ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: Some one thousand handicapped Bolivians marched into La Paz on Thursday (February 23) demanding a higher monthly stipend from the government.<br/> <br />The protesters, many of them in wheelchairs and on crutches, began their march November 15 in the eastern city of Trinidad and have covered some 1,087 miles.<br/> <br />The marchers, the majority of whom receive 1000 bolivianos ($145) a month, are demanding the same 4800 bolivianos ($695) monthly stipend the government gives to the blind.<br/> <br />The protesters also claim that President Evo Morales has failed to comply with a 2006 law that diverted funds from political parties and citizen organizations to the disabled.<br/> <br />The law reportedly rerouted some six million dollars annually to the disabled but the money never made it to them.
