Cochabamba constitution clash
e2701 ## 11 de Enero Clashes (34) Right-wing civic movements calling for departmental autonomy and left-grassroots movements repudiating them and backing the ongoing Constituent Assembly engaged in a pattern of competitive mobilization from mid-December 2006 to mid-January 2007 in the Cochabamba city center, culminating in deadly physical confrontations on January 11–12, 2007 (Alem Rojo and Rocha Monroy 2008; Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos de Cochabamba 2008; Hernández 2012). This began on December 14, when Prefect Manfred Reyes Villa convened and addressed a rally/cabildo on the Prado that called for departmental autonomy, refused to recognized the constitution then being drafted in Sucre, and— alongside four other cabildos held in eastern departments the next day—endorsed the formation of a “Junta Autonómica Democrática de Bolivia” (Los Tiempos 2007a). Perhaps inadvertently, Reyes Villa’s speech called for independence rather than autonomy of the departments. In response, urban and rural protesters from the left called for Reyes Villa’s resignation and rallied in support of the Constituent Assembly and the MAS-led government. They held protests in the Plaza 14 de Septiembre, with larger gatherings on December 19 and January 4, and then began a sustained pressure campaign including plaza protests and highway blockades. Then on January 10, campesino and cocalero movements occupied the Plaza de las Banderas, peacefully occupying a traditionally elite space. While the city’s Civic Committee called off a cabildo scheduled for the same location, their supporters marched with weapons in adjoining neighborhoods and threatened left protesters who did not leave the city. On January 11, right-wing protesters gathered north of the Rocha River while the left continued its occupation of the Plaza de las Banderas. At 3:30pm, police between them stood down and a melee began. Juan Ticacolque Machaca, a 48-year-old coca farmer, was shot dead on the plaza in the first half-hour (Opinión Bolivia 2007a, 2007b; Los Tiempos 2011); he was one of seven people who hit by live firearms. Just meters away, campesino Luciano Colque Anagua, 41, was beaten until his skull fractured; he never recovered and died in a hospital on February 25 (Los Tiempos 2007b). Around 5pm, Christian Daniel Urresti Ferrel, a seventeen-year-old youth on the civic movement side, was beaten to death in a street brawl with campesinos . Hundreds were wounded on both sides. In the wake of the deaths, urban left grassroots protesters intensified protests calling for Reyes Villa’s resignation, but the rural protesters heeded national government calls to demobilize. Reyes Villa was eventually recalled by referendum in mid-2008.