FOUR MORE DEAD IN BOLIVIA COCA PROTESTS

LA PAZ, Bolivia (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 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
program to severely restrict the cultivation of coca.

President Hugo Banzer told the South American nation of eight million
people in a televised speech his government was open to peaceful dialogue
but would not budge from its commitment to eradicate illegal coca harvests.

``We will not tolerate more violence within the framework of the law and I
reiterate that we will not negotiate our goals in the execution of the
(anti-drug) Plan Dignity," Banzer said.

Asking that the coca cultivation continue is like ``asking Bolivia to give
itself over to drug traffickers," he said.

The roadblocks have already caused shortages of some products in major
cities. 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.

Banzer, a former military dictator who was democratically elected in 1997,
made the speech after meeting 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 Thursday's 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.