Former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada will face trial for the killings of 67 indigenous people and campesinos by the Bolivian army in October 2003. In response to pressure from nationwide protests, the Bolivian Congress voted October 14 to waive Sánchez de Lozada's immunity as former president.
Protestors, including family members of those killed, assembled outside the Congress building on October 13, hoping to counter parties allied with the former president who attempted to retain his immunity. Two thousand coca growers simultaneously marched toward La Paz in tribute to those killed in the conflict.
In October 2003, large groups of indigenous peoples and campesinos blocked major roads to protest the president's failure to nationalize natural gas resources and his plan to export gas through Chile, with whom Bolivia has tense relations. Then-president Sánchez de Lozada deployed the Bolivian army after the roadblocks cut off petrol supplies to La Paz. In one week, 67 people were dead and more than 300 were injured. Sánchez de Lozada fled Bolivia, and currently resides in the United States.
"We will not allow these incidents to go unpunished," Néstor Salinas, brother of one of the victims, told the Inter Press Service.
Sánchez de Lozada will stand trial along with 15 of his ex-ministers.
