For [Bolivian president Evo] Morales, the consultation on autonomy in
The president of
“Today, despite the threats, intimidations, humiliations, aggressions, a grand rebellion was born in the department of
“I want to express my greetings and great respect, my admiration to the people of Santa Cruz for this resistance against the separatist, divisionist autonomy statutes, resisting…in defence of the interests of the majorities of this department,” he added.
In a short speech televised across the country, the head of state lamented the violence that “divided”
“Unfortunately this consultation has divided the department of
Nevertheless, he recounted that in spontaneous mobilisations held in various cities in the Bolivian west, the citizens of the country came out onto the streets with a sentiment of “uniting the country”.
“Greetings to the Bolivian people for this grand sentiment expressed today, for the unity of the Bolivian family. These grand mobilisations in the departments of
Media wants to hide high abstention
In regards to the first results from exit polls that some private media outlets have been transmitting, and which give a victory to the “Yes” vote, Morales disregarded these figures and explained that if the abstention, “No” votes and null votes are added up, it equals “practically” 50% of the result.
“The results shown by some media outlets are surely concerning for those who illegally wagered on this consultation. Between an abstention of 39%, and the rejections; the “No” vote and the null votes, this is practically 50%. These are figures from the mass media…” he commented.
“You can not fool the Bolivian people saying that here we have a winner with more than 80%, and if we want to compare the figures of abstention with previous years, it practically triples”, he added.
He reiterated the failure of the anti-constitutional
“I also want to express that this day of so-called ‘celebrations’, this consultation over the autonomy statures has completely failed. This illegal and anti-constitutional consultation did not have success as some families, as some groups in the department of
Translated from TeleSUR
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Evo Morales just spoke [6:00pm Mountain Standard Time]
over radio and tv. The statement was broadcast by TELESUR -
Caracas.
He made several points:
1. The government did not mobilize any organizations or
institutions to stop the so-called referendum. He said,
instead, that grassroots organizations took the initiative
to oppose the referendum. He thanked the people for doing so.
2. He said that the pro-government media has reported that
votes against the autonomy and the absentee population
represented 50% of the people who could vote in Santa Cruz.
He noted that if one were to look at the real figures, the
percentage of those opposed to autonomy would be larger.
Abstained 37%, plus nulls and those not counted - about
50%. Note: these are the figures provided by the anti-Evo
forces.
3. He stressed that his government favors autonomy for the
indigenous peoples and for the departments of Bolivia, but
not an autonomy that benefits the wealthy minority.
4. He called on the country's 9 "prefects"/governors
(including 5 who favor "autonomy") to join him in
discussing an autonomy that will benefit the lower classes.
Prefects will have to answer within hours and reduce
tensions.
He did not refer to those who had been killed or injured in
confrontations.
He noted that the referendum was illegal but did not
announce any legal steps against those who had violated the
constitution and the rule of law.
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz opposition are suggesting that
the "autonomy" forces had "won."
We might see, shortly, a "dual power" scenario - usually
the beginnings of a revolutionary, counterrevolutionary or
civil war situation.
Nelson Valdes
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