Bolivia farmers clash with police over diesel prices

Bolivian police clashed with farmers on Thursday after they blocked a major road in the Amazon region to protest higher diesel prices, the military said.

The unrest took place at a bridge in the northeastern region of Beni, on a highway linking Trinidad with Santa Cruz. Regional military spokesman Luis Ortiz said dozens of police officers, backed by troops, used tear gas to clear a path for trucks, buses and other vehicles waiting to pass.

Farmers and other rural residents had blocked the bridge on Wednesday over the government's decision last week to double diesel prices. President Rodrigo Paz's administration raised the price from 9.80 bolivianos, about 80 US cents, to 18 bolivianos, or US$1.50, a liter.

The government says the increase is meant to curb fuel smuggling to other countries, which it says is worsening shortages in Bolivia. Farmers argue that diesel is essential for food production and has become unaffordable, and they are demanding that the increase be repealed.

The protest was the first since Paz declared a state of emergency two months ago after weeks of anti-government protests. Paz took office in November during what AFP described as Bolivia's worst economic crisis in four decades, marked by fuel and hard-currency shortages, and his government is in talks with international lenders on a multi-billion-dollar bailout.