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Two powerful unions and civic groups announced strikes and marches for December 30, 2010, to protest an 83 percent hike on petrol prices that went into effect earlier in that month.
President Evo Morales, faced with widespread complaints after the fuel increase triggered rises in public transport fares and some staples, quickly announced a 20 percent minimum salary increase in hopes to quell the unrest.
"We've already signed a supreme decree to increase the national minimum salary by 20 percent. Salary increases for the police, armed forces, the health and education sector will also be 20 percent in 2011," Morales said in a nationally televised address.
Morales also announced economic improvements and incentives for farmers.
KNOCK-ON EFFECT
Street protests against the price hike were reported in state capitals Oruro and Potosi. In El Alto, a city close to La Paz, irate demonstrators blocked off some main roads.
Franklin Duran, head of the Confederation of Drivers union representing he country's bus drivers, called a nationwide strike against the price hike and in demand of a 100 percent bus fare increase. The government has authorised a 30 percent increase.
Workers in the Andean mining cities of Oruro and Potosi will also strike, and the head of the powerful Bolivian Labor Central union said a nationwide protest could be in the works.
Supporters of La Paz Mayor Luis Revilla, a Morales opponent, are organising a protest march, as are neighborhood groups in other cities.
Morales, in his televised speech, also ruled out a rumoured bank freeze in the country, after thousands of people queued outside private banks around the country to withdraw their funds.
"There will be no bank freeze," Morales said from his office.
SMUGGLED SUBSIDISED FUEL
Vice President Alvaro Garcia decreed the price increases - which also involve a 73 percent hike in diesel prices - by removing subsidies that cost about 380 million dollars per year to keep fuel prices artificially low.
It was the sharpest price increase since 1991, when prices went up 35 percent, and follows six years of stable prices.
The government says the price increase was necessary in part because subsidised fuel was being smuggled across Bolivia's borders to neighbouring countries.
Exempted from the fuel price increase was natural gas for household use and for vehicles.
The government is encouraging city buses to modify their vehicles to run on natural gas. But less than three percent of public transportation vehicles have been converted so far.
President Evo Morales, faced with widespread complaints after the fuel increase triggered rises in public transport fares and some staples, quickly announced a 20 percent minimum salary increase in hopes to quell the unrest.
"We've already signed a supreme decree to increase the national minimum salary by 20 percent. Salary increases for the police, armed forces, the health and education sector will also be 20 percent in 2011," Morales said in a nationally televised address.
Morales also announced economic improvements and incentives for farmers.
KNOCK-ON EFFECT
Street protests against the price hike were reported in state capitals Oruro and Potosi. In El Alto, a city close to La Paz, irate demonstrators blocked off some main roads.
Franklin Duran, head of the Confederation of Drivers union representing he country's bus drivers, called a nationwide strike against the price hike and in demand of a 100 percent bus fare increase. The government has authorised a 30 percent increase.
Workers in the Andean mining cities of Oruro and Potosi will also strike, and the head of the powerful Bolivian Labor Central union said a nationwide protest could be in the works.
Supporters of La Paz Mayor Luis Revilla, a Morales opponent, are organising a protest march, as are neighborhood groups in other cities.
Morales, in his televised speech, also ruled out a rumoured bank freeze in the country, after thousands of people queued outside private banks around the country to withdraw their funds.
"There will be no bank freeze," Morales said from his office.
SMUGGLED SUBSIDISED FUEL
Vice President Alvaro Garcia decreed the price increases - which also involve a 73 percent hike in diesel prices - by removing subsidies that cost about 380 million dollars per year to keep fuel prices artificially low.
It was the sharpest price increase since 1991, when prices went up 35 percent, and follows six years of stable prices.
The government says the price increase was necessary in part because subsidised fuel was being smuggled across Bolivia's borders to neighbouring countries.
Exempted from the fuel price increase was natural gas for household use and for vehicles.
The government is encouraging city buses to modify their vehicles to run on natural gas. But less than three percent of public transportation vehicles have been converted so far.
