On 6 August 2001

On 6 August 2001, Banzer resigned from office after being diagnosed with cancer. He died less than a year later. Vice President Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez completed the final year of his term.

In the June 2002 national elections, former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (MNR) placed first with 22.5% of the vote, followed by coca-advocate and native peasant-leader Evo Morales (Movement Toward, MAS) with 20.9%. Morales edged out populist candidate Manfred Reyes Villa of the New Republican Force (NFR) by just 700 votes nationwide, earning a spot in the congressional run-off against Sánchez de Lozada on 4 August 2002.

A July agreement between the MNR and the fourth-place MIR, which had again been led in the election by former President Jaime Paz Zamora, virtually ensured the election of Sánchez de Lozada in the congressional run-off, and on 6 August he was sworn in for the second time. The MNR platform featured three overarching objectives: economic reactivation (and job creation), anti-corruption, and social inclusion.

In 2003 the Bolivian gas conflict broke out. On 12 October 2003 the government imposed martial law in El Alto after sixteen people were shot by the police and several dozen wounded in violent clashes which erupted when a caravan of oil trucks escorted by police and soldiers deploying tanks and heavy-caliber machine guns tried to breach a barricade. On 17 October 2003 Evo Morales' supporters from Cochabamba tried to march into Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the largest city of the eastern lowlands where support was strong for the president. They were turned back. Faced with the option of resigning or more bloodshed, Sanchez de Lozada offered his resignation in a letter to an emergency session of Congress. After his resignation was accepted and his vice president, Carlos Mesa, invested, he left on a commercially scheduled flight for the United States.

In March 2004, the new president Carlos Mesa announced that his government would hold a series of rallies around the country, and at its embassies abroad, demanding that Chile return to Bolivia a stretch of seacoast that the country lost in 1884 after the end of the War of the Pacific. Chile has traditionally refused to negotiate on the issue, but Mesa nonetheless made this policy a central point of his administration.

However, the country's internal situation became unfavorable for such political action on the international stage. After a resurgence of gas protests in 2005, Carlos Mesa attempted to resign in January 2005, but his offer was refused by Congress. On 22 March 2005, after weeks of new street protests from organizations accusing Mesa of bowing to U.S. corporate interests, Mesa again offered his resignat

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Daganatos Gyermekekért Alapítvány

Hazardous Environment Approvals

Air motors are well known for being a "safe" drive choice in potentially explosive environments. They normally do not overheat or “burn out” and do not throw sparks. Many engineers use them in hazardous areas without a second thought. We all know a risk assessment should be done on any piece of equipment going into a workplace; however we see people automatically assuming that all air motors are safe. When certain gases are present, equipment that generates over 90OC surface temperature are not acceptable.

If the work place is likely to have an explosive atmosphere due to dust or gases, the use of ATEX approved air motors will give the risk assessor a higher level of confidence about the motor. The ATEX approval is a European standard for equipment that is used in explosive atmospheres. An approved motor will have a code on it that shows what environment it is suited to (eg mining or industrial), what form of hazardous materials it is safe for (eg gas or dust) as well as the rated surface temperature of the motor.

To use the approval, the motor manufacturer has to supply motors and operating instructions to an independent testing facility. The motors are then tested and rated according to their maximum surface temperature. Information about recommended maintenance intervals and surface temperature testing must also be included in the operating instructions.


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ATEX approved air pneumatic motors hazardous areas