Bolivian officials, striking police plan new talks over pay

Bolivian officials and police officers demanding better pay planned a new round of talks Saturday after failing to reach agreement amid a nationwide mutiny. Meetings led by Interior Minister Carlos Romero with the striking officers and their wives stalled early Saturday, nearly seven hours after they began, with no agreement in sight. "We have made every effort we can as a government with realistic proposals," said Romero, who opened the talks. The junior officers, who have taken over more than two dozen police stations and command centers throughout the country, want their lowest pay raised to 2,000 bolivianos ($287) from a current average of $195 a month. Demands also include full pay upon retirement, a police ombudsman, and overturning a law that bans them from publicly expressing their opinions. Demonstrators also want the resignation of the national police chief, Colonel Victor Maldonado. "We are not demanding crumbs, we are demanding solutions, comprehensive solutions," said the junior officers' leader Edgar Ramos. Ramos noted that both sides would attempt to resume negotiations later Saturday because of "the desire we all have to find solutions once and for all." "We were disappointed by the government because they only want to raise salaries by 200 bolivianos ($28)," said the leader of the wives, Guadalupe Cardenas, in a press conference after completing the first round of talks. "They added a safety bonus of 400 bolivianos ($56) to make it appear as a wage increase." The mutiny, which began Thursday when protesters took over the headquarters of the country's riot police just steps from the presidential palace and eight other police stations, has spread across the nation. A crowd of some 300 striking police in civilian clothes and with their faces covered attacked the National Intelligence Directorate on Friday, smashing windows and pulling out furniture, documents and computers, and even setting flags ablaze. "Mutiny, police mutiny!" chanted the protesters as they ransacked the office. Some 300 protesters later hurled rocks and shattered windows at national police headquarters. Police on duty outside the building offered no resistance. Police units usually guarding the presidential palace were noticeably absent, though heavily armed soldiers protected the building. There was little police surveillance in the streets of La Paz and other major cities. The private bank association said all bank branches had closed because they lacked protection from either police or the military. Protesters had asked to negotiate directly with President Evo Morales, who spent the day Friday in the presidential palace after returning home from the UN's Rio+20 conference on sustainable development in Brazil.