Manfred vs. Evo Rivalry Turns Violent in Cochabamba

This afternoon in Cochabamba’s central plaza a mass rally calling for the resignation of Governor Manfred Reyes Villa turned into a battle between police and backers of President Evo Morales. For hours the city center was filled with tear gas. The front doors and at least one inside office in the state building were burned by protesters, as were two state vehicles. At least a half dozen people have been treated for serious toxic gasification.

The Second Mass Rally in Les than a Week

The current round of intense conflict was sparked in December when Reyes Villa, a presidential candidate in 2002, jumped into the heated controversy over the constitution-writing Constituent Assembly, joining with leaders from Santa Cruz and other eastern states to call for a 2/3 super majority vote requirement for all matters before the Assembly. MAS backers view that demand as a backdoor attempt to stop the Assembly’s work altogether.

Up until then the governor, elected by a popular vote in December 2005, had stayed out of the current national fray, focusing instead on public works projects and a heavy public relations campaign to promote them. On December 14th Reyes-Villa led a rally of thousands in Cochabamba demanding the 2/3 vote and regional autonomy. MAS backers (correctly) interpreted the Reyes-Villa move as a political challenge to Morales and began mobilizing in opposition to the Cochabamba “Prefecto”.

Last week thousands rallied peacefully in Cochabamba to demand Reyes-Villa’s resignation, claiming that he was seeking to make Cochabamba autonomous from the national government, despite a strong public vote last July against autonomy. That rally was largely led by the regional Centro Obrero Boliviano (COB). Today’s rally, according to a variety of sources, was largely led by Morales close allies in the coca growers unions.

Over the weekend backers of Reyes-Vila ran ads in the local papers calling the demand for resignation anti-democratic.

An Attempt to Enter and a Flood of Gas

According to news sources here and eye witnesses, shortly after midday a group of the protesters tried to enter the Prefectura (Governor’s Office on the Central Plaza) and police responded with a hail of tear gas that sent protesters and uninvolved residents scrambling to escape the fumes. Shooting police followed them and the gases spread through much of the city center.

At some point afterwards angry protesters reacted by burning the front doors of the prefectura and one inside office. Others, presumably protesters, also set fire to the two state vehicles. But for a heavy rain that began falling on the city in the late afternoon, the conflict might have continued for hours more. There is much speculation tonight about what additional reaction, by protesters and authorities, might take place on Tuesday.

Political Fallout

The Morales government responded to events here by firing the local head of the police, with the Government Minister telling reporters that national officials had made it clear to police that they demanded “zero repression” and told them to take whatever measures were needed to avoid conflict like that which consumed the city center this afternoon.

For his part, Ryes-Villa denied categorically that he had issued any repression order to the police (which are under his regional authority) but defended their actions saying that they were attacked and, “had to defend themselves.” In a packed news conference Reyes-Villa also declared, “If people want to remove public officials from office then it should be done democratically. Let’s have a national referendum on the President, the Governors, and the Mayors and let the people decide.” He also said he would seek prosecution on “sedition” charges for the MAS and other leaders involved in calling the marches.

Aside from the human, material, and social toll of the day’s events, all this is also a deadly serious game of political chess, and Manfred is winning. MAS backers (other key social movements are clearly not joining this) will look more and more to the public like a mob instead of political leaders. Reyes-Villa has wrapped himself in the mantle of democracy.

The threatened referendum on public officials is very unlikely to ever take place but if it did today it seems far more likely that Reyes-Villa would be given a new mandate than Evo Morales. The political stalemate engineered by the opposition has helped widen anti-Evo sentiment.

In my opinion the sooner that MAS gets back to talking about what should be in the new constitution the better off it will be. The call for Reyes-Villa’s resignation, also in my opinion, is a political miscalculation. Reyes-Villa is the head of a complex political machine that has invested heavily to gain power. It will never just fold its tent in resignation. The time to keep Reyes-Villa from becoming Governor was a year ago in an election that MAS lost, in part because it ran a very weak candidate.

If Manfred Reyes-Villa wanted to set himself up as the real opposition to Morales he has succeeded. That said, he may soon come to regret this latest foray into national politics as much as he came to regret his last one – standing by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada’s side while he sent out troops to kill citizens in October 2003.

The political road in Bolivia is never an obvious route. Cochabamba’s Governor may soon wish he had stuck to cutting ribbons.