INDIAN FARMERS' PROTESTS TURN DEADLY IN BOLIVIA

Economic Slump Since Cocaine Crackdown A Key Issue

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Thousands of Aymara Indian farmers angered by Bolivia's
economic problems clashed with soldiers Sunday in the Andean towns of
Achacachi and Batallas. Three soldiers and two farmers were killed and
dozens injured in the confrontations.

In Achacachi, 80 miles north of the capital, La Paz, farmers threw rocks at
soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Hundreds of the protesters then stormed government offices, destroying
furniture and documents and setting buildings and vehicles on fire. Some of
them entered a hospital, dragged an injured army captain from his bed and
killed him on the main square.

The farmers, who blocked roads in the area, pitched rocks at soldiers who
tried to disperse them.

In Batallas, an Aymara village 45 miles north of La Paz, army units also
fought with farmers who also formed roadblocks.

The escalation of anti-government action that began last week reflected
Bolivians' disgust over rising water rates, unemployment and other economic
difficulties plaguing this nation in the heart of South America. The
economic crisis was blamed in part on the government's war on cocaine
trafficking. A total of eight people have died in the weekend clashes.

"The conflicts reflect the poverty under which farmers are living and the
fact that the government is not listening to them," Bishop Jesus Juarez
told The Associated Press by telephone from Achacachi, where dozens of
soldiers were sent Sunday evening to strengthen the military presence.

In response to the violence, the government on Saturday declared a
suspension of many constitutional guarantees.

Police were also at the center of some of the protests in other parts of
the country, with hundreds of officers in La Paz and in Santa Cruz, the
country's second-largest city, taking over their own headquarters and jails
and demanding a 50 percent increase in pay.

The strike turned violent in La Paz, with police firing tear gas at
soldiers, who fired their automatic weapons into the air. No violence was
reported in Santa Cruz, but the army was called in to control the streets
of that eastern city.

On Sunday, an agreement was reached that ended the strike.

The destruction of more than half of the country's coca leaf production has
left thousands of Quechua and Aymara Indian farmers without a livelihood
and depressed the economy in regions where cocaine trafficking once thrived.

Leaders of the coca farmers helped organize the protests.