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GV & SV Monument to Simon Bolivar showing wreaths in La Paz, Bolivia. (2 shots)
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SV Marching brass band.
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SV Members of ruling military junta marching, including President Luis Garcia Meza in khaki uniform (3 shots)
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GV Troops salute and crowd looks on as Last Post is played. (2 shots)
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Initials





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In the Bolivian capital of La Paz, ceremonies have been to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Simon Bolivar, the man who liberated the northern part of South American from spanish rule. But Bolivia was excluded from the Andean Pact celebrations, because the other Pact members maintained the event should be for freely elected leaders only.

SYNOPSIS: Bolivia's military leaders gathered at the monument to Simon Bolivar to pay formal tribute to the liberator of their country. President Luis Garcia Meza, who took power in a military coup last July, has declared that he wants to build a free and just country. He has expressed a strong resentment of the Andean Pact's condemnation of the July coup and has threatened to withdraw from the organisation.

President Garcia said last week (15 December) that the Pact had become a political instrument and was interfering in Bolivia's internal affairs. Bolivia is economically the weakest member of the Pact, which also includes Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and peru, but it has been considering forming an alliance with Chile instead. Since the armed forces seized power last July most foreign aid has been cut off trade has dwindled and the overseas debt has mounted. But General Garcia has blamed the economic crisis on former rulers who, he maintained, had left the country virtually bankrupt.