Crisis in Bolivia as provinces threaten to break away

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 12/16/07 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AFP) - Huge crowds seeking autonomy for eastern Bolivia rallied Saturday against leftist President Evo Morales, as tens of thousands marched to support him in the capital, La Paz.

The governors in the eastern lowland and energy-rich states of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando all declared greater self-rule at celebratory rallies Saturday, a move strongly opposed by Morales, who ordered extra police deployed to the region.

The four rebel provinces -- out of the nine that make up Bolivia -- account for around two-thirds of the total gross domestic product and are home to a more than a third of the country's population.

Morales warned that the moves towards autonomy were illegal, and that the army would guarantee Bolivia's territorial integrity.

In Santa Cruz, a bastion of anti-Morales opposition, the streets of the provincial capital were flooded with marchers waving green and white flags, the regional colors.

"This is the best for Santa Cruz," said Carlos Vargas, a taxi driver, as he followed a speech by local authorities on autonomy.

University student Cesar Gonzalez blamed Bolivia's ills on Morales, who he said "is guilty of splitting the country."

Morales, the country's first indigenous president, is fueling the racial divide between the darker-skinned mostly indigenous Andean residents, known as 'collas,' and the lowland residents, known as 'cambas,' Gonzalez said.

The Santa Cruz event was more of a massive street party celebrating autonomy than a rally, with live music and dancing. Many hit the streets proudly wearing large straw hats typical of the region.

Similar events were held in the capitals of the other rebel provinces.

Meanwhile in La Paz, in the president's Andean stronghold, members of the Constituent Assembly delivered a draft of the new constitution to Morales at a public ceremony.

"This is the moment in which all of us Bolivians are going to feel integrated into the new state!" Morales told an ecstatic crowd overflowing the main La Paz plaza.

Morales also blasted the actions of the eastern regional leaders.

"With the pretext of autonomy they want to split the country, but we are not going to permit any division of Bolivia," he told the cheering crowd.

Morales earlier said that "the armed forces, and the Bolivian people, are here to make sure that the country never disintegrates."

The pro-Morales majority in the assembly approved the new constitution last weekend over a boycott of opposition legislators, and after moving the meeting to the Andean city of Oruro, another Morales stronghold, to avoid street protests.

The new constitution is recognized by neither the regional governments nor the right-wing opposition to Morales' leftist government.

The dueling Saturday celebratory rallies highlight the divide between supporters and opponents of Morales who promised to better distribute the country's wealth to benefit the people of the highlands, where most of Bolivia's 8.5 million residents live.

Most of Santa Cruz's 1.5 million inhabitants are mixed-race descendants of Spanish colonists, in contrast to the indigenous population that forms the majority in the poorer mountain regions.

Outside Santa Cruz city hundreds of farmers loyal to Morales blocked main land routes with heavy stones to protest the autonomy plans.

In the festive environment locals largely ignored an explosive hurled at the Santa Cruz courthouse, which news reports said shattered windows and damaged some furniture, but with no injuries.

Morales earlier met European diplomats about possibly mediating the escalating crisis.

[NormsRevenge]

Opposition leader and Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas (R) talks with fellow opposition leader Branko Marinkovik during a public town council in Santa Cruz, December 15, 2007. Four Bolivian provinces forged ahead with plans for regional autonomy on Saturday in a challenge to President Evo Morales that has raised fears of political turmoil in South America's poorest country. Led by the economic hub of Santa Cruz, the provinces bitterly oppose the new constitution and are making separate declarations of autonomy. REUTERS/Andres Stapff (BOLIVIA)

[NormsRevenge]

Here's to FRee peoples in Bolivia determining their own future and not a bunch of leftist scumbags and thugs masquerading as politicos.

Bolivian president Evo Morales holds up the new constitution in La Paz. Huge crowds seeking autonomy for eastern Bolivia rallied Saturday against leftist Morales, as tens of thousands marched to support him in the capital, La Paz. (AFP)

[silentreignofheroes]

And not one mention of freeing the slaves..That will come later,,

[Gay State Conservative]

What’s Spanish for “Tienanmen Square”?

[PAR35]

Based on the last 7 years, you can count on Washington to do the wrong thing when it comes to South America.

[Styria]

Could someone explain the left-right situation in Bolivia to me? All I really know about the country is that it used to have a coastline until Peru, Chile, and one other country beat them up.

[NormsRevenge]

Think of Evo as a Hugo Lite,, trying to impose his own regime on the country, many of whom do not support him or his agenda.

[NormsRevenge]

or..

this says it too.. redistribution of wealth ,, where have we heard and seen that before?

—

The new constitution is recognized by neither the regional governments nor the right-wing opposition to Morales’ leftist government.

The dueling Saturday celebratory rallies highlight the divide between supporters and opponents of Morales who promised to better distribute the country’s wealth to benefit the people of the highlands, where most of Bolivia’s 8.5 million residents live.

[bruinbirdman]

From VOA:

The provinces object to President Evo Morales's moves to overhaul the constitution to boost presidential powers and increase the rights of Bolivia's indigenous majority. Indigenous Bolivians live mainly in the more impoverished western highlands and form the core of Mr. Morales's support.

"Mr. Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, wants to break up the large landholdings of the eastern farmers, many of whom are of European descent, and redistribute the property among indigenous groups.

He also wants to redistribute the nation's oil and gas wealth, which is centered in the east.

The four provinces are seeking to keep much of the tax revenues they generate. They say they do not want independence, but to retain control of their wealth.

Leaders in the region object to a Morales-backed constitution, approved Sunday in a vote boycotted by opposition lawmakers. The constitution would be put to a referendum next year.

The United States has urged Americans to defer travel to Bolivia."

[Brad from Tennessee]

Allen Dulles would have known how to exploit this situation.

[elpadre]

“Based on the last 7 years, you can count on Washington to do the wrong thing when it comes to South America.”

why limit to seven years?? - I traveled there some in the 70’s (not as a tourist) and we were even then trying to buy friendship with dollars - many dollars - with no accountability. Congress refused to provide funds for fraud investigators (there was one in Panama defunded after two years - one for all Central and South America) and ordered no strings to be attached to the big bucks.

Castro was popular with the people, Americans with the elite.

[farlander]

Yep very much a similar thing to Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. Tho it sure looks like the lowlanders are numerous enough not to be easily bullied.

[fieldmarshaldj]

[ken21]

ex-mediterranean colonies haven’t performed well.

si.

[Juan Medén]

La Plaza de Tiennanmen :-)

[Brad from Tennessee]

Thanks.

[timer]

Poor dems trying to tax-rape rich republicans, where have we heard this before? Wasn’t it slovenia that told downstream moochers to get lost, and thus the breakup of yugoslavia?

[JSDude1]

I support the rebels, viva la revolucion!!

[backtothestreets]

Where could this possibly be headed?

From the CIA World Factbook:

“Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups.”

Another part of the report: “world’s third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and Peru) with an estimated 26,500 hectares under cultivation in August 2005, an 8% increase from 2004; transit country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe; cultivation steadily increasing despite eradication and alternative crop programs; money-laundering activity related to narcotics trade, especially along the borders with Brazil and Paraguay; major cocaine consumption”

Those areas are the ones seeking autonomy. Don’t know that they are, but if drug cartels have a hand in the the fight for autonomy, the USA should not take a side. There are no winners if it comes down to drug cartels versus a communist leaning central government.

Let the coups and countercoups begin!