Workers and Indigenous communities have spent weeks railing against Bolivia's worst economic crisis in decades, erecting roadblocks that paralyzed the country and calling for US-backed President Rodrigo Paz to step down.Attempting to quell the movement, Paz last Saturday declared a state of emergency that authorizes him to outlaw protests, deploy the army and remove roadblocks that choked supplies to several cities.But coca growers in the central Chapare region show no sign of backing down.
Bolivia's impoverished Chapare region is former socialist president Evo Morales's political stronghold © MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
Supporters of ex-leader Morales -- whom Paz blames for fomenting the recent unrest -- line Chapare's winding roads, ready to reinstate protest blockades at a moment's notice.These coca growers wave signs calling for Paz to resign and are cheered on by other locals."The struggle continues until this damn government is gone," 39-year-old Rosalia Vilca told AFP as she sold Bolivia's traditional "salchipapa" dish in Shinahota town's main square."We'll rise up here to protect Evito because with him we've lived 14 years of happiness," Vilca said, adding that Paz should come to Chapare "if he's man enough."No surrender
