Bolivian President Lifts
Martial Law in Pando
Province
Lima - Bolivian
President Evo Morales on
Sunday lifted the
martial law imposed over
two months ago in the
once-violent province of
Pando, likely paving the
way for a referendum on
a new constitution early
next year.
The martial law was
lifted Sunday midnight,
said Bolivian Interior
Minister Alfredo Rada,
according to information
reaching here from La
Paz, the administrative
capital of Bolivia.
The Bolivian government
imposed martial law on
Sept. 12 in the northern
province of Pando, the
site of a series of
rampages that took the
lives of at least 30
peasants, all Morales
supporters.
However, the country's
electoral court said at
the beginning of
November that it would
not authorize a
referendum on a new
constitution if martial
law continued to be in
force in Pando.
Bolivian referendum laws
say such a vote cannot
be called if there are
restrictions to civil
freedoms at any place in
the country.
During the few weeks
before the imposition of
martial law, violent
acts had increased in
the
opposition-controlled
provinces of Santa Cruz,
Tarija, Beni and Pando.
Anti-government
protesters blocked
roads, occupied public
buildings and destroyed
public property to vent
their discontent with
Morales' social and
economic policies.
Morales, a leftist and
Bolivia's first
indigenous leader,
accused the opposition
rightists of trying to
overthrow him. Pando's
Governor Leopoldo
Fernandez, who was
accused by Morales of
being responsible for
the deaths of the 30
peasants, was arrested
on charges of genocide
on Sept. 16. |
