September 21, 2002  Billowing clouds of tear gas...  It hardly
came as a surprise. After some not very fruitful attempts at on-
site mediation, the National Guard went after the Fuerza
Solidaria protest pretty heavy handedly. At about 5:30 the tear
gas started, and I have to say that I've never seen that much
tear gas used against such an innocuous demonstration. The
Guardsmen, who already outnumbered the demonstrators by at least
2 to 1, fired canister after canister into the little crowd.
There were some reports of rubber bullets being used as well. It
seemed like an absurd overreaction: the demonstrators had been
peaceful throughout. A couple of women just passed out under the
thick cloud of gas. The guard prevented municipal ambulances
from reaching the scene, which again seemed entirely out of
hand. On the other hand, in the first world they might have gone
in with batons swinging and arrested half the crowd. At least
they stopped short of that.  Why?, is the obvious question. The
crowd had its municipal