Chavez Influence Dominates Vote in Bolivia

Al-Guardian ^ | June 29, 2006 | FRANK BAJAK and FIONA SMITH

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CURAHUARA DE CARANGAS, Bolivia (AP) - ...

Being Aymara Indians like Evo Morales, South America's first truly indigenous leader, they might be expected to line up squarely behind him. Yet they, like many Bolivians, have their doubts, fearing they are being led into a dangerous alliance with Cuba and Venezuela. They worry about Morales' effort to make his ``people's revolution'' permanent, beginning with elections Sunday for a national assembly to rewrite Bolivia's constitution.

Jaime Perez, a powerful Aymara leader, takes issue with Morales' alignment with ``the socialist politics of Cuba'' and with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who strengthened his own hold on power six years ago by convening a similar assembly.

Perez calls Morales ``our son'' but then adds: ``Just because he is our son doesn't mean we want things this way. Are we so ignorant, such dogs, that we need to be told what to do?''

The constituent assembly's 255 delegates, who will convene Aug. 6, must write the new magna carta within a year, approve it by a two-thirds majority and put it to a referendum. The new constitution could bring more transparency to this corruption-ridden, politically volatile nation.

But big questions loom: Whether Morales' supporters will try to abolish the ban on presidents serving consecutive terms; whether to give Bolivia's nine states greater autonomy or keep the balance of power in the central government's favor, and whether to strengthen the traditional justice system of the Indian majority, long the victims of discrimination.

The Morales government also wants to distribute more farmland to landless peasants. And with Morales turning his back on Washington, his critics claim the constitution will be crafted to dismantle Bolivian democracy...

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Raul Prada, a candidate for the assembly from Morales' Movement Towards Socialism, or MAS, rejects such notions. ``We want to rid the nation's institutions of vestiges of colonialism and capitalism and give society greater and more direct control over the state,``he said.

Another episode of the thug who is rapidly stealing the work of the entrepreneurs who came before.