Morales Pledges Full
Autonomy Across Bolivia
On Constitutional Basis
LIMA - Bolivian
President Evo Morales on
Thursday voiced his
willingness to introduce
full autonomy throughout
Bolivia, but on a
constitutional basis.
At a meeting in the
presidential Quemado
Palace earlier in the
day, Morales urged
ratified opposition
governors to heed the
message from more than
two-thirds of the
Bolivian people, who
demanded at last
Sunday's recall
referendum "to continue
with the process of
change in democracy and
peace," said news
reports from La Paz, the
country's administrative
capital.
Bolivia held a recall
referendum on Sunday,
during which Bolivians
voted to decide whether
Morales, Vice President
Alvaro Garcia, and eight
of the nine regional
governors should stay in
office, in response to
votes for autonomy in
the four provinces of
Santa Cruz, Tarija,
Pando and Beni earlier
this year.
Preliminary results
showed Morales won about
60 percent of the valid
votes, and two
opposition governors
were defeated in the
referendum.
"The Bolivian government
is going to guarantee
autonomy for all of
Bolivia, but within a
framework of legality
and constitutionality,"
Morales told a press
conference after his
meeting with the
governors ratified in
last weekend's poll.
Morales believes there
is little willingness to
hold a dialogue among
the rightist governors
from the eastern
provinces of the
so-called "half moon"
(Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando
and Tarija), as they are
only concerned about
economic issues and do
not want to address
structural solutions,
which the country
demands.
"I feel the opposing
governors only want the
silver (money) and do
not wish to deal with
other matters, without
considering what the
Bolivian people think,"
he said.
"I conclude that the
Bolivian people want
autonomy, they want a
new political
constitution," said
Morales, while
expressing appreciation
for the support received
from more than
two-thirds of total
voters in the poll.
"Now, no governor can
talk about two-thirds,
more than two-thirds of
the people want to unite
the new constitution
with the statutes for
autonomy," he added.
The topics of a new
political constitution
approved by the
Constituent Assembly
last December, and the
statutes for autonomy
approved in Santa Cruz,
Beni, Pando and Tarija,
are likely to be the
most prickly issues in
the future for Bolivia.
The central government
does not recognize the
legality of the regional
autonomies, while the
opposition rejects the
newly approved
Constitution.
The recall plebiscite on
Aug. 10 was called by
Morales in an attempt to
beat opposition
governors who are
defying his reforms and
demanding autonomy. |
