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Evo Morales, the first Indian president of Bolivia, is forcing a showdown with the oligarchy and the right wing political parties that have stymied efforts to draft a new constitution to transform the nation. He declares, "Dead or alive I will have a new constitution for the country by December 14," the mandated date for the specially elected Constituent Assembly to present the constitution.

Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linares states, "Either we now consolidate the new state…with the new dominant forces behind us, or we will move backwards and the old forces will again predominate." A leading trade union leader, Edgar Patana, put it bluntly: "The final battle has begun, and the people are prepared for it."

For over a year the oligarchy centered in the eastern city of Santa Cruz has conspired to frustrate the efforts of the Constituent Assembly in which the governing party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), and its allies hold 60 percent of the seats. First the right wing parties in the Assembly, led by Podemos, insisted that a two-thirds vote was needed even for committees to approve the different sections of the new constitution.

When the opposition was overruled on this point, the oligarchy then won allies in the city of Sucre, where the Constituent Assembly is being held, by asserting that the executive and congressional branches of government should be moved from La Paz to Sucre, which used to be the center of government until the late nineteenth century. This was also a racial strategy as La Paz and its sister city El Alto are at the heart of the country's majority Indian population that support Morales and mobilized in 2003 to topple an oligarchic president in La Paz who murdered Indian demonstrators in the streets.

In Sucre in recent months right wing militants have menaced and assaulted delegates of MAS, including Silvia Lazarte, the Assembly's indigenous women president. The Assembly has been effectively prevented from functioning since August 15.

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ETA: So it does.

[ 02 December 2007: Message edited by: jester ]

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Originally posted by jester:
Your link doesn't work,Spector.

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ORURO, Bolivia, Dec 9 (Reuters) - An assembly boycotted by the rightist opposition to Bolivian President Evo Morales approved most of a controversial new constitution he supports during an all-night session guarded by miners and peasant farmers.

The assembly dominated by delegates from Morales' Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, approved changes that would allow two consecutive five-year terms for presidents, greater state control of the economy, and more autonomy for provinces and indigenous communities.

"We're coming to a happy ending, we're managing to approve the new constitution the Bolivian people are asking for," said Roman Loayza, head of the MAS delegates in the assembly after 13 hours of voting in a university auditorium in Oruro, 140 miles (230 km) south of La Paz. More than 400 changes were approved.

But several steps are necessary before the constitution can be enacted. First, a nationwide referendum is needed on one remaining article. Then, the assembly will vote on the entire text. Finally, another nationwide referendum is required on the full constitution.

The assembly was moved to Oruro after three people were killed two weeks ago in violent protests against the process in Sucre, where it had been meeting for months.

As the assembly voted on Saturday night and Sunday morning miners and peasant farmers loyal to Morales guarded the university auditorium where the session was being held, exploding small dynamite charges occasionally to intimidate any potential anti-assembly protesters.

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The main provisions of the new constitutional text include:

* Bolivia as a unitary but plurinational state. This provision is designed to reaffirm the significance of ethnicity in the country's make-up. In practice, however, it does not involve any major change; the previous constitution also acknowledged Bolivia to be "multi-ethnic" and "plurinational"

* State ownership of natural resources. This is designed to underpin government policies to reaffirm state control over sectors like oil and gas, privatised by previous governments. It would also affect the mining industry, which the government wants to bring under tighter state control

* Constitutional approval. Once it has been approved by referendum, the constitution will only need to be ratified by two-thirds of those present, not two thirds of the elected members

* Changing the composition of congress. The numbers in the chamber of deputies will be reduced, while the number of senators will be increased. All deputies are to be elected on a system of uninominal constituencies, replacing the previous mixed system. A proposal to scrap the senate (where the opposition has a majority) was abandoned at the last moment

* A mixed economy. This is designed to reassure business interests. Ownership in the economy will be public, private and communitarian. A referendum would be held prior to the constitutional referendum on whether private land of up to 10,000 hectares will be allowed. The 1953 agrarian reform, which limited landholding in the highlands, was never applied in the lowland departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando

* Local autonomies. The constitution will bring in a system of territorial autonomies that involve a degree of decentralisation. These will include not only departmental autonomies (one of the principal demands of the opposition) but also municipal, regional and indigenous autonomies. These would act as a check on the powers of departmental governments, of which six out of nine are opposition-controlled

* Presidential re-election. Elections would be held for public office, including the presidency, once the new constitution is finally approved. The existing bar on immediate re-election for president and vice-president would be removed. Evo Morales's present term would not be included, and he would therefore be able to stand for office for two more successive terms (i.e. ten years). The new constitution would introduce a second round in presidential voting where no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, ending a system by which the newly elected congress chooses the president in such circumstances

* Recall of electoral mandates. The new constitution would provide mechanisms by which all elected officials (from the president downwards) could have their terms revoked in certain circumstances. This would include departmental prefects. These, elected only since 2005, have become a strategic bastion for the opposition

* Reorganisation of the judiciary. The indigenous systems of justice would be given the same standing in the official hierarchy as the existing system. The constitutional tribunal would have parity representation between indigenous and non-indigenous members. Judges would be elected, not appointed by congress as at present

* The capital compromise. Sucre is to be acknowledged as Bolivia's official capital, but the constitutional text does not mention where the various institutions and powers will be based. The presupposition here is that the executive and legislature will remain in La Paz, while the judiciary continues to be based in Sucre. The electoral authorities are to be upgraded to a fourth power, which will also be located in Sucre.

The government's objectives

In pushing for these changes, the Morales administration has always argued that it was elected on a mandate to "refound" the country's political institutions. It therefore sees its role as bringing about "revolutionary" changes that will radically alter the political system and make such changes permanent. A key long-term objective has been to increase direct democracy and reduce the barriers to participation for Bolivia's indigenous peoples and strengthen their rights.

However, in seeking to implement its agenda and make it permanent, the government is determined to reduce the spaces open to the opposition parties and to re-engineer the political system to its own advantage. An increase in the number of senate seats, for example, is designed to end the opposition majority in the upper house, where the smaller eastern departments are over-represented. The senate has acted as a severe obstacle to the government's legislative agenda.

For their part, the opposition parties claim that the government is bent on establishing a one-party-dominated state that effectively spells an end to pluralism. Opposition leaders, such as former president Jorge Quiroga, have consistently argued that the government in Bolivia is just following in Chávez's footsteps. They accuse the Morales administration of seeking to monopolise power indefinitely and, by entering into the Chávez orbit, drawing the country into a dangerous confrontation with the United States.

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Coca growers from the Chapare region of Cochabamba, miners, the organized indigenous peasantry of the altiplano, and popular neighbourhood associations from various cities and towns of the western highlands and valleys, have converged on Oruro to defend the CA [Constituent Assembly] process.

At the same time as this popular convergence was advancing, right-wing prefects (governors) of Santa Cruz (Rubén Costas), Beni (Ernesto Suárez), Cochabamba (Manfred Reyes Villa) and Tarija (Mario Cossío) traveled together to New York to meet with the executive secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) and officials of the United Nations in an effort to persuade them that the MAS was subverting democracy in Bolivia. Both international organizations have refused at least for now the notion of coming to Bolivia to investigate democracy without an invitation from president Morales himself.

Back in Bolivia Evo Morales illustrated again his acute sense of political timing and occasional bold manoeuvring. He announced that in light of the opposition’s endless calls for “democracy” and “liberty” he would initiate in congress in the very near future legislation for a new recall referendum in which the Bolivian people will be able to decide the immediate fate of the president and all nine departmental prefects.

Morales expects – with good reason – to win, whereas the fate of right-wing prefects Reyes Villa (Cochabamba) and José Luis Paredes (La Paz) is much less secure.

Bolivia has thus come to a new crossroads. The popular left-indigenous forces have mobilized in defence of the CA process, even as many remain critical of the MAS’s commitment to moderate reformism. They recognize that it is necessary to defend this government against imperialism and the hard-right even as they seek to transcend the limited parameters of the government’s agenda, provoking a more decisive confrontation with the logic of capital.

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[ 13 December 2007: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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By the required two-thirds vote, a new Bolivian Constituent Assembly approved a draft constitution on Dec. 9. It passed despite obstacles, including violence, by the right-wing, which tried desperately to derail the process.

As the assembly deputies met in Sucre in late November, fascist thugs attacked the participants and set public buildings on fire. Several people were killed, and the meeting had to be moved to Oruro in the highlands on Dec. 8. Two days later, it was approved.

The draft’s passage is a step forward for the most oppressed of Bolivian society, the people of the 36 Indigenous ethnicities, all peasants and the workers. It would grant greater rights and autonomy to the Indigenous and lay the basis to keep state control of natural resources.

The only article out of 411 not agreed to by the assembly concerns the size limit of landholdings, a sign of the growing class conflict between landless peasants and extremely wealthy landowners, who are behind the secessionist movement.

Before a popular referendum is held on the constitution draft, first the article on the size of landholdings will be placed before the public to approve or reject. If accepted, it would be added to the constitution for a final referendum vote.

Bolivia’s tiny minority of racist oligarchs has lorded over the mostly Indigenous population for decades. But now, it is fully aware that the majority of people back Morales and will likely to approve the constitution. No date has been set for the referendum vote.

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[ 16 December 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons

Dear Prime Minister:

On behalf of the 3.2 million working Canadian men and women affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress, I am writing to encourage you to extend Canada's support for the people and government of Bolivia, in the face of conflict surrounding the new Bolivian constitution. This action would be in line with the governments of nine Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). It would be in line with a statement from the Organization of American States (OAS) and would also be in keeping with Canada's expressed interest in renewing and strengthening relations with our "neighborhood" of the Americas.

President Evo Morales was elected in December 2005, with a clear mandate, as the first Indigenous president of Bolivia representing a large Indigenous majority. President Morales fulfilled his promise to convene a Constituent Assembly, with the mandate to fully integrate the indigenous majorities in the political sphere and improve their situation after centuries of social injustice. The Constituent Assembly was to submit the constitutional text for approval by means of a referendum.

The opposition governors of five of the nine Bolivian departments (Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando) said Monday that they would not recognize the new constitution which is supported by President Evo Morales and had been approved on Sunday. They confirmed that four of them will apply their regional autonomy regardless of the constitution. This is clearly an attempt to destabilize the democratic process in Bolivia and should be rejected.

While the minority opposition has every right to have its voice heard in the constitutional process, their systematic interruption of the Constituent Assembly's sittings, as well as recent violent protests, calls for civil disobedience and ugly racist declarations are impeding the exercise of a democratic process.

The Canadian Labour Congress expresses its solidarity with the democratically elected government and its support for the constitutional reforms demanded by the majority of Bolivians.

We condemn the calls to violence and secession, these which are anti-democratic attempts to destabilize the country and deny the oppressed majority their right to reshape Bolivia on a more equitable basis and in recognition of its First Nations.

We have confidence that President Evo Morales will manage the current situation, with respect for democratic principles, and will ensure that Bolivian political forces maintain a climate of dialogue and understanding, rejecting all attempts that endanger the stability of the country's institutions and the democratically elected government.

Sincerely,
Kenneth V. Georgetti
President

[ 21 December 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

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Since election of Morales in 2005, Bolivia has seen many important changes, some more visible than others. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the government’s assertion of control over the oil and gas industry has brought the country major economic gains. Agrarian reform has received a new impulse, as idle and illegally obtained land is returned to landless farmers.

Other less tangible changes can be seen in the strengthening of the indigenous population’s pride, self-esteem, and leadership in a country where for more than 182 years a racist colonial system consigned them to subhuman status, death, and historical oblivion.

These deep changes aim not only to reduce poverty and improve economic performance, but also to transform the nation and break with its colonial and racist past.

Today, the Bolivian state – not the government – is facing a critical crisis of hegemony. According to Bolivian vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera, the crisis has a double structural dimension. On one hand, the neoliberal model imposed on Bolivia by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Washington in the mid-eighties has failed. On the other hand, he says, the elitist, racist, anti-national and anti-social colonial state has exhausted its resources and stands bankrupt.

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A number of foreign observers fear that the country is on the verge of civil war. Reports cite the presence Colombian nationals, allegedly linked to rightwing paramilitary squads, in the Santa Cruz region. Considering that Bolivia's strategic Venezuelan ally is now in an open battle with Colombia's President Uribe, turmoil in Bolivia could draw in its two neighbors.

How does the US stand on Bolivia? Historically, the US crop war on Bolivia's coca plantations was both a direct and indirect support of the white population. Corruption has made it difficult to evaluate what has been achieved on the ground in terms of sponsoring indigenous agricultural alternatives. The US may also be involved in the increased presence of Colombians, given that through its Plan Colombia and other post-9/11 aid to counter "narcoterrorism" Colombia has become the largest recipient of aid in Latin America, second only to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan worldwide. Morales' campaign pledge to decriminalize growing coca-leaves is being inflated as the injustice against which the US ought to act, thereby finally "reasserting" itself in its "historic role" in the region.

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[ 26 December 2007: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Bolivian adults are divided in their assessment of the country’s proposed body of law, according to a poll by Ipsos Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado. 39 per cent of respondents approve of the new Bolivian Constitution, while 41 per cent disapprove.

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To outsiders, Bolivia's upheaval may seem like merely the latest in a seemingly endless series of conflicts in a tiny nation known for political instability.

The corporate-controlled media in the United States have carefully crafted an image of a relatively ignorant and violent populace running rampant over hopelessly weak institutions. These distorted images persist even though the deep changes proposed by the government have been conducted largely through legal channels and it has been the conservative opposition that has sought to undermine those processes.

The indigenous character of Evo Morales's leadership and popular support plays like a subtle but palpably racist sub-theme in the international press, with the Wall Street Journal taking the lead in Evo-bashing. An Indian president, Morales is persistently portrayed as a pawn of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and his deep ties to traditional coca growers are recast as nefarious drug lord activities. Numerous press reports portray indigenous organizations as mindless mobs intent on dismantling the remains of Bolivia's dubious democratic institutions.

The viciousness of these attacks on the Morales government best reveal the potential global impact of what it's trying to do. Bolivia matters, to everyone seeking more just and stable societies, for two reasons that Vice President Garcia Linera describes as the "two conquests of equality" — political justice and economic justice.

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On September 11, rightist gangs massacred more than 30 unarmed supporters of the government of Evo Morales in the Bolivian state of Pando. The government of Stephen Harper has said not a word about the political terrorism in Bolivia.

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Speaking from within the belly of the beast, Bolivia’s indigenous President Evo Morales announced at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly that the world today is paying witness to a “fight between rich and poor, between socialism and capitalism”.

“There is an uprising against an economic model, a capitalistic system that is the worst enemy of humanity”, Morales said.

With his confidence boosted following the recent rolling back of a right-wing offensive whose objective was a “civil coup” against his government, Morales used his intervention at the UN summit to do what he had done last year: denounce capitalism.

Morales also used the opportunity to refer to recent events in his own country. Following his crushing victory in the August 10 recall referendum — in which close to seven out of 10 voters demonstrated their support for him and the process of change he is leading — the right-wing pro-autonomy opposition based in the east of Bolivia unleashed a desperate wave of violence and terrorism aimed at toppling his government.

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