 3pm.

It is in the conversations on the street and with neighbors that gives one the clearest sense of how Cochabamba is not operating normally. In the north part of the city where I live there is ample concern and sadness over the brutal way (reportedly sliced by machete and hung from a tree) in which a boy about to mark his 18th birthday was killed last Thursday. I am sure in other parts of the city people grieve with equal force over the death of a 42-year old campesino who left behind children of his own, shot by a hidden gun.

Cochabamba needs to choose between more warfare or compromise. For my two cents, here is what I would suggest as a compromise:

1. Manfred pledges to honor the public vote on autonomy last July and not seek a re-vote.

2. The anti-Manfred protesters withdraw their demand for his resignation.

3. The Prefect agrees to totally open the official books and allow a committee of respected people (from all sides) to investigate the claim that money has been inappropriately spent (perhaps with a pledge that, if it has, Manfred resigns).

More updates later.