Bolivia reaches pay deal with striking police

Bolivian President Evo Morales's government announced Wednesday that it reached a pay deal with striking police, ending a week of nationwide protests, as life began returning to normal across the country. Towns and cities across Bolivia for the first time in several days had uniformed patrols on the street, as rank and file police officers went back to work, officials said. "With this agreement (to raise their salaries) the police will be resuming their duties," Interior Minister Carlos Romero told reporters. A representative for the police, Esther Corzon, confirmed that pending "approval of our comrades in the nine departments (states) we have signed the agreement" and said some uniformed officers already were back on patrol. "I want to underscore that (police) service throughout the country will be restored gradually, but already is beginning to return to normal," she told reporters.  The deal gives police a monthly pay raise of 100 bolivianos -- roughly $15 US, which raises the base pay for a police officer to 1,945 bolivianos, or $279 US. Officials said the salary increase is retroactive to January. The deal also agrees to look at reforms to the disciplinary system for police accused of wrongdoing, and to review a proposal that would allow police to retire with 100 percent of their pay. Little by little, traffic police began reappearing at intersections, and at establishments like banks that put a premium on security, after curtailing their hours during the strike. In downtown La Paz -- home to the most militant striking protesters -- police were seen refilling air in their patrol cars' tires, which had been flattened to ensure they couldn't cross the picket lines.  As authorities appeared to have resolved one protest, however, they faced another in the form of a mass march by 1,000 natives who entered La Paz to protest a planned highway through the Amazon rainforest. The arrival of the indigenous people came at the end of a 600 kilometer (370 mile) trek from their ancestral lands.  "We are arriving in La Paz with a just demand," said indigenous leader Adolfo Chavez, who had delayed the arrival in the capital for a day while authorities dealt with the police strike. The natives' numbers were swelled by the university students and professors who accompanied the marchers. Bolivia's deputy minister responsible for matters related to the police, Jorge Perez, said the hard fought deal was the result of "arduous negotiations" but was "for the good of the police and the country," and would allow "a return to peace" and public order. But Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linares renewed the government's charge that the country had been placed in great peril as a result of the labor action. The strikers had "legitimate demands," but the movement was in danger of being hijacked by right wing enemies of the government intent on overthrowing Morales, he said. At the height of the unrest, hundreds of uniformed police demonstrated outside the gates of the heavily-guarded presidential palace, while dueling protests saw public workers aligned with Morales gathered at a square on the outskirts of La Paz.  Morales' leftist government has been swamped by successive bouts of unrest involving miners, doctors, indigenous people and other groups frustrated with their low standard of living.