Bolivian protesters shut down pipeline

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Protesters forced the shutdown of a natural gas pipeline serving several of Bolivia’s largest cities to demand that President Evo Morales broaden his petroleum nationalization and expand state energy company operations in southern Bolivia.

Vice President Alvaro Garcia confirmed that protesters on Friday had taken control of a pumping plant outside the city of Camiri, 320 miles southeast of the capital of La Paz, forcing employees of pipeline operator Transredes to shut off the flow of gas.


The pipeline serves La Paz and the eastern city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s two largest cities, but the shutdown had not affected supplies in either city, Garcia said.

Garcia said the protests have “no justification, because the pipelines are the veins of our country.”

Officials at Transredes, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, declined to comment except to say they were monitoring the situation.

AP