Eight killed in Bolivia clashes, U.S. tensions rise

By Eduardo Garcia

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed as violent anti-government protests flared in Bolivia on Thursday, creating havoc in the natural gas industry and raising tensions with the United States.

Washington ordered out the Bolivian ambassador in response to Bolivia's move a day earlier to oust the U.S. envoy whom President Evo Morales blamed for the escalating violence.

Opposition activists shot dead seven peasant farmers in the remote Amazon region of Pando, a government official said, describing the incident as a massacre. An employee of the opposition-led regional government was also killed.

"We're talking about a real massacre and the person responsible is the Pando governor," said Deputy Minister of Social Movements Sacha Llorenti.

Morales' leftist government blames the unrest on rightist governors who control four of the impoverished country's nine regions.

The opposition demands greater autonomy and energy revenue and opposes plans by Morales, a former coca farmer and Bolivia's first indigenous president, to rewrite the constitution and distribute land to the poor.

Clashes also erupted in Tarija, a region rich in natural gas, and anti-Morales demonstrators occupied public buildings in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, an opposition stronghold, for a third day.

American Airlines canceled flights to Santa Cruz, and Bolivia's Erbol radio said gunfire wounded five people after a militia-style anti-Morales youth group stormed a market in a pro-Morales neighborhood in that city.

RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE

Troops were withdrawn from downtown Santa Cruz after several soldiers were beaten up in front of TV cameras earlier this week. The government response has been restrained.

However, Bolivia's ambassador to Brazil, Rene Dorfler, said on Thursday the government was considering imposing martial law.

"We've been asked for patience, prudence, and we're going to hang in there. But patience also has a limit," Morales said in a speech in La Paz, adding that large landholders who oppose his land reforms were financing the opposition.

In Washington, spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement that the State Department had "officially informed the government of Bolivia of our decision to declare Ambassador Gustavo Guzman persona non grata."

Morales on Wednesday ordered U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg to leave the country. Goldberg was still in Bolivia on Thursday, but a spokesman in Washington said he was expected to leave soon.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who leads a bloc of left-wing presidents in Latin America, vowed to come to the Bolivian president's aid if there was a coup.