20 cities worldwide express solidarity with Bolivia on October 17th

PRESS RELEASE

On October 17th, an unprecedented 20 cities globally will join together to mark the International Day of Action in Solidarity with Bolivia. Cities including Sydney in Australia, Paris in France, San Francisco and Washington in the US, London in the UK, Dublin in Ireland, Barcelona in Spain and Vancouver in Canada will mark the day with a range of activities from marches and rallies to speaking events and film showings.

The cities are marking the 17th October because it is the day that former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (known as Goni) fled Bolivia after authorizing military repression that led to more than 60 deaths in 2003. The focus of the majority of the events worldwide will be the demand to the US for the notification and extradition of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, Carlos Sanchez Berzain and Jorge Berindoague, who are required to appear for the legally-authorised trial of responsibility in Bolivia. The USA was requested 15 months ago by the Bolivian Government to notify the former President and ex-Ministers but has so far refused to act.

However the 17th October is also suitably the International Day of Action for the Eradication of Poverty, so some of the solidarity events are also focusing on the struggle for social justice led by social movements in Bolivia that have inspired all those fighting for a better more just world.

The events worldwide have been organized by a network of activists from many countries who have links with social movements in Bolivia. We are determined to hold to account the governments, institutions and multinational companies in our own countries that impede the Bolivian peoples’ struggles for social and economic justice, human rights, direct democracy, dignity and sovereignty. We are also committed to learn from the Bolivian social movements whose struggles to regain public control of natural resources like water and gas have inspired our own social movements. Our goal is to inspire international solidarity action and social justice in partnership with Bolivians and to work in a spirit of reciprocity and transformation.

More information on the events worldwide can be found at http://www.boliviasolidarity.org/takeaction/latestactions/dayofaction

Contact: Nick Buxton in La Paz, Bolivia (+591 725 99050, nickbuxton AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk) or Wes Enzinna  in Cochabamba, Bolivia caitlinesch AT gmail DOT com