MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Death toll rises to 13 in Bolivia clashes

The death toll from Wednesday's clashes between troops and striking police outside Bolivia's presidential palace has risen to 13, according to hospital personnel, who said that another 79 people were wounded.

The president's announcement of the troop pullback came after Sanchez de Lozada said he would also withdraw his budget bill, one of the issues that sparked the wave of violence between rebellious police and troops.

"Today has been a sad and painful day for all Bolivians, because we have witnessed a confrontation between members of two institutions that are fundamental to our history and our republic," Sanchez de Lozada said in a terse message broadcast nationwide.

"For this reason I have decided to withdraw the budget initiative I introduced in Congress," the president said before expressing his hope that his decision would bring about "a new dialogue, a sincere and fraternal dialogue among all Bolivians." Killed in the combat were seven of the striking police, two soldiers and four civilians. Groups of youths took advantage of the absence of security forces to rampage through the streets of downtown La Paz, sacking the Labor Ministry, the office of the vice president and the headquarters of the two parties in the ruling coalition: the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement and the Movement of the Revolutionary Left. Wednesday's violence began with a protest in Murillo plaza - a block away from the presidential palace - led by police officers in civilian attire.

They were demonstrating in support of members of the anti-riot Special Security Group, known as the GES, who have been protesting since Tuesday inside their headquarters. Following a brief demonstration, a group of students who had joined the protest began throwing rocks at the presidential palace.

Army soldiers guarding the building responded by firing tear gas on the demonstrators. GES members then lobbed tear gas back at the presidential palace.

From that moment, the situation intensified, erupting into a gun battle between army troops and anti-riot police, who fired shots from the plaza and from the rooftop of the adjoining Foreign Ministry building.

Earlier Wednesday, the striking police rejected government orders that they desist in their "mutiny" and threatened to extend their protest to other cities. The demands by the striking police were presented to Interior Minister Alberto Gasser at dawn after he and other high-ranking officials made their way into the building that houses the anti-riot unit.

The strike began Tuesday afternoon at the GES building, only a block away from the presidential palace, and quickly spread to most of the capital's police stations. Some 30 demands, including a 40 percent pay increase and opposition to a tax on wages, were included in the document.

GES official David Vargas, a spokesperson for lower-ranking officers, told reporters the strikers "vehemently reject the huge tax the government plans to levy" as part of this year's federal budget.

"We're demanding a significant wage increase, so our families can enjoy an adequate quality of life," he said.

Other demands included social and institutional improvements, life insurance, pensions for widows and children of fallen police officers, changes to police law and physical improvements to police stations.

Bolivia's national police force of approximately 18,000 officers obtained a 50 percent wage increase in 2000.