Villa Tunari Massacre

The Villa Tunari Massacre' or Battle of Villa Tunari was a 27 June 1988 mass killing committed by UMOPAR (Rural Patrol Mobile Unit) troops, and according to some accounts United States DEA military trainers, against peasants and cocaleros in the town of Villa Tunari in Chapare Province, Bolivia. The cocalero movement had mobilized since late May 1988 in opposition to coca eradication under Law 1008, then on the verge of becoming law.[1] The attack killed 12 people and injured over a hundred.[2][3][4][5] Bolivian president Evo Morales recalls being present at the confrontation: "I was a witness to how the gringos from the DEA fired upon us and the Villa Tunari massacre was made. Later, we recovered cadavers drowned in the river and others with bullet wounds. It was all for the defense of the coca leaf against Law 1008."[6]

The massacre helped bring about the consolidation of Chapare unions into the Coordinadora of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba.[1]

16 people were killed in an attempt to overrun the UMOPAR outcamp at Villa Tunari, many by running off a cliff into the river below.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gutiérrez Aguilar, Raquel (2008). Los ritmos del Pachakuti: Movimiento y levantamiento indígena-popular en Bolivia. La Paz, Bolivia: Ediciones Yachaywasi : Textos Rebeldes. p. 165.
  2. ↑ Madeline Barbara Léons, Harry Sanabria, ed. (1997). Coca, cocaine, and the Bolivian reality. SUNY Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-7914-3482-6.
  3. ↑ Gomez, Luis (February 28, 2006). "Bolivia's Political Moment, Part II: Contradictions in Response to Viceroy Greenlee". Narco News. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Uco, César; Bill Vann (14 October 2003). "Bolivian troops massacre strikers". World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  5. ↑ WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS, Issue 266. NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK. October 6, 2002 http://www.tulane.edu/~libweb/RESTRICTED/WEEKLY/2002_1006.txt. Retrieved 5 February 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "He sido testigo de cómo los gringos de la DEA nos dispararon y se produjo la masacre en Villa Tunari. Después recogimos cadáveres ahogados en el río y otros con orificios de bala. Todo era por la defensa de la hoja de coca contra la Ley 1008" "Evo rinde homenaje a mártires de la masacre de Villa Tunari". Cambio. 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2010-11-30.


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