Bolivian leader slams U.S. at UN

Patrick Markey
Reuters

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Bolivian President Evo Morales: ‘We don’t want relations of intervention and
conspiracy.’

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=f73f9a69-8139-43ea-a5d4-3b57edacdbbd

UNITED NATIONS – Bolivian President Evo Morales, confronting a political crisis
at home, criticized the United States on Tuesday for backing opponents he
charges are trying to organize a coup against his leftist government.

Morales, a close ally of Venezuela’s anti-U.S. leader, Hugo Chavez, expelled the
U.S. ambassador earlier this month after accusing Washington of fomenting
violence against him in Bolivia, one of South America’s poorest nations.

“I would like to hear representatives of the U.S. government rejecting these
acts of terrorism,” Morales told the UN General Assembly in a speech laced with
anti-imperialist rhetoric. “But you know, they are allies, of course they will
never condemn this.”

South American leaders plan to meet Wednesday at the United Nations for talks on
easing the crisis between the Morales government and opposition governors who
have balked at signing a preliminary agreement aimed at ending violence.

Tensions erupted into clashes earlier this month when anti-Morales protesters
took to the streets, occupied government buildings and sabotaged gas pipelines.
At least 18 people were killed in fighting.

Washington called the expulsion of its ambassador a grave error and expelled the
Bolivian ambassador. Morales told reporters later he was open to dialogue on
U.S. ties, but would wait for Washington to “correct” the behavior of past
envoys.

“We don’t want relations of intervention and conspiracy,” he said.

The country’s first indigenous president, Morales promises sweeping reforms in a
new constitution in Bolivia, where an Indian majority says its rights have been
neglected for decades by European-descended ruling elites.

But critics in the opposition heartland – in eastern provinces – say Morales
wants to install Cuban-style communism in Bolivia.

Morales urged his opponents to accept the new constitution or oppose it at the
ballot box in a referendum.

Bolivia has long been divided between Andean mountains in the west where many
people still speak Quechua and Aymara as their first language, and more affluent
eastern plains where governors want more autonomy and control over gas wealth.

Morales won regional backing at a recent summit in Chile when South American
presidents condemned violence. Tensions have simmered since August when a
referendum confirmed his presidency but also the posts of opposition governors.
? Reuters

Bolivia’s Morales emerges stronger from crisis

Eduardo Garcia, Wed Sep 17, 2008

LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivia’s first indigenous president, leftist Evo
Morales, has deftly handled a violent political crisis and appears
strengthened as he heads into talks with opposition governors who
resist his socialist reforms.

At least 17 people were killed last week as anti-Morales protesters
stormed government buildings, sabotaged natural gas pipelines and
battled with the president’s supporters in four opposition-controlled
regions.

He ordered martial law in the remote Amazon province of Pando and
arrested the governor there, accusing him of ordering a massacre of
peasants last Thursday.

But soldiers showed restraint, taking a hands-off approach at times to
avert confrontation. And South American presidents strongly backed
Morales at an emergency summit this week, condemning any coup attempts
or separatist rebellions.

“In South America there was unanimous and very strong support for the
government. Other countries from the region, left, right and center,
don’t see the opposition as having a legitimate grievance,” said Mark
Weisbrot, head of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy
Research.

Morales’ measured approach contrasted with his detractors’ violent
protests and the killings that his government blamed on Pando Gov.
Leopoldo Fernandez, who is being detained.

An editorial in El Deber, a top newspaper in opposition stronghold
Santa Cruz province, said Morales had been “undeniably strengthened”
by the South American presidents’ backing and the opposition must
rethink its protest strategy.

The rightist governors demand greater independence from the central
government and more control over state energy revenues, an important
element of the economy in the unstable, landlocked country at the
heart of the continent.

In an accord reached on Tuesday, Morales agreed to discuss both issues
in talks with the governors.

But a day later, he demanded that opposition lawmakers in Congress set
a date for a referendum on a draft constitution and said the talks –
which he hopes will start on Wednesday — should continue nonstop
until a truce is reached.

Political scientist Franklin Pareja said Morales would only truly be
strengthened if he made a deal with the opposition.

“There are no winners or losers, we all lose” after last week’s
deaths, Pareja said.

PLAN TO ‘CONQUER’

A former coca-leaf farmer, Morales took power in early 2006 vowing to
change the constitution to give more power to Bolivia’s Indian
majority and boost state control over natural resources.

He wants to put a draft constitution to a vote in the coming months,
but political rivals oppose the charter as well as a plan to break up
big estates to give land to the poor.

Both Morales and most of the opposition governors were ratified in a
nationwide recall vote last month, with Morales winning 67 percent
support.

El Mundo, another Santa Cruz newspaper, criticized the provincial
governor and protest leader Branko Marinkovic for underestimating
Morales’ drive to “conquer” eastern regions.

The president draws most of his support from Bolivia’s poor western
highlands whereas opposition to his leftist policies is strongest in
the east, home to the rich natural gas deposits, more fertile farmland
and a European-descended elite.

Morales is friendly with Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro and with
socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and many in the east fear
he aims to install a communist regime.

Morales’ government has locked horns with right-wing governors and
lawmakers ever since his allies approved the draft constitution during
an opposition boycott last year.

And although the latest talks might break the deadlock, many analysts
fear the dispute will continue.

Neither side “has resolved the real problems. They are just taking a
break until they regain their strength,” said Kathryn Ledebur, head of
the Andean Information Network, a think-tank based in Bolivia.

(Additional reporting by Helen Popper in Buenos Aires; Writing by
Hilary Burke; Editing by David Storey)

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/09/bolivias-morales-emerges-stronger-from.html

Bolivia: social mvts in permanent mobilisation, Evo

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-right-wing-rebellion-spurs-left.html

Bolivian social movements in Permanent Mobilization
Mario Hubert Garrido

Cochabamba, Bolivia, Aug 24 (Prensa Latina) The approval of a new
Political Constitution stands as a key motivation for Bolivian popular
sectors to be in permanent mobilization.

Farmers, indigenous peoples, women, miners, rural teachers, unions and
community groups making up the National Coordination for Change
(CONALCAM), urged President Evo Morales to call a referendum by
decree.

A 48-hour meeting with Morales was closed with a Declaration that
confirms the passing of a new Constitution as the only way to build a
new Bolivia…..Morales added that if opposition extremist groups
decide to close the oil and natural gas wells on Monday, as
threatened, they will be repelled by the Armed Forces…….rest at
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivian-social-movements-in-permanent.html

Morales sends troops to Bolivia’s oil, gas installations
LA PAZ (AFP) ? President Evo Morales said he has put all of Bolivia’s
gas and oil installations under military protection, as protesters
geared up in three energy-rich provinces against federal encroachment
and socialist reforms.

“I’ve spoken with Armed Forces commander in chief, General Luis Trigo,
who has precise instructions to safeguard and defend the Bolivian
people,” Morales told a meeting of pro-government labor unions in the
central city of Cochabamba on Saturday.

“The government will protect the (oil) pipelines and (gas) valves,” he added.

The move to put all government-owned energy installations under
military guard followed protest plans to throw up major roadblocks in
the energy-rich eastern provinces of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija
starting Monday.
rest at http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/morales-sends-troops-to-bolivias-oil_25.html

Evo Morales: “If the Bolivian people ask us for socialism, we will deepen towards socialism”

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/evo-morales-if-bolivian-people-ask-us.html

La Paz – President of Bolivia Evo Morales announced yesterday that he would “deepen” the process towards socialism in his country at the request of the population and pointed out that he now understood the slogan “homeland or death” that he said he first heard from his colleague and firm ally in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

The president, who celebrated two and a half years in this position and applies a policy of nationalisations of petroleum and service industries, affirmed that the decision to advance towards socialism came about due to a poll, although he did not reveal the origins of the poll.

“I was looking over a poll that came from overseas and the majority of the Bolivians propose socialism, I was left very impressed …. If the Bolivian people ask us for socialism, we will deepen towards socialism” said the president during the inauguration of an indigenous university in the Aymara town of Warisata.

Morales revealed that he now understood the harangue that he first heard from his political ally in Venezuela, who is known for proclaiming in public rallies “homeland or death”, and which has been repeated in Cuba since the 1960s.

“I use to here comrade Chavez say, homeland or death, I didn’t understand it, now I want us all to shout it every day, homeland or death” affirmed the president, who asked the students present to shout at the top of their voices “Homeland or death!”

According to him, experiences of collective property have been registered in Bolivian Andean populations, such as in the case of his home town of Isallavi, in the Oruro region, where he assured that “there is no private property” over cows and llamas.

Morales is one week out from facing a recall referendum

Translated from El Universal

Posted by Bolivia Rising on Sunday, August 03, 2008