Yesterday I wrote about the troops being sent in at Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, today it seems that local protestors stormed the airport and retook control.
You would think that this would cause all sorts of problems for the airlines – apparently not. One plane was delayed but otherwise everything seems to be going normally again.
The reports don’t mention whether the local authorities are demanding cash payments again.
I’m sure that if this sort of thing had happened anywhere else (Europe, USA, …) then the airport would have been closed down for days to investigate, check security, make repairs or even out of protest. Airlines may have avoided it.
But in Bolivia things can get back to normal just as quick as they became unstable. The airlines keep on flying and it looks as if it’s business as usual. Perhaps the protestors realise that having the airport open is better than having no airport at all. After all, international flights only land at Santa Cruz or La Paz – and it’s La Paz that they are demonstrating against!
Links to other sites
Protesters storm Bolivia airport (BBC News)
Locals retake Bolivia airport from army (Yahoo!)
Manifestantes retoman aeropuerto boliviano; retorna la calma (El Paso Times)
Cruceños desbaratan intervención a AASANA y se abre investigación (Correro del Sur)
