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Bolivians set to vote on assembly to "refound" their country
By Coco Cuba
AFP
LA PAZ
Petroleumworld.com 07 02 06
President Evo Morales is hoping for a big victory for his supporters as Bolivians prepare to elect a special assembly to re-write the constitution and "refound" the largely indigenous country.
Some 3.7 million people in South America's poorest nation that are eligible to cast ballots will also vote in a referendum on granting greater regional autonomy, which Morales opposes.
Morales opponents fear he will use the new constitution to strengthen his grip on power just like fellow leftist Hugo Morales did in Venezuela.
Elected in a landslide in January on a vow to bring in reforms that benefit workers and the Indian majority, Morales sees the constitutional reform as part of a radical social overhaul that would "refound" Bolivia.
"By winning a majority in the (constitutional) assembly, we'll be in a position to offer jobs, dignity, hard work and a rebuilding of the natural resources for the people," Vice President Alvaro Garcia told a rally late Thursday as the official campaign ended.
"Today we hold the government; on Sunday we'll give power to workers, neighbors, farmhands and indigenous people," he told 30,000 Morales supporters gathered in a La Paz square.
The right-wing opposition, led by former president Jorge Quiroga, painted a dire picture of what a Morales-inspired constitution would do.
Quiroga warned some 200 followers in a recent rally at an upscale shopping mall that in the vote for a 255-seat constitutional assembly, "what is most dear to us is at stake: our freedom."
He has also warned of Morales' close ties with Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro. "They're going to take your home away," Quiroga has warned.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, nationalized his country's gas and oil sectors on May 1, fulfilling a campaign promise to the people of the poorest country in South America.
In his short time in office Morales also negotiated new and favorable gas export contracts with Argentina and Brazil, and devised plans to spread literacy to more than a million illiterates across the country over a two-year period.
Analysts believe Morales will win a majority in the constitutional assembly, but may lose the referendum ballot.
The autonomy measure has strong support in the wealthy eastern province of Santa Cruz. Regional leaders complain that their taxes are subsidizing the impoverished Quechua and Aymara majorities in the Andean highlands.
Morales has branded autonomy seekers as "oligarchs," "parasites," "slime" and "traitors" -- this last epithet reserved particularly for Quiroga.
He accuses them of trying to protect their interests and exploit Bolivia's natural resources without paying their dues to the central government.
The Morales camp warns that agreeing regional autonomy could split Bolivia between rich and poor, whites and indigenous people, lowlands and highlands. It maintains that the only way to achieve well-balanced development is by sharing the country's wealth.
Morales and his supporters are especially worried that the breakaway zeal has spread to other departments in the northern and eastern Amazon regions, Beni, Pando and Tarija, which hold 87 percent of the country's natural gas reserves.
AFP 02 1134 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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