Violence in Sucre

SUCRE, BOLIVIA -- Violence broke out Saturday afternoon in the country´s official capital. Protesters armed with rocks, old tires and dynamite caused quite a scene in this city, which long ago ceded much of Bolivia´s government to the bigger La Paz. Police responded with force, with at least four people wounded in fights with authorities. Melees near the soccer stadium made up an entire edition of the Saturday evening news. But Sucre has a past of this sort of thing, given it is the site of South America´s first push for independence from the Spanish 199 years ago today. Things settled down today, and we were on hand for a peaceful parade through the streets, similar to our Fourth of July celebrations. Every church bell in the city tolled before the event at 10 a.m. to memorialize when they first rang in 1809. Given their independent past, Sucre citizens don´t like to be told what to do. One Sucre gentleman in the crowd screamed¨Viva Sucre, down with Morales.¨ That would be Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia who just a day or two before had been in Cuba meeting with other leftist leaders. Morales, who had been openly mocked at the podium at last year´s celebration, canceled his planned visit because of the violence. Meghan and I missed most of the explosions because we were on a field trip into a crater deep in the mountains and the little village of Maragua. These little mountain towns separated by hills are the best places to connect to this country´s past. Sadly, the old hamlets like Maragua are dying off as the young children head to the mines of Potosi or domestic jobs in Argentina to make money. Only the town´s elderly and abandoned clay-brick houses remain.