Manfred Reyes Villa, the conservative governor of Cochabamba, is pushing for more autonomy for his province, as have other regional leaders opposed to the leftist president.

Morales called for calm while proposing a law that would allow him to call for a public vote to remove Reyes Villa.

"Be it a mayor, be it a governor, be it the president of the republic, if he violates human rights or is corrupt or he does not honor campaign promises ... it should be possible to revoke any authority's mandate by a referendum," Morales said.

Morales is very popular in Cochabamba, where he rose to prominence leading protests by growers of coca leaves, the raw material for cocaine. The leaves are also revered by Bolivian Indians for medicinal and nutritional properties.

Wielding guns, sticks and machetes, demonstrators opposed to Reyes Villa's autonomy drive fought with the governor's supporters on Thursday. More than 100 people were wounded.

Morales, blaming Reyes Villa for the bloodshed because he supports "separatism in Bolivia," sent police and soldiers to pacify Cochabamba, a central city 275 miles (440 km) east of the capital, La Paz.

Reyes Villa, among six governors from opposition parties seeking more autonomy and a larger share of government revenues, said he would not resign.

The clashes are the latest chapter in a history of political unrest in South America's poorest country and stem from disputes involving the first generation of elected regional governors. Until December 2005, the president appointed the nine governors.

Full story

[ 30 March 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

From the introduction by W. T. Whitney Jr.:

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Since the fall of the Soviet Bloc, new questions as to the nature and evolution of socialism have circulated. The election of Hugo Chavez to Venezuela’s presidency in 1998 has given rise in Latin America to the notion of “socialism of the 21st century.”

A remarkable speech delivered October 29 by Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera suggests not only that socialism does have a future, but that new ideas of working class identity are putting a new face on Latin America’s version of socialism. And Garcia is convinced that “Our America” – that America south of the Rio Grande espoused by Jose Marti - is now the world’s main stage for revolutionary change.

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Until the year 2003, the discussion was about social movements being separate from the state. Or, as the old left would have it, the state had to be under the control of one party separated from the social movements. The 21st century would seem to be setting off on another route, one derived from our experience as Latin Americans, that of permanent tension and ongoing dialectic between the state and social movements, between socialization and concentration. Here the social movements take on the challenge of how to achieve social leadership. Because it’s not enough to be part of the state and make decisions. For those decisions to gain legitimacy you have to depend upon backing from other sectors in society, not solely from social movements, workers, and indigenous people. And in Bolivia the challenge for our indigenous movement is being able to appeal to, attract, and win over the unorganized middle classes, how to attract the professional sectors that aren’t mobilized, indeed how to win over 90% of society. If we can do that, Companera Silvia, success is guaranteed, because not only will there be a government of social movements but there will also be a State of social movements able to articulate and unite the homeland in its entirety, society in its entirety. (Garcia is addressing Silvia Lazarte, President of the Constituent Assembly) ....

It’s clear that socialism, understood as a society of overall well being, where the people recover control of their economic, cultural, and political decision making in a community-based way is not something built up in a year, or ten years, or even 50. Nor is socialism anything defined by decrees. It’s part and parcel of the struggle against neo-liberalism. We revolutionaries have to transform tendencies into practice and deeds, not just on paper. Within our own society we have to strengthen the organizing capacity of indigenous communities. They are besieged, fragmented, and oppressed by colonialism, but internally have the potential for incorporating wealth, production, the use of land, water, skills, and materials into the community. Revolutionaries have the duty to harness the struggle against neo-liberalism with the movement toward a socialism based fundamentally upon the collective and social re-appropriation of our wealth. This movement is embedded in our indigenous communities in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. We need to waken it, propel it, and expand it into a proposition that extends far beyond simple neo-liberalism.

The new workers movement and the indigenous – peasant movement could generate on the continent the potential for real socialism of the 21st century.

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