appear tranquil, but it amounts to only a temporary truce and both sides know it.
The government is trying to win public opinion. It is turning to the church, holding masses against "Communism" attended by the whole cabinet. To assure the support of the church, bombs have been placed in buildings used by Accidén Catélica, These were attributed to "Communists" but constitute provocations. :
The government put out an atrocity story, claiming that in the districts of Munaypata and Villa Victoria five soldiers and an army officer were taken prisoner and shot by the armed workers militia. They said that the execution was ordered by "Communist" leaders, naming Guillermo Lora [a well-known political figure of Trotskyist background], Hugo Gonzdlez M. [of the POR] and Maximo Nogales lof the PCB]. A hunt was opened to bring them into a military tribunal. Lorats home was raided and his library seized.
The three were threatened, if captured, with being executed in the main plaza as a warning to all "Communists." ,
More than 200 workers and labor figures have been imprisoned. Deaths are above 300 and the figure for the wounded is much higher.
A virtual censorship has been established over the press and radio,
The views of the military junta can be judged from the following. After the revolution of 1952, two murals were painted in the Palacio de Gobierno representing the basic conquests of the revolution (nationalization of the mines, the agrarian reform, etc.). Another one was painted in the Palacio Legislativo representing Boliviats future. These murals were the work of Alandia Pantoja, a
-B ® . 4
former Trotskyist, who belonged to the school of Diego Rivera. The military junta ordered the destruction of these murals,
A hunt has been opened for books and pamphlets deemed to be "Communist,.'
People have been arrested for having pictures of Fidel Castro in their homes.
The “anti-Comnunist"™ hysteria among the generals has not exempted even the Christian Democrats from attack. Barrientos has already attacked Remo Di Natali, head of the Partido Demécrata Cristiano, because he has an Italian name,
After the truce signed. between Ovando and the University people plus the COB, a shift occurred in the military junta. Ovanda was elevated to the position of "co-president" with the same rank as Barrientos. Thus Bolivia has two presidents with co=-rule. In this artificial way they are trying to adjust the internal crisis that arose in the army itself,