And Next for Bolivia, Elections Once More!

The price of bread is rising faster than yeast – sixty cents for a morning maraqueta now in Cochabamba. The national government is talking about a multi-million stock buyout of the national telecommunications company (Entel). And the nation is divided after a lopsided vote Sunday in Santa Cruz on the issue of autonomy.

But now Bolivia's political leaders have a new plan – elections once more. If the political promises made in La Paz yesterday are kept, sometime around August Bolivians will go back to the polls nationwide to decide whether to boot the President, Vice-President and nine regional Governors from office.

Welcome to high stakes political poker, Bolivian style.

Putting all the Chips on a Slanted Table

The odd path toward a national recall vote of the country's top eleven elected officials began in the immediate aftermath of the January 2007 political violence that left three men dead in Cochabamba. President Morales, in a political duel with Cochabamba Governor Manfred Reyes Villa, publicly endorsed a national recall vote on he and his Vice President along with the governors.

But when the details of his proposal were announced, they came with a twist. Rather than each of the officials having their political fate sealed by a straight up majority vote, Morales declared that the recall should be based on the vote that each official won office with in December 2005.

Translated into numbers, that means that to be removed from office, the vote against each would have to surpass both the percentage of the vote won in 2005 and the raw vote total (I'll get to the details of what that means in just a bit). Translated into politics, that means that Morales, who won election with almost 54% of the vote, will be much tougher to toss from office than his Governor rivals, none of whom passed 50% in 2005. Not a bad advantage, if you are Evo and Alvaro.

That plan, however, languished in the Bolivian Congress until yesterday, when it shot out of the Senate on a move spearheaded by the opposition. Then Evo announced to much surprise that he would approve the recall vote legislation and was ready for an election rumble with his adversaries. "I am very content that the law that was sleeping in the Senate has been approved," said Morales. "This completes one of my dreams and the request of the people."

Once approval of the law becomes official, national election authorities will have 90 days to organize the vote.

Reaction from Around the Political Poker Table

The other main players at the recall table, the Governors, were quick to signal their support for the vote, but not without noting their disadvantage. Cochabamba's Governor, Reyes Villa, was in the U.S. and told CNN that he supported the vote even though the rules weren't equal for all the officials. Cochabamba's once-Mayor was elected Governor in 2005 with just more than 47% of the vote. That means that he could win a slim majority in the recall and still be ousted from office.

He compared the vote to making the politicians involved play soccer with two different goals, but then took credit for being the first to propose such a vote a year and a half ago. "How many lives and confrontations would have been avoided if in that moment we had approved the law?" he told CNN's Spanish language affiliate.

The Governor of La Paz, José Luis Paredes, who faces an even steeper uphill climb against the recall vote, also said he would accept the plan but was quick to cite his political disadvantage. Paredes, a former El Alto mayor more popularly known as Pepe Lucho, was elected in 2005 with just 38% of the vote. His constituency also overlaps with Morales' and MAS' strongest base of support in the nation. Evo carried 67% of the vote in the department in 2005.

"It creates a distinction that is unfair," the La Paz governor told reporters. "With just 39% of the vote they can take away my office. I would need to win 64% of the vote to remain Governor. To remove Evo Morales it will take 55% of the vote which is much harder." Paredes added however that he thought the national vote was still "a good way to leave the standoff in which we find ourselves."

Scenarios and Strategies

So, what does all this mean?

First, it launches Bolivia back into election season. That usually means that street conflicts come to and end for a while as the political players go on their best behavior. It is also a great boon for t-shirt printers. Maybe this time around the parties will hand out free bread.

Second, it means that all the players are gambling, big time.

Why is Evo putting his hard-won historic Presidency on the table? Well, there is the 'let's let the people decide," argument echoed by almost all of the threatened politicians. But no one plays this kind of poker without some confidence in his or her hand. My bet is that Evo and his allies see the situation like this. The opposition has battled his government to a near standstill. The autonomy vote in Santa Cruz has galvanized his political base in way it hasn’t been since his election win – witness the massive march in Cochabamba last Sunday. And he has cornered his opponents into playing at a table tipped distinctly to his mathematic advantage.

On top of this, if Evo survives and any of his Governor adversaries, like Reyes Villa, do not, he not only loses some of the political thorns in his side but also gets to appoint, as President, their successors. Evo and friends may see in this vote a 'two-fer', a shot at both a second mandate and a chance to remove some adversaries from the picture. It also sets the autonomy issue aside nicely as well, for now.

On the other side, Evo's adversaries in the Governorships may feel like they know how to handle elections on their home turf and that Evo will have a much harder time at getting 54% than he thinks. His victory in December 2005 relied not only on his natural base among the indigenous, rural voters, and the most impoverished. His historic majority also owed itself to a substantial vote from the country's urban middle class in places like Cochabamba – MAS polled 65% of the vote in the department – and a lot of those votes he is not likely to win again. In addition, while in 2005 the opposition to Morales was divided among several parties on the right competing for the Presidency, this time the 'No Evo' vote will be unified.

And here is yet another scenario to contemplate. Even if he loses the recall vote, Evo will remain President for at least 90 days until follow-up elections are organized to select a new one. This, in theory, means he can still appoint replacements for any of the Governors that lose. In addition, nothing in the recall law or the Constitution, to my knowledge, prohibits Evo from running in the election to fill the Presidency if he loses that recall vote. This means potentially that Evo could run again in the replacement vote and, in an election likely to be filled by many Presidential wannabes, he could easily come in first.

There is certainly a slim chance that someone here is bluffing and some last minute political deal will scuttle the plan. But tonight it doesn't look that way.

All this is great news for Bloggers and journalists and fans of political intrigue, and those t-shirt printers. What remains to be seen is whether it will end up being good news for Bolivians, who this week seem markedly more concerned about the price of bread than politics.

Stay tuned.

Who Got Elected by How Much in 2005

Here are the official numbers, courtesy of Radio Erbol. To recall any of these officials the vote against them would have to surpass both the total vote each won and the percentage of the vote each won in 2005.

Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera (raw vote / %)

1.544.374 / 53,740%


The Governors (raw vote / %)

La Paz: 361.055 / 37.988%
Chuquisaca: 66.999 / 42.306%
Pando: 9.958 / 48.032%
Beni: 46.842 / 44.637%
Santa Cruz: 299.730 / 47.877%
Oruro: 63.630 / 40.954%
Potosí: 79.710 / 40.690%
Tarija 64.098 45.646%
Cochabamba 246.417 47.641%

Democracy Now Interview, and a Comment on Comments

For those interested, I did an interview on Democracy Now yesterday regarding the vote in Santa Cruz on Sunday and what it means more broadly for Bolivia. You can find that interview (both transcribed and broadcast) here. I find the Pacifica news program hosted by Amy Goodman to be a solid source of news and analysis, one that goes much deeper than other media. For readers who aren't acquainted with Democracy Now, I encourage you to take a regular look at it.

A Comment on Comments

Every now and then I find it useful to explain our position towards the 'comments' section of the Blog from Bolivia. Since we have many new readers I think it is worth repeating a few points I have made in the past.

First, we offer the comments section of the Blog as an uncensored space where people of all persuasions are free to cast whatever opinions they like. We believe in free speech and that includes making room for opinions contrary to our own and even to people who think their mission in life is to insult others. All comments are posted automatically; we don't even see them (hence the arrival of some spam comments in the mix). From time to time people have asked us to moderate comments and filter out those that, in their view, are inappropriate. Sorry, we have never done that and we never will. Free speech is free speech, even if we object to what's being said.

Second, we do not respond to comments, despite many eager requests that we jump into debates in the comments section. Personally, I don't think that back and forth rantings by people who choose to remain anonymous is really a space of debate. The Democracy Center prefers to deal in substantiated and researched facts, ones that we are willing to put our names on in public. We have between 2,500 and 3,000 readers a day on the Blog and the comments section is basically dominated by about five or six of them. They are free to enjoy their party, but we decline the invitation to join it, as do about 99% of our readers. Perhaps if the space weren't so filled with insults in place of facts, others might join in.

We thank all those who read the Blog and have made it a success since we began it just over three years ago. I know many of you enjoy the comments section, either as a place of debate or entertainment. It will continue as it is, an uncensored space where people can speak or fume as they like. And on occasion, thanks to the efforts of a few, it is also a space where one can find valuable analysis, be it left, right, or center.

Behind Today’s Autonomy Vote, and Reports from the Street

Readers:

Preliminary returns report that 86% of those who participated in the controversial vote yesterday supported autonomy for the Santa Cruz region. Approximately 40% of Santa Cruz voters chose not to participate at all.

In adition, a 69-year-old man has been reported dead by the Bolivian press, asphyxiated from tear gas used by police on a crowd in Santa Cruz today. Several others are injured. This was the human cost of today’s Santa Cruz autonomy vote.

This extended post primarily features reports from the street, from four major Bolivian cities with a major stake in today’s Santa Cruz vote – Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz and Potosi. You’ll find those below. However, because we will have many readers today who are not so familiar with Bolivian politics, we precede those reports with some analysis. For those readers who just came for the reports from the street, feel free to skip on down.

Jim Shultz

Behind Today’s Autonomy Vote

Today there was a vote here in Bolivia. I call it a “vote” rather than an election because, while thousands of people in Santa Cruz today did go to the polls, the legitimacy of that vote is in real dispute. National election authorities have called it illegal. It is as if Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a vote, without national authorization, to exempt California from the U.S. Constitution – say, in the name of higher fuel efficiency standards. How should we interpret its validity or its democratic-ness? So it is with Santa Cruz.

However, even before Santa Cruz officials deliver their numbers, the result that really matters is clear. Bolivia today is a nation deeply divided.

The core of that division is not about the more concrete topics fueling the Santa Cruz autonomy vote – matters such as land reform, gas revenue distribution, or the export of cooking oil. The division here is over a historic process of political and economic change that many people believe in deeply and that others despise with full force. It is also a process of change represented, but by no means begun or owned, by Evo Morales.

Millions of Bolivians identify deeply with the process of change underway in their country. They believe it is aimed directly at lifting up their difficult lives and they have fought for that change for decades, against dictators and ‘democrats’ alike. Today by the tens of thousands – in Cochabamba, La Paz, El Alto, Potosi and elsewhere – they returned to the streets to remind those watching, and themselves, that they are still willing to fight for a ‘revolution’. Even if that revolution has become muddled for two years in the rocky complexities of governing.

On the other side are many other Bolivians dead set against those changes. Some are driven out of direct economic self-interest and they see Morales as an Aymara Robin Hood and themselves as the vulnerable wealthy of Nottingham. Some oppose Morales out of ideology, a defense of smart business against weak-headed socialism. Others come to their opposition out of politics. Evo and his allies stand in the way recovering power they held for a very long time and lost in a windstorm in 2005. And there are absolutely others who oppose Bolivia’s first indigenous president out of thinly-veiled racism against “un indio de mierda.”

And then there is the up-for-grabs middle.

Today’s twin events – the vote in Santa Cruz and the anti-autonomy mass rallies elsewhere – make three things clear:

First, in Santa Cruz, the wealthy elite that pressed the autonomy drive has demonstrated their ability to capture much of that middle and solidify a powerful sense of ‘regional interest’ that identifies Evo as its enemy. Others can debate whether Santa Cruz’s vehemence was manipulated or natural. There is plenty of evidence both ways. It is sufficient to say, however, that deep opposition to MAS in the department is a reality. This not only solidifies Santa Cruz as a huge anti-Morales block but it will intensify the desire of other MAS opponents in other regions to try to repeat the autonomy formula. Regional interest will now become the key weapon in stopping Morales and what he represents.

Second, the autonomy vote has unified progressive social movements in a way that they have not been since Evo’s election. After Morales took office those movements went through a quiet separation. Some, such as the cocaleros and the powerful national irrigators union (regantes) went into the government. Others, such as the factory workers union here in Cochabamba, stayed on the outside and leveled criticism in private but rarely took on Morales in public. Santa Cruz’ challenge has put them all back together in the streets. Today’s Cochabamba march was the city’s largest in years (see photo above and report below).

And the third thing that is clear is that what happens next is not clear. Bolivian politics has become a chessboard marked by wild moves yet no real change in who has the advantage.

At a practical level, the Morales government and Santa Cruz leaders remain in a stalemate. Those things that Santa Cruz leaders can do without national government permission they will likely do, such as creating a state-level police force and blocking Morales’ efforts at land reform. Morales, who spent today playing soccer in La Paz, will not send in the Bolivian army to stop them. That would actually bring civil war.

Those things that Santa Cruz leaders need national cooperation to do, like win a bigger share of gas and oil revenue, they will continue to just dream of. Morales and his backers will now become even more intransient.

Underneath today’s banners and calls for national unity is the reality of nation more deeply divided today that it was a week ago. The unity called for in the streets of Cochabamba was really a unity of forces opposed to Santa Cruz, not a unity with Santa Cruz. And in the region where autonomy was voted on today, the words “national unity” didn’t even make it on to a banner.

Bolivia’s next move is now anyone’s guess.


REPORTS FROM AROUND BOLIVIA

A day of combative voting has left behind one person dead, others injured, scores of ballot boxes torched and a nation absorbing the results. Thanks to a handful of friends around Bolivia today, we are able to bring you on-the- street reports from four different cities: Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz and Potosi. We have many readers in those cities and elsewhere around the country. We hope you will add your eyewitness reports as well.


Santa Cruz: High Heels and Slingshots at Ground Zero (Annie Murphy)

Depending on whom you talk to, taking place in Santa Cruz today is a historic vote to give this department it's dues, or an illegal bid to keep the status quo.

The national electoral court declared the vote to accept or reject the Santa Cruz autonomy statute illegal, and the national government also refuses to acknowledge it. As such, it's not the police but normal citizens who are running today's activities. At five a.m. cars were already being stopped and checked by those who'd taken it on themselves to block major streets. The same was true at polling stations, with citizen guards in headsets keeping watch while Civic Committee President Branko Marinkovich cast his vote in the upscale Las Palmas neighborhood.

In an elite neighborhood like Las Palmas, this "citizen guard" seems nothing more than odd and vaguely discomfiting. Little challenge is posed by a housewife in heels and her coiffed lapdog, or agribusiness executives, both of whom believe that prosperous Santa Cruz should have greater power not only in the administration of resources, but over their legislation and distribution. As Eliana Jaldin said, "It would be nice if we could give more to the poor, but you can't just make everything nice... Why should they get a break? The importance of Santa Cruz has been ignored long enough. We need to determine our own future."

Las Palmas passionately supports the autonomy statute, and with little to do, informal security passed the morning eating empanadas and yucca bread.

But in Plan 3000 many of the city's indigenous and campesino immigrants pushed for abstention and even impeded voting in some cases. The "citizen guard" isn't snacking on pastries in here. Truckloads of pro-autonomy men in their teens and early twenties carrying clubs, slingshots, and rocks arrived, with armed groups of ten to twenty each patrolling the streets. Meanwhile a group of several hundred MAS supporters -- some also with sticks in hand -- had taken up the main roundabout, with the two sides scuffling at intervals.

"We want autonomy, but not the sort of autonomy outlined in the statute," says Ninoska Murillo, a recent immigrant from Oruro and resident of Plan 3000. "This statute keeps the same people in power that have always run this country, while the public watches from the bleachers."

Yet both sides say that they don't want or expect this autonomy statute to divide Bolivia, and that today's vote, legal or not, is just a way for Santa Cruz to increase its bargaining power in eventual negotiations. And, it's a reminder of the common demand across political and social classes for decentralization. From Las Palmas elites to the working class from Plan 3000, there's a clear need in Santa Cruz for law and order at the local level. The city may be Bolivia's economic engine, but today it feels like a forgotten frontier town.

Update: 10pm

The scuffles of earlier in the day turned into full-out acts of violence. The percentages of voter abstention are also striking. Almost 40% across the whole dept seems very high, and 62% in Montero more striking still. There are now reports of one possibly two people dead, and an Erbol headline says that this is the most violent vote in 25 years of democracy. I went to a celebration rally at Plaza Principal. Santa Cruz’s governor, Ruben Costas talked about "the creation of a new republic and modern state," while the head of the Civic Committee said now the MAS government has no choice but to respect the vote; "that we've put a face to autonomy, and now must give it force." This was punctuated by cheers of “Autonomy!” and “No more fear, goddammit!”

Annie Murphy is a freelance journalist in Santa Cruz.


Cochabamba: Tens of Thousands Take to the Streets (Leny Olivera and Aldo Orellana)

Today’s march began at 9am from several different points of the Department of Cochabamba.

The most active movements participating included factory workers, irrigators, youth and cultural organizations, rural teachers, farmer associations from rural communities such as Tapacari, Aiquile, Bolivar, and Colomi. Also present were many students, music groups, and other sectors of the city.

All the sectors displayed clear messages on the banners they carried – such as "United Bolivia, Never Divided", carried next to Bolivian flags of all size and indigenous whipalas. The slogans shouted by those marching also spoke of their desire for the recognition of Bolivia’s diversity. One group of young people conveyed that message very well, marching together dressed in nine different forms of dress associated with each of the nation’s departments.

Something else that characterized the diversity and unity of the huge march was the presence of so many kinds of musical groups – from bands, to folkloric music, to indigenous songs played with wind instruments, an expression of cultural resistance. The music played at the beginning and throughout the Cochabamba march demonstrated an intention to build and fight for change without violent confrontations. It was also striking yesterday, the day before the march how the number of Bolivian flags for sale in the marketplace was as many as for Bolivian Independence Day the 6th of August.

Leny Olivera


Tens of thousands of people turned out in the streets of Cochabamba today. Never in the history of the department have so many taken to the streets under a single slogan, “Bolivia united.” The march began from at least 8 different points around the Cochabamba Valley, converging at a steel and concrete bridge an Avenida Blanco Galindo, three kilometers from the city center.

The factory workers marched in first, followed by a wide variety of rural and urban social movements, including both old and young. From far away one could see an ocean of Bolivian flags, in red, yellow and green, along with wiphalas and the blue flag of Cochabamba. As noon arrived social movements continued to arrive. Leaders began speaking at 1pm, after the singing of the Bolivian national anthem. Leaders from farmer groups, the irrigators, and some elements of the MAS party spoke to the march, as did Isaac Avalos, a prominent farmer leader from Santa Cruz.

At the conclusion of the rally, marchers shouted their support for a variety of points including a call for Bolivian unity, the bringing to trial of the governors of the four departments of the “media luna” and Manfred Reyes Villa of Cochabamba for trying to break up Bolivia, the convening of a national vote on the proposed new constitution, and the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg. The crowd also rejected Santa Cruz’s autonomy statutes and declared an ongoing mobilization to re-found the nation.

Aldo Orellana

Leny Olivera and Aldo Orellana, both social movement activists in Cochabamba, work for The Democracy Center.


La Paz: A Quiet Sunday Morphs into a Day of Protest (Julia McDowell)

Near the university, La Paz seems its usual, sleepy Sunday-self. Few stores are open, and only a fraction of the usually chaotic flocks of mini-busses and taxis are making their rounds. Families and couples stroll the quiet streets, eating ice cream and enjoying the morning sun. A few dozen students stand in atrium, some holding flags and signs, congregating for a march, a popular weekend activity. Small charges of dynamite explode somewhere, echoing against La Paz’s valley walls. No one flinches, or even looks up from their conversations and sign painting endeavors.

As stragglers arrive to fill in gaps at the university, the marchers form their ranks, holding up signs that say “No to Autonomy!” and “Bolivia United!” They march down La Paz’s vacant thoroughfare, the Prado, to the U.S. Embassy, chanting their desire for Ambassador Goldberg’s untimely death. The Americans, one professor explains, have always supported fascism in Bolivia.

Heading north, the rumble of a crowd is audible. The scant assortment of passersby begins to thicken, as vendors sell popsicles, flags, and other parade-type accessories. Turning the bend, the city’s main artery suddenly opens out onto a massive concentration of thousands of indigenous peasants in the Plaza de los Heroes, a traditional meeting point for protests. Indigenous groups have come from provinces all over the Department of La Paz, representing cocaleros, agrarian unions, and ayllus. City-dwellers have joined in, as well.

Today, there are more Bolivian flags than wiphalas, the indigenous rainbow checkered flag that has come to symbolize the fight for social justice of indigenous peoples and peasants. Women sit on the curbs and pull oca, chuño, and habas out of their woven aguayo packs. They eat and share with their neighbors. The plaza begins to look like an enormous picnic. Then, representatives of the various unions and indigenous communities begin to speak in Aymara and Spanish over a scratchy loudspeaker to the plaza, a sea of heads frequently topped with derby hats or floppy denim. Some of the leaders threaten violence, should Santa Cruz decide to press their separatist agenda. Most speak of the unity of the Bolivian people.

Julie McDowell, a former U.S. Fulbright scholar now works on water project development in La Paz.


Potosi: Miners and Dynamite (Lily Whitesell)

The morning of May 4, a campesino march wound its way through the streets of Potosi, filling the air with the scent of dynamite sticks and interrupting the otherwise quiet Sunday morning with their energetic chants. 'Bolivia, unida, jamas sera vencida' was their message of choice, waving wiphalas and Bolivian flags. As one group reached the main plaza, they broke out with, 'Kausachun constituyente, wañuchun oligarcas' expressing support for the Constituent Assembly and their disdain for Bolivia's wealthy elite. The crowd totaled roughly 2,000, gathering in front of the mayor's office to hear speeches given over loudspeakers into the early afternoon.

Why did they come to Potosi? One demonstrator carrying a wiphala said: Nuqayku kayman jamunku... Nuqayku kayku de la provincia linares distrito 7. Separatismo Boliviata mana munaykuchu. Chayrayku noqayku jamuyku kaypaqchaman kay Potosiman. (We came here... from the Linares province. We don't want separatism in Bolivia. That's why we came here today to Potosi.)

Lily Whitesell, a social justice activist from Maryland has lived in Bolivia for two years and works for The Democracy Center.

[A special note to our readers in La Paz. Thanks to so many of you who turned out and help ed make the event Friday such a huge success. The auditorium was packed, including the balcony, about 400 people.]

Photo Credit: Aldo Orellana

The Santa Cruz Autonomy Vote: What People are Saying

Readers:

The attention of most people in Bolivia this weekend, and thousands of others who watch Bolivia from afar, will be on the vote Sunday in the department of Santa Cruz on a proposed ‘autonomy’ plan. We’ve taken our turn at analyzing this situation more than once (including this post earlier in the week). So, on the eve of the vote we bring you a diversity of points of view on the topic, excerpted from various sources and gathered here on the streets of Cochabamba. This gathering of quotes and views was compiled by Democracy Center team members Aldo Orellana, Leny Olivera, and Yi-Ching Hwang.

On Sunday we’ll have correspondents all around the country to offer up first hand reports of how Bolivia reacts to the vote. Look for that here late in the day Sunday.

Meanwhile, one more reminder to our La Paz readers. Friday night I’ll be in La Paz with Naomi Klein for a joint event presenting Dignity and Defiance, from the Democracy Center, and Naomi’s book, Shock Treatment. Here again are the details:

Book Presentation: Dignity and Defiance and Shock Doctrine

When: Friday, May 2 – 6:30pm
Where: Palacio de Comunicaciones, Ave. Mariscal Santa Cruz, isq. Calle Oruro
Admission: Free
Presenters: Jim Shultz and Naomi Klein (with commentary by other guests)
Hosts: The Democracy Center, Fundación Solon, Editoriales Plural

Jim Shultz

THE SANTA CRUZ AUTONOMY VOTE:
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Quotes from Some of the Key Actors and Analysts

...the “catastrophic tie” that the country has been in since 2003, continues. Neither of the political sectors were able to impose their vision of the country and neither reached a consensus in order to achieve an agreed solution.

-- Pablo Stefanoni, Director of Bolivia’s Le Monde Diplomatique magazine


The May 4th referendum is not about Autonomy, contrary to what is published in order to manipulate the Cruceño’s (Bolivians from Santa Cruz) feelings. It is a PROJECT OF STATUTE, therefore, it is the responsibility of all citizens to cast a responsible vote and be conscious of what is being legalized, because the statute will affect and impact the present and the future of the country and the department of Santa Cruz. However, the current Statute project does not have any constitutional framework and in its entire text there is not a single mention of the “Political Constitution of the State.

-- “Santa Cruz We are All” (“Santa Cruz Somos Todos”), an independent Santa Cruz movement, quote taken from an April 2008 publication.


The Santa Cruz statute of autonomy, initially driven by those in power during the neo-liberal governments, has been described by various governmental sectors as “illegal” and “anti-constitutional,” but can we deny its “legitimacy”?

-- Alex Contreras Baspineiro, ex spokesman for President Evo Morales


History shows with ample eloquence, the terrible consequences that the divisionary and separatist processes supported and induced by foreign interests have had for humanity.

-- Excerpt from a letter signed by a lengthy list of left-leaning intellectuals, artists, and institutions, from around the world ("The conspiracy to divide Bolivia must be denounced")


We believe in and we defend democracy, the Constitution, [Bolivian] laws, and we do not manipulate them for our convenience like the hegemonic and totalitarian central government does ... [The government] has tried to intimidate us and crush us with force.... They threatened civil war, planted the seeds of hate, manipulated their followers saying that autonomy would divide the country. Lies and perversities... [They squandered] public resources in a national and international campaign never before seen, lying, false, dirty...

-- Santa Cruz regional governor Ruben Costas, April 30


The La Paz Residents' Committee, which unites La Paz union leaders, business owners, and workers, reported that they have received all kinds of threats and insults from youth acting under the name "Unión Juvenil Cruceñista" (Santa Cruz Youth Union), and that this intimidation has been more intense in the period leading up to the autonomy referendum.

--Residents of La Paz receive threats of ethnic cleansing after May 4


Other Important Declarations

Organization of American States, European Union and several other neighboring countries have manifested that they recognize the national institution and that they will not recognize any expressions that put [the national institution] at risk.

Special spokes person of United Nations, (UN) believes that the Santa Cruz Autonomy Statute project violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in respect to the indigenous peoples of the department.

The episcopal conference of the Catholic Church: “The approval procedure of the new constitutional laws and the departmental autonomy should occur within a honorable fulfillment of the established laws....”

The National Electoral Court sent a resolution suspending all referendums.

The Superintedent of Banks and Financial Entities (newspaper El Deber, April 16, 2008) informs that no banks, cooperatives, or financial institutions can demand a proof of vote for any financial transactions (Article 152, Electoral code), given that the referendum of May 4th “does not fit into the Political Constitution of the State, the Electoral Code, nor any of the laws of the Republic written by the National Electoral Court.”

Senator from the opposing Social Democratic Power (Poder Democrático Social- Podemos) party, Carlos Bohrt, assured that the statutes of autonomy of Santa Cruz, Pando, Tarija, and Beni will not be applied immediately after the results of each popular consultation due to the lack of constitutional backing.


And Opinions from the Street in Cochabamba

I hope that there are no violent confrontations between the two sectors, the opposition and the government. I would like [politicians on both sides] to put aside their self-absorbed, stingy attitudes so they can open their hearts and see just one Bolivia. This is a unique country where we have all the diversity to build a new country.

-- Anonymous Woman, Business Administrator

It is an important date, without any doubt, for the country’s democracy. Unfortunately the autonomy statutes as well as the political constitution of the state both have certain defects with respect to their legal approval. But without any doubt, [May 4] represents a reflection of what is democracy and the opinions of the population, in this case, of [the people of] Santa Cruz. I approve of it, in principle, even with all its susceptibilities and the threats from one sector to another. It is the people, a sector of the people that is making it known, and showing their wishes for the vote, and the other sectors, the opposition, well, in this case the government, they should accept it (the referendum). I would give [leaders on both sides] the advice of patience, patience and wisdom. Governing a country with so many different ethnic groups and cultural differences is very difficult....and dialog, a lot of dialog. Sometimes it is difficult to converse, it is bothersome, but one has to do it, it is necessary to communicate.

-- Jorge Uberhuaga, civil engineer


It is a date where there should be celebrations for Bolivia, because in reality autonomy, independent of whether there is campaign for a NO, will not stop. You will see that even in those departments that voted for a NO, there will be autonomy as well. It is not something that can be stopped. I think that the topic of autonomy is a celebration for Bolivia. [Politicians on both sides should] stop throwing more firewood in the fire...in reality in Bolivia we don’t need anymore provocations, what we need is that all the politicians, sincerely both the current administration and the opposition, go to the polls. Let’s go to the ballot boxes and trust that if they [the current administration] have done a good job, they will return to their positions, and that [voting] is the only way Bolivia is going to avoid deaths.

-- Alex Brañez, lawyer


First we should recognize that the May 4 referendum is going to happen de facto. I think there are people who support it based on just the slogans. There is going to be some absenteeism and people who criticize it. I think that May 4 will be just another election where symbolically the people are consulted in a fictitious democracy. I think that the moment of tension will be when the Regional General Assembly is created, which is what the statutes that they are voting on call for, because they are going to have to discuss what the competencies they will have. I would tell [leaders on both sides] not to fight racism with racism, to not deepen the differences between cambas and collas [people from the lowlands and highlands, respectively], that when they put forth ideas they should think about whether what they say could cause division and ethnic confrontations, which are hard to control and in which rationality does not exist. The causes can be traced to the media and the politicians who repeat these ideas. I think we should look at the things that unite us, not the things that make us different. I think that is the way.

-- Gary Rojas, Communications student from Santa Cruz, who resides in Cochabamba

This gathering of quotes and views was compiled by Democracy Center team members Aldo Orellana, Leny Olivera, and Yi-Ching Hwang.