LA PAZ, BOLIVIA ( APRIL 1982) FILE (REUTERS - DANIEL BAUER )


GV Riot police arrive in trucks ZOOM IN to demonstration. 0.07
GV Water cannon arriving and dispersing teachers demonstration. 0.31
SV Security forces in riot gear advance towards demonstrators. 0.38
SV Security man firing rear gas into crowds and into building and demonstrators running. (3 SHOTS) 1.03

Background: Bolivia's desperate economic situation, with rampant inflation, a devalued currency and spiralling import prices, has led the military leadership to the country to announce political reforms. Political parties and trade unions, outlawed since the military take-over of 1980, have now been made legal once more and plans are being made for the holding of general elections. The reforms are seen as an attempt to rally public opinion behind the government in the fate of mounting dissatisfaction, which led to street clashes between security forces and groups demanding wage increases. Earlier in the year, the Bolivian peso was devalued, the price of imported foodstuffs shot up by as much as 500 per cent, and petrol and electricity prices rose by over 40 per cent. But an emergency package of economic reforms has done little to stabilise the economy of Bolivia, saddled with an external international debt of 3,800 million dollars and virtually no reserves.