Tens of thousands of union supporters from El Alto, apparently, people even more extreme than Evo Morales, have begun roadblocks through Bolivia to shut down the country until it comes around to their point of view about developing Bolivia’s natural gas resources. And they’ve since raised earlier demands from a mere 50% royalties to full Stalinist-style nationalization. Until Bolivians consent to that, they are going to starve them, preventing the entry of food into the cities. The government is powerless to stop them.

Agencia EFE reports that tens of thousands of these supporters tried to storm Congress in La Paz. They were repelled with water cannons and tear gas. Meanwhile, EFE writes:

The scale of Monday’s protests surprised even (Evo) Morales and members of the coca-growers union he heads, who found themselves unable to move their product due to the miners’s blockade of the highway that connects La Paz to the Chilean border via the cities of Cochabamba and Oruro. Police confirmed that militant miners had also shut down the roads linking Potosi to Oruro and to Sucre.

Not clarified – would that ‘product’ being blocked off be coca leaf? I understand it’s been harvest time for that. Meanwhile, multinationals have invested $3.7 billion in Bolivia’s natural gas development and the protestors want them completely out.

Reuters also has a good news account, and add that Morales held his own protest, sticking to his 50% royalties demand.

“Every minute that goes by is one minute less for President Carlos Mesa in the government palace,” the left-wing leader told local radio.

Charming. President Mesa is required to sign or veto the lousy 32% gas royalties law that’s been proposed by tomorrow. He’s already refused to sign it. He may be forced into signing it, given the kind of pressure he’s under now. Evo Morales doesn’t even look like the bad guy compared to his competition.

None of the bloggers have updated, but stay tuned and we will link as new thinking becomes available.

My weekend roundup of Bolivia news here.