Evo Morales is at it again in Bolivia. Now that the president has been weakened by the fleeing of foreign investors, Morales and his dynamite-hurling coca-growers have grown emboldened. The whole city of La Paz seems to be under seige.

ééThe protests have grown today,” Morales said in a phone interview from La Paz. ééWe have no other option. The capital is paralyzed.”

Bloomberg has the best initial news account.

AP reports that the city of La Paz is pretty much sealed off and isolated by the roadblockers.

UPDATE: Bolivia’s FEJUVE group from El Alto, a group apparently more radical than Evo Morales’ MAS, has blocked and sealed off the road to Chile and Peru. No food or trade can get through now until industry is nationalized. Xinhua has the story here.

UPDATE: President Carlos Mesa vows not to resign. Roadblockers have smashed up cars in La Paz amid cries of ‘nationalization without compensation’ as cops threw tear gas. Health care workers demanded raises, airport workers called a one-day strike for today. Reuters has the story here.

UPDATE: NarcoNews has a press release from the protestors describing their actions, called ‘A Time of War’ on Scoop NZ. It has a lot of what sounds like firsthand detail from those on the ground.

UPDATE: News24 has more information about the MAS demands – 50% taxes just aren’t good enough anymore, they want the whole thing, as well as troops guarding and seizing the oil areas. It also says MAS opposes autonomy for Santa Cruz. The military says it doesn’t oppose autonomy but won’t take secession.

UPDATE: Agencia EFE reports that two lieutenant colonels have called on the president to step down, saying that if he doesn’t want to govern, they will. They seem to be defying their superiors, who have come out in favor of constitutionality. They are from a restive younger faction in the army, that says it’s not them but the people who are calling for this. They support the nationalization extremists and not the high tax group or the low tax group. Evo Morales is just too liberal for their tastes. Unbelievable.

UPDATE: AFX reports that the Bolivian military brass disavows this crew. No interest in installing a Bolivian Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, I suppose.

UPDATE: Bolivia’s official news agency reports that dynamite went off near a parliamentary annex, an area where protestors are trying to storm parliament. Hat tip: BarrioFlores

Blogger roundup:

MABB‘s Miguel in Bolivia reports that it doesn’t look good. Santa Cruz has illegally set up an autonomy referendum (just to get away from Evo Morales and all his communism -AMMyL). The government and the army and Evo are against it. The military came out with a statement that it will not tolerate inconstitutionality. Miguel warns that one of two awful alternatives could happen – either the army cracks down on the Crucenos, throwing their leaders in jail, or it gets orders to do so and it doesn’t. That in turn will embolden Evo Morales either way. What a terrible crossroads Bolivia is coming to. Don’t miss Miguel’s superb, intelligently written entry.

BarrioFlores‘ Eduardo in Bolivia gives us good background on the disruption and dynamite happening in La Paz, much better than the news. He also reports similar to Miguel about the growing importance of the military. He focuses on the more significant aspects of the military’s message to Santa Cruz, regarding its odd use of the word ‘majority.’ He says coup rumors are flying through the air and all sides are attempting the military to take their side in the conflict. Does not sound good. Eduardo integrates many stories and backgrounds together in this account, don’t miss this one, either.

Ciao‘s Miguel in the U.S. has a very important translation of an interview with a Santa Cruz leader, who outlines his reasons for wanting autonomy. He says they just can’t stand the centralism of the La Paz government. He also says they have their own provisional legislature all set up. This is well worth reading, it’s why blogs exist. Don’t miss.

Ciao‘s Miguel has quite an interesting post on an El Alto fiesta, too:

This weekend is El Alto’s Gran Poder festival, a quasi-religious festival that this year cost residents more than $20 million to host, 10 months to prepare for, w/ the average member of a folkloric dance fraternity spending $300 for their costume. …

For some perspective on the cost of the Gran Poder festival: the festival cost El Alto residents about one fourth of the US economic assistance to the country.

So, to recap: Residents of the poorest city of one of the poorest countries in Latin America, who’ve complained for months that the government doesn’t do enough to alleviate their economic problems, are nevertheless able to spend incredible amounts of money & months of man-hours to shut down the city for three days of dancing, after the city’s been shut down regularly for the past months. Yeah, that almost makes sense.

Bloggings by Boz‘s Boz in the U.S. writes some thoughtful analysis on the difficulty of the military’s current job, given the magnitude of discontent in Bolivia.

South America Wicker Parker USA‘s Travelhead, in Bolivia, reports that it’s 60,000 protestors all over and now he can’t get out of the country to go visit Peru. He is disgusted. He writes:

You see, it is kind of like the visigoths coming and sacking your country, except the invding hordes are unfortunately your neighbors and friends, and if you are dumb enough, they are you.

It’s full of writing like this, go take a look.

Blog de Bolivia ‘s Alvaro in Santa Cruz has some choice words for the biased media in his country. It’s a few days old, so check for updates, he’s a good read.

Life in Bolivia ‘s Jim in Cochabamba says all is quiet, too quiet, therefore he expects trouble, should be hearing about it a few days after it starts. Tranquil in Cochabamba, however.

Almada de Noche, in Bolivia, reports that there will be a Podcast of goings on in Santa Cruz. Might be the center of the universe pretty soon.

Instapundit‘s Glenn Reynolds in the U.S. weighs in – there is probably a Chavez factor. He’s right.