It may not help a fraught relationship with Washington, but Bolivia's new constitution is a victory to savour
Richard Gott, Monday, January 26
Sunday's referendum vote on a new constitution for Bolivia, which has led to a predicted victory for president Evo Morales and his Movement for Socialism party, will be welcomed by all those anxious for the country's future, but it will not in itself lead to a healing of the country's deep political and ethnic divisions. Yet it will certainly provide Morales with some breathing space as he contemplates the next steps to be taken towards a fairer society, to give the indigenous majority of the population the possibility of participating more comprehensively in Bolivian politics.
During the course of last year, the country was close to an undeclared civil war, with violence erupting in several cities, and rising to a violent crescendo in September. An opposition-inspired massacre of 18 people, mostly indigenous farmers, in the northern town of Pando led to political intervention by the newly-created Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). The subsequent establishment of formal negotiations in October between government and opposition allowed the referendum to take place in relatively peaceful conditions.
Some have compared Morales' strategy with that of Hugo Chávez, who organised the re-writing of the Venezuelan constitution shortly after his election in 1998, and used it as a springboard for reformist measures in many areas of national life. The reforms proposed by Morales are comparably radical, yet many people would argue that they are long overdue. Unlike Chávez, who seeks a constitutional reform in February that would permit a president to enjoy permanent re-election (if actually re-elected),
Morales agreed during October's negotiations with the opposition that the constitution would require presidents to stand down after two terms. He will put his name forward again for re-election next year, and since he is an indigenous candidate representing the majority population, he will almost certainly win.
The problems in Bolivia are caused largely by the ethnic minority, mostly the descendants of white settlers, who live in the eastern provinces of the country that contain the chief engines of the economy – oil and gas. Many of these people have a racist and fascist mentality and, after centuries in control, dislike the prospect of their future being dominated by the formerly-suppressed indigenous majority.
Like so much else in the world, much will depend on the decisions taken by Obama's team. The outgoing administration had long been opposed to Morales, even before he was first elected, regarding the former leader of the coca-growers' union as a political firebrand and not much better than a drug baron. The Americans worked so openly with the opposition behind the scenes that Morales was obliged last year to expel the US ambassador, a gesture that was immediately imitated by Chávez. (Morales repaid the compliment this month by expelling the Israeli ambassador from La Paz, during the Israeli assault on Gaza, in the wake of the Venezuelan decision to do the same.)
Obama will certainly wish to distance himself from the legacy of George Bush, and the relative quiescence of the Bolivian opposition since the Pando massacre suggests that they are unsure what future assistance they will get from Washington. The traditional allies of Bolivia's white minority have been their close Latin American neighbours, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, but these – on a leftist path – have all expressed their support and solidarity for Morales.
Whatever the eventual outcome of Morales' reforms, the new approved constitution is a major landmark in Bolivian history, providing for the long-needed re-shaping of the judiciary (including the establishment of "community courts"), a revival of the land reform legislation of the 1950s (including a cap on the size of landholdings by an individual owner), and the safe-guarding of the oil and gas reserves for the benefit of the people. Yet more important – and at the heart of the new constitutional charter – are the clauses that strengthen the rights of the country's indigenous peoples. Sunday's victory is one to savour and ponder, and will create frissons of excitement throughout Latin America.
Republished from The Guardian
Bolivia's Revolutionary New Charter
Jean Friedman-Rudovsk, La Paz, January 27
If President Barack Obama were to decide that "change" includes rewriting the United States constitution, he would probably find himself on the curb of Pennsylvania Avenue quicker than you can say Bill of Rights. But for left-wing Latin American Presidents, redoing national charters has become a norm. On Sunday, Bolivia became the most recent nation to be reborn. (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration.)
"I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all my brothers and sisters who have used their democratic participation to re-found Bolivia," President Evo Morales said on Sunday night in front of thousands of exhilarated supporters after more than 60% of his nation had voted in favor of a new constitution. "Internal and external colonialism have come to an end."
It isn't all that novel a move: the new constitution is Bolivia's 17th. But it's the first to be written via a specially elected delegate assembly and the first to undergo a national vote. (The last constitution was written and enacted by Parliament in 1967 without the participation of a single indigenous person). An elaborate document, it expands the rights of the indigenous majority. Bolivia's 36 native tongues are now all official languages, along with Spanish, and Parliament will include ethnic group representation. Also, the text solidifies state control over natural resources and makes access to water a basic human right.
The win was widely expected, as was the strong showing in support of the constitution by rural and highland voters. But like Bolivia's recall vote last August, in which Morales won 67% national approval, Sunday showed that Bolivia's east/west regional divide that brought the country to the brink of civil war last September remains. The constitution was heavily rejected in the eastern lowlands of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija where wealthy land and business owners dominate local politics. Criticism ranged from the constitution's elimination of Catholicism's privileged position as official religion to worry about "extreme indigenous power."
But for many, the document's specifics were only a part of Sunday's contest. Five year-old Joaquin Claros, who was hanging onto his mom's arm outside a La Paz polling station on Sunday, knew what was at stake. Mom and dad, he exclaimed excitedly, had voted "for Evo!"
"Evo," of course, wasn't a ballot option (it was either Yes or No on various categories). But Sunday's vote was considered just as much a referendum on the President as it was on the text. Government officials therefore interpret the 20-plus point victory as a solid win. Opposition leaders say that the document's rejection in the eastern part of the country means that there must be some move toward compromise.
Compromise may in fact have already been key in the constitution's passage. An earlier version allowed for expropriation of large estates — a hot button issue in a country where less than one percent of the population owns more than two thirds of the land. But negotiations resulted in leaving the current holdings as is and limiting future landownership. On Sunday voters had a choice between limiting ownership to 10,000 or 25,000 acres per person limit. They voted 75% in favor of the former.
An agreement before the referendum avoided a battle over re-election. Sometime after Morales' ally Venezuela President Hugo Chavez failed in his bid at ending presidential term limits, Morales agreed to keep Bolivia's re-election laws as is. He is therefore able to compete in this December's Presidential elections for one more five-year term — but no more. That doesn't mean he wont try "to pull a Chavez," noted Santa Cruz resident Alberto Montero last week, referring to the Venezuelan's attempt to pass a separate referendum on indefinite re-election after Venezuela's new constitution was approved.
“But there will be more wrangling down the line.” A constitution is only a foundation," says Carlos Alarcon, a constitutional lawyer and Vice Minister of Justice under former President Carlos Mesa. There is likely to be debate about any new legislation based on the language of the new charter. "Bolivia is going to have to strengthen its institutions — both state and judicial — if this new constitution and the new laws are going be implemented."
In Washington, the Obama Administration responded positively to Bolivia's vote. Responding to a reporter's question, acting State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said, "we congratulate the Bolivian people on the referendum... we look forward to working with the Bolivian Government in ways we can to further democracy and prosperity in the hemisphere." Says Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research: "it's a hopeful sign" for the future of relations between the two countries. The previous U.S. administration would most likely have remained silent on Bolivia's electoral processes.
Republished from Time
If President Barack Obama were to decide that "change" includes rewriting the United States constitution, he would probably find himself on the curb of Pennsylvania Avenue quicker than you can say Bill of Rights. But for left-wing Latin American Presidents, redoing national charters has become a norm. On Sunday, Bolivia became the most recent nation to be reborn. (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration.)
"I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all my brothers and sisters who have used their democratic participation to re-found Bolivia," President Evo Morales said on Sunday night in front of thousands of exhilarated supporters after more than 60% of his nation had voted in favor of a new constitution. "Internal and external colonialism have come to an end."
It isn't all that novel a move: the new constitution is Bolivia's 17th. But it's the first to be written via a specially elected delegate assembly and the first to undergo a national vote. (The last constitution was written and enacted by Parliament in 1967 without the participation of a single indigenous person). An elaborate document, it expands the rights of the indigenous majority. Bolivia's 36 native tongues are now all official languages, along with Spanish, and Parliament will include ethnic group representation. Also, the text solidifies state control over natural resources and makes access to water a basic human right.
The win was widely expected, as was the strong showing in support of the constitution by rural and highland voters. But like Bolivia's recall vote last August, in which Morales won 67% national approval, Sunday showed that Bolivia's east/west regional divide that brought the country to the brink of civil war last September remains. The constitution was heavily rejected in the eastern lowlands of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija where wealthy land and business owners dominate local politics. Criticism ranged from the constitution's elimination of Catholicism's privileged position as official religion to worry about "extreme indigenous power."
But for many, the document's specifics were only a part of Sunday's contest. Five year-old Joaquin Claros, who was hanging onto his mom's arm outside a La Paz polling station on Sunday, knew what was at stake. Mom and dad, he exclaimed excitedly, had voted "for Evo!"
"Evo," of course, wasn't a ballot option (it was either Yes or No on various categories). But Sunday's vote was considered just as much a referendum on the President as it was on the text. Government officials therefore interpret the 20-plus point victory as a solid win. Opposition leaders say that the document's rejection in the eastern part of the country means that there must be some move toward compromise.
Compromise may in fact have already been key in the constitution's passage. An earlier version allowed for expropriation of large estates — a hot button issue in a country where less than one percent of the population owns more than two thirds of the land. But negotiations resulted in leaving the current holdings as is and limiting future landownership. On Sunday voters had a choice between limiting ownership to 10,000 or 25,000 acres per person limit. They voted 75% in favor of the former.
An agreement before the referendum avoided a battle over re-election. Sometime after Morales' ally Venezuela President Hugo Chavez failed in his bid at ending presidential term limits, Morales agreed to keep Bolivia's re-election laws as is. He is therefore able to compete in this December's Presidential elections for one more five-year term — but no more. That doesn't mean he wont try "to pull a Chavez," noted Santa Cruz resident Alberto Montero last week, referring to the Venezuelan's attempt to pass a separate referendum on indefinite re-election after Venezuela's new constitution was approved.
“But there will be more wrangling down the line.” A constitution is only a foundation," says Carlos Alarcon, a constitutional lawyer and Vice Minister of Justice under former President Carlos Mesa. There is likely to be debate about any new legislation based on the language of the new charter. "Bolivia is going to have to strengthen its institutions — both state and judicial — if this new constitution and the new laws are going be implemented."
In Washington, the Obama Administration responded positively to Bolivia's vote. Responding to a reporter's question, acting State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said, "we congratulate the Bolivian people on the referendum... we look forward to working with the Bolivian Government in ways we can to further democracy and prosperity in the hemisphere." Says Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research: "it's a hopeful sign" for the future of relations between the two countries. The previous U.S. administration would most likely have remained silent on Bolivia's electoral processes.
Republished from Time
Hugo Chavez on Bolivia: The Yes Vote Triumphed
Hugo Chavez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Caracas, Jan 27. The Yes vote triumphed in Bolivia. That is to say, the Bolivian people approved the new political Constitution of the State. I was fortunate to speak with comrade President Evo Morales the same night of the victory.
Evo achieved victory again; and he really deserves it. He has been a great leader; he has withstood all kind of aggressions and conspiracies promoted by the imperialist Bush government, which has used an unpatriotic bourgeoisie and a fascist right-wing movement as its tools.
The vote of the humble people, the indigenous people, and the people excluded for 500 years, prevailed.
However, it is necessary to say that this victory goes beyond Bolivia to enter the historical process described by comrade Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as a change of time.
In my opinion, this process carries in its backbone a deep social revolution, powerfully expressed in the fields of politics and laws.
This is how a new constitutional doctrine has been emerging in South America, a doctrine based on the original constituent power of our people.
In Venezuela, as we know, once the constituent power was activated, it approved our advanced Bolivarian Constitution on December 15th, 1999, almost ten years ago, thus starting the refoundation of the Republic and the Simon Bolivar National Project and the transition towards socialism.
Today, after all kind of events marking the first ten years of the revolution, it is imperative to assure the continuity of the Bolivarian democratic process, thus projecting it with greater strength towards the second and third decades of this century and avoiding at all costs any risk of going back to the past, which will be really catastrophic to the Homeland.
Therefore, readers, country fellow women and men, the proposal of the Constitutional Amendment’s only objective is to further empower the people when electing and removing governments.
There is no the slightest doubt that the offensive of our forces has won an increasingly quick, accurate pace all around the country.
I want to congratulate you and encourage you to intensify all our efforts since this battle is not easy at all.
Let’s beware of boastfulness! Let’s not lower our guard a single second! The Phase of Deployment has started for us. And I want to insist on the main objective of this fourth phase: Let’s assure the materialization of the vote! Taking abstention in our ranks to the lowest is vital to achieve victory, a big victory! Comrades: we always think we are going to win, and this is a good sign of what Bolivar called “the will to defeat.” But we also have to recall that we have not always won. We already lost the 2007 referendum and we forfeited the chance. Nearly 3 million of our voters simply did not take up the call to vote.
Let’s take it up now! And this is one of the greatest challenges of our vanguard, machinery and movements.
In order to overcome this challenge, we must deploy crystal clear information campaigns, with pedagogy, accuracy and perseverance through all the possible means. Bolivar would say: “the most powerful artillery of thought, of ideas.”
For instance, there are still people who may be confused regarding the impacts of the amendment, especially because of the great disinformation and psychological war campaign launched by the commandos of the Pact of Puerto Rico.
Let’s make it clear: It is not about electing “Chávez (or anybody else) for life” on February 15th as the opposition still says. It is just about approving the possibility for those who have been in charge of the posts of president, governors, mayors or congresspeople to be proposed as candidates in the next elections.
Later, if approved, you will vote to elect according to your preferences.
It is that simple! Let’s go then, patrols and Committees for the Yes vote, and intensify the offensive, with spirit, joy and passion for the Homeland…
Let’s repeat the battle cry of Ayacucho, the liberating heroic deed commanded by the Mariscal de America (Marshall of America) Antonio Jose de Sucre: Carry on with the pace of victors!.
Caracas, Jan 27. The Yes vote triumphed in Bolivia. That is to say, the Bolivian people approved the new political Constitution of the State. I was fortunate to speak with comrade President Evo Morales the same night of the victory.
Evo achieved victory again; and he really deserves it. He has been a great leader; he has withstood all kind of aggressions and conspiracies promoted by the imperialist Bush government, which has used an unpatriotic bourgeoisie and a fascist right-wing movement as its tools.
The vote of the humble people, the indigenous people, and the people excluded for 500 years, prevailed.
However, it is necessary to say that this victory goes beyond Bolivia to enter the historical process described by comrade Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as a change of time.
In my opinion, this process carries in its backbone a deep social revolution, powerfully expressed in the fields of politics and laws.
This is how a new constitutional doctrine has been emerging in South America, a doctrine based on the original constituent power of our people.
In Venezuela, as we know, once the constituent power was activated, it approved our advanced Bolivarian Constitution on December 15th, 1999, almost ten years ago, thus starting the refoundation of the Republic and the Simon Bolivar National Project and the transition towards socialism.
Today, after all kind of events marking the first ten years of the revolution, it is imperative to assure the continuity of the Bolivarian democratic process, thus projecting it with greater strength towards the second and third decades of this century and avoiding at all costs any risk of going back to the past, which will be really catastrophic to the Homeland.
Therefore, readers, country fellow women and men, the proposal of the Constitutional Amendment’s only objective is to further empower the people when electing and removing governments.
There is no the slightest doubt that the offensive of our forces has won an increasingly quick, accurate pace all around the country.
I want to congratulate you and encourage you to intensify all our efforts since this battle is not easy at all.
Let’s beware of boastfulness! Let’s not lower our guard a single second! The Phase of Deployment has started for us. And I want to insist on the main objective of this fourth phase: Let’s assure the materialization of the vote! Taking abstention in our ranks to the lowest is vital to achieve victory, a big victory! Comrades: we always think we are going to win, and this is a good sign of what Bolivar called “the will to defeat.” But we also have to recall that we have not always won. We already lost the 2007 referendum and we forfeited the chance. Nearly 3 million of our voters simply did not take up the call to vote.
Let’s take it up now! And this is one of the greatest challenges of our vanguard, machinery and movements.
In order to overcome this challenge, we must deploy crystal clear information campaigns, with pedagogy, accuracy and perseverance through all the possible means. Bolivar would say: “the most powerful artillery of thought, of ideas.”
For instance, there are still people who may be confused regarding the impacts of the amendment, especially because of the great disinformation and psychological war campaign launched by the commandos of the Pact of Puerto Rico.
Let’s make it clear: It is not about electing “Chávez (or anybody else) for life” on February 15th as the opposition still says. It is just about approving the possibility for those who have been in charge of the posts of president, governors, mayors or congresspeople to be proposed as candidates in the next elections.
Later, if approved, you will vote to elect according to your preferences.
It is that simple! Let’s go then, patrols and Committees for the Yes vote, and intensify the offensive, with spirit, joy and passion for the Homeland…
Let’s repeat the battle cry of Ayacucho, the liberating heroic deed commanded by the Mariscal de America (Marshall of America) Antonio Jose de Sucre: Carry on with the pace of victors!.
Bolivians approve sweeping constitutional reforms
LA PAZ (AFP) — Bolivians approved sweeping constitutional changes that would bring greater political power to the country's indigenous majority and lets President Evo Morales run for re-election.
Exit polls by two of the country's largest television networks showed that the new constitution being approved by a comfortable margin. Partial official results are due early Monday, with final results expected in three or four days.
"Now Bolivia is being re-founded!" Morales told supporters who gathered at the Plaza de Armas in La Paz to hear him speak from the balcony of the presidential palace.
"Here the colonial state ends, and internal and external colonialism end," said the leftist Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.
Morales called on the country's governors and mayors "to work together to implement the new constitution."
The new document scraps the single-term limit for the president, allowing Morales to stand for a second five-year term.
The changes also allow 36 indigenous communities and groups to win the right to territory, language and their own "community" justice, and enacts agrarian reform measures by limiting the size of landholdings.
The referendum was approved by 60 percent of the votes cast, according to the Unitel television network. ATB television network reported it was approved by 58 percent.
However the exit polls also showed that the referendum was badly defeated in the eastern departments of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, hotbeds of activity against the leftist president.
Morales earlier said that he expected the measure to be approved by 70 percent of voters, so the results encouraged his opponents.
In Chuquisaca, Governor Savina Cuellar held a rally and called for her people to refuse to abide by the document.
Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas told supporters at a rally that hundreds of thousands of Bolivians voted against the measure, and that this shows that the opposition has gained strength.
Tarija governor Mario Cossio, another Morales opponent, and called for a "national pact" -- negotiations with between Morales and eastern governors -- that could lead to a new constitution.
And former vicepresident Victor Hugo Cardenas said that if voters did not vote for the referendum in Bolivia's nine departments it would be considered illegitimate and fuel divisions.
The eastern Bolivian governors are seeking increased autonomy and more authority over mineral resources -- especially oil and gas -- found in their region.
Some Catholic and evangelical clerics had opposed the referendum, fearing that the new constitution's declaration that the country is "independent" from religion could pave the way for abortion rights and gay marriage.
Ahead of the vote Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera made it clear that the national result was binding and applied to all Bolivians.
Although Morales is widely popular, his rise has heightened deep geographic, racial and class divisions in the country that are not expected to ease with the vote.
Bolivia already flirted with unrest bordering on civil war in September, when 20 indigenous government supporters were killed in a northern state.
Conflict has been brewing since Morales took office in 2005 and announced he would upset a social a centuries-old political order inherited from Spanish colonial times and subsequent military regimes.
The opposition, led by state governors in the country's more prosperous east, fear that Morales' march towards a socialist state is taking their nation into the orbit of Venezuela's fervently anti-US president, Hugo Chavez, and away from economic efficiency.
Morales's nationalization of the telecommunications and gas sectors has scared off foreign investors, worsening state finances that are now also battered by the global economic crisis.
Exit polls by two of the country's largest television networks showed that the new constitution being approved by a comfortable margin. Partial official results are due early Monday, with final results expected in three or four days.
"Now Bolivia is being re-founded!" Morales told supporters who gathered at the Plaza de Armas in La Paz to hear him speak from the balcony of the presidential palace.
"Here the colonial state ends, and internal and external colonialism end," said the leftist Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.
Morales called on the country's governors and mayors "to work together to implement the new constitution."
The new document scraps the single-term limit for the president, allowing Morales to stand for a second five-year term.
The changes also allow 36 indigenous communities and groups to win the right to territory, language and their own "community" justice, and enacts agrarian reform measures by limiting the size of landholdings.
The referendum was approved by 60 percent of the votes cast, according to the Unitel television network. ATB television network reported it was approved by 58 percent.
However the exit polls also showed that the referendum was badly defeated in the eastern departments of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, hotbeds of activity against the leftist president.
Morales earlier said that he expected the measure to be approved by 70 percent of voters, so the results encouraged his opponents.
In Chuquisaca, Governor Savina Cuellar held a rally and called for her people to refuse to abide by the document.
Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas told supporters at a rally that hundreds of thousands of Bolivians voted against the measure, and that this shows that the opposition has gained strength.
Tarija governor Mario Cossio, another Morales opponent, and called for a "national pact" -- negotiations with between Morales and eastern governors -- that could lead to a new constitution.
And former vicepresident Victor Hugo Cardenas said that if voters did not vote for the referendum in Bolivia's nine departments it would be considered illegitimate and fuel divisions.
The eastern Bolivian governors are seeking increased autonomy and more authority over mineral resources -- especially oil and gas -- found in their region.
Some Catholic and evangelical clerics had opposed the referendum, fearing that the new constitution's declaration that the country is "independent" from religion could pave the way for abortion rights and gay marriage.
Ahead of the vote Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera made it clear that the national result was binding and applied to all Bolivians.
Although Morales is widely popular, his rise has heightened deep geographic, racial and class divisions in the country that are not expected to ease with the vote.
Bolivia already flirted with unrest bordering on civil war in September, when 20 indigenous government supporters were killed in a northern state.
Conflict has been brewing since Morales took office in 2005 and announced he would upset a social a centuries-old political order inherited from Spanish colonial times and subsequent military regimes.
The opposition, led by state governors in the country's more prosperous east, fear that Morales' march towards a socialist state is taking their nation into the orbit of Venezuela's fervently anti-US president, Hugo Chavez, and away from economic efficiency.
Morales's nationalization of the telecommunications and gas sectors has scared off foreign investors, worsening state finances that are now also battered by the global economic crisis.
Evo Morales promises ‘democratic revolution’
Naomi Mapstone in Lima and Andres Schipani in La Paz, January 23
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s popular leftwing president, has ended his campaign for a new constitution ahead of Sunday’s national referendum with promises of “democratic revolution” and a new era of equality for the volatile Andean nation.
At a rally in La Paz, thousands of supporters waved the multicoloured check flag of indigenous people and chanted “Evo, yes!” beneath a giant inflatable figure of Mr Morales in a trademark striped woollen jumper.
For Mr Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, the rally was a celebration of three years in office, and a milestone in his bid to extend state control over natural resources and redistribute land and set quotas for indigenous groups in government.
“There will be millions and millions of Bolivians who will guarantee the approval of the new constitution to refound Bolivia so as to be a new state with equal opportunities, a new state where everyone will have the same rights and duties,” Mr Morales said. “Brothers and sisters, we have to guarantee this democratic revolution with Evo Morales or without Evo Morales.”
Bolivians are widely expected to vote in favour of the constitution, which endorses “community justice” and the election of judges, removes Catholicism as the state religion and, in a supplementary question, seeks to limit landholdings to 5,000 hectares or 10,000 ha.
A new constitution is unlikely to bring long-term stability or economic advancement, however, given the country’s fractured opposition, its weak congress and radical elements on both sides of the political divide, said Michael Shifter, director of the Andean programme at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
“In the short term, Mr Morales will be in a strong position. However, I don’t think he wants to either discourage foreign investors or to provoke more of a confrontation with the opposition to make the situation unstable, which could really hurt the economy and cut into his political capital.”
Opposition to the constitution and to Mr Morales is strongest in the country’s south-east, home to much of Bolivia’s wealth of natural gas and many of its biggest landholders. Race is an explosive issue in Santa Cruz and the eastern lowlands, where the proportion of indigenous Bolivians is much lower than in the capital, La Paz, and the sierra. In September, after months of clashes, more than 20 pro-government supporters were killed in the state of Pando, forcing Mr Morales to the negotiating table. He agreed to limit himself to running for a single further term of five years, and to curbs on his land reform agenda, including a promise that new limits would not be applied retrospectively.
Branco Marinkovic, a millionaire businessman who leads a pro-autonomy movement based in racially charged Santa Cruz, told supporters this week the constitution was a project of Cuba and Venezuela. “This constitution is racist. It makes differences among Bolivians because of their ethnic origins. It is a constitution that wants everything to go to La Paz,” he said.
Osvaldo Ulloa, opposition member of the Constituent Assembly, said the constitution was inherently flawed. “Justice will be weakened, the democratic equilibrium will be broken,” he said. “Everything will be managed by the executive and their taskforce of social and indigenous movements.”
Christian groups have also thrown their weight behind the No campaign, with banners urging Bolivians to “Choose God, vote No”. However, given that Mr Morales secured 67 per cent of the vote in an August recall referendum, the question for many now is not if the constitution will be approved but how it should be implemented in the lead-up to December’s congressional elections.
“Now comes the more difficult part of figuring out what policies to pursue, because the constitution has broad outlines but many of its statements are pretty ambiguous,” said Mr Shifter. “It’s going to require a lot of the same kinds of negotiation that was necessary to reach agreement on this draft.”
Republished from FT
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s popular leftwing president, has ended his campaign for a new constitution ahead of Sunday’s national referendum with promises of “democratic revolution” and a new era of equality for the volatile Andean nation.
At a rally in La Paz, thousands of supporters waved the multicoloured check flag of indigenous people and chanted “Evo, yes!” beneath a giant inflatable figure of Mr Morales in a trademark striped woollen jumper.
For Mr Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, the rally was a celebration of three years in office, and a milestone in his bid to extend state control over natural resources and redistribute land and set quotas for indigenous groups in government.
“There will be millions and millions of Bolivians who will guarantee the approval of the new constitution to refound Bolivia so as to be a new state with equal opportunities, a new state where everyone will have the same rights and duties,” Mr Morales said. “Brothers and sisters, we have to guarantee this democratic revolution with Evo Morales or without Evo Morales.”
Bolivians are widely expected to vote in favour of the constitution, which endorses “community justice” and the election of judges, removes Catholicism as the state religion and, in a supplementary question, seeks to limit landholdings to 5,000 hectares or 10,000 ha.
A new constitution is unlikely to bring long-term stability or economic advancement, however, given the country’s fractured opposition, its weak congress and radical elements on both sides of the political divide, said Michael Shifter, director of the Andean programme at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
“In the short term, Mr Morales will be in a strong position. However, I don’t think he wants to either discourage foreign investors or to provoke more of a confrontation with the opposition to make the situation unstable, which could really hurt the economy and cut into his political capital.”
Opposition to the constitution and to Mr Morales is strongest in the country’s south-east, home to much of Bolivia’s wealth of natural gas and many of its biggest landholders. Race is an explosive issue in Santa Cruz and the eastern lowlands, where the proportion of indigenous Bolivians is much lower than in the capital, La Paz, and the sierra. In September, after months of clashes, more than 20 pro-government supporters were killed in the state of Pando, forcing Mr Morales to the negotiating table. He agreed to limit himself to running for a single further term of five years, and to curbs on his land reform agenda, including a promise that new limits would not be applied retrospectively.
Branco Marinkovic, a millionaire businessman who leads a pro-autonomy movement based in racially charged Santa Cruz, told supporters this week the constitution was a project of Cuba and Venezuela. “This constitution is racist. It makes differences among Bolivians because of their ethnic origins. It is a constitution that wants everything to go to La Paz,” he said.
Osvaldo Ulloa, opposition member of the Constituent Assembly, said the constitution was inherently flawed. “Justice will be weakened, the democratic equilibrium will be broken,” he said. “Everything will be managed by the executive and their taskforce of social and indigenous movements.”
Christian groups have also thrown their weight behind the No campaign, with banners urging Bolivians to “Choose God, vote No”. However, given that Mr Morales secured 67 per cent of the vote in an August recall referendum, the question for many now is not if the constitution will be approved but how it should be implemented in the lead-up to December’s congressional elections.
“Now comes the more difficult part of figuring out what policies to pursue, because the constitution has broad outlines but many of its statements are pretty ambiguous,” said Mr Shifter. “It’s going to require a lot of the same kinds of negotiation that was necessary to reach agreement on this draft.”
Republished from FT
As Bolivians Vote on New Constitution, Opposition Finds Itself Divided
Joshua Partlow, Sunday, January 25
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 24 -- Just six months ago, the enemies of President Evo Morales seemed brash with their power.
In the arc of lowland eastern regions known as the "half moon," which tend to be richer and whiter than those in the western mountains, leaders openly expressed their disdain for Morales. They considered Bolivia's first indigenous head of state an authoritarian socialist and acolyte of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
In protests and strikes, they mocked the former coca grower as nothing but a narco-president.
They held their own referendums and declared themselves autonomous. Some called for a military coup.
Among their ultimate aims was to stop Morales from passing a new national constitution that would enhance the power of the state over the economy, enshrine new rights for indigenous groups and perhaps give him several more years as president. The opposition vowed to stop it.
But as Bolivians go to the polls Sunday to vote on that constitution, Morales opponents are divided and seemingly demoralized, with many acknowledging they have little hope of voting it down. In a country where a majority of people are of indigenous descent and poor, the opposition does not, at the moment, have a national figure or a message to challenge the appeal and charisma of Morales.
"Today, there is not a serious opposition in the country," said Manfred Reyes Villa, the former governor of Cochabamba and a Morales opponent, who was ousted during a nationwide recall referendum in August.
Those free-market advocates who disagreed with Morales's policies -- demanding more regional revenue from oil and gas companies, state payments to poor children and the elderly -- coalesced not in a political party but around regional governors and civic committee leaders in the eastern states. They had momentum in May and June when Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija passed autonomy referendums.
But their movement stumbled in August, during a national referendum on whether to recall Morales halfway through his first term. Morales won by a landslide, capturing 67 percent of the vote, exceeding the 53 percent he achieved during his election in December 2005.
The victory not only energized his push for a new constitution, it also inflamed the situation in opposition territory. Anti-government mobs ransacked and burned government offices. The trouble peaked on Sept. 11, when a group of Morales supporters came under attack on a dirt road in the Amazonian region of Pando. About 20 people were killed, though the numbers are in dispute, and a subsequent report from the Union of South American Nations called it a "massacre." Civil war seemed a possibility.
"They were much more aggressive. They didn't have a response to the recall referendum," Antonio Peredo, a senator from Morales's Movement Toward Socialism party, said of the opposition. "The only response that they found was the violence, in hope that the government would respond with violence, and then they could publicize the image of an authoritarian dictatorship capable of massacres."
Morales imprisoned the governor of Pando, Leopoldo Fernández, and accused him of orchestrating the killings. The killings and the arrest, according to analysts and politicians, undercut the opposition's momentum.
"With Pando, the regional opposition just collapsed," said George Gray Molina, a research fellow at Oxford University and former United Nations official in Bolivia. "I think they lost authority and legitimacy even among their own grass roots."
Opposition leaders say it was Morales who became more aggressive, using what he saw as a powerful mandate from the recall referendum to crack down on his enemies.
Either way, the violence proved repellent to many.
"If there is one thing that unites Pacenos and Crucenos," as people here call residents of La Paz and Santa Cruz, "according to our research, it is a desire for reconciliation and unity and a rejection of violence and extremism," said Mark Feierstein, a partner in the Washington-based firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, which has recently conducted polls in Bolivia.
And Fernández's arrest, considered by Morales critics to be illegal, intimidated other opponents, said Jaime Aparicio, a former Bolivian ambassador to the United States.
"The moment that this governor was put in jail without due process and without legal procedure, the moment they accepted that, they were, first of all, divided, and second, they were totally scared the same thing could have happened to them," he said. "And that is when they lost their impulse and energy."
From this weakened negotiating position, opposition lawmakers agreed on Oct. 21 to a series of amendments to the constitution, to reach compromises on some of the administration's more controversial measures. That paved the way for Sunday's referendum.
The final draft of the 411-article constitution would increase the state's power and allow for presidents to be reelected, which could give Morales a second five-year term.
The new constitution would enshrine a series of rights for Bolivia's 36 Indian "nations," including setting aside seats for minority indigenous groups in the National Congress and requiring that they be consulted before natural resources are extracted in their territory.
"Historically and politically, this is going to be like closing a black page in our past. We are opening a new era, where we can build a new country," said Sabino Mendoza, a union leader for coca farmers and a member of the constituent assembly. "For the first time, the campesino, the indigenous person, will know that they have worked on this constitution . . . they are the owners of these ideas."
The constitution also would limit sprawling landholdings, and the state could confiscate land not deemed productive. Although existing properties would be grandfathered in, voters will decide whether the maximum size of future property should be 12,400 or 24,700 acres.
The opposition to Morales and this constitution are by no means gone, and the clamor of dissenting voices has grown louder in recent weeks. Marches and protests championing the "no" vote have attracted thousands.
The Catholic church has joined the fray over concerns such as the text's failure to declare life as beginning "from conception," which it fears might allow for the legalization of abortion.
The proposed draft also does not declare Catholicism the national religion, as the current constitution does.
But polls suggest that the opposition will have trouble mustering votes to stop the constitution. And Morales, who greeted screaming supporters Thursday night from a stage in front of the presidential palace in La Paz, seems nothing if not confident.
"Patriots, we are not visiting the palace, we are here to stay for life," he said. "Sunday's vote is not for the government; it is for the Bolivian people."
Republished from Washington Post
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 24 -- Just six months ago, the enemies of President Evo Morales seemed brash with their power.
In the arc of lowland eastern regions known as the "half moon," which tend to be richer and whiter than those in the western mountains, leaders openly expressed their disdain for Morales. They considered Bolivia's first indigenous head of state an authoritarian socialist and acolyte of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
In protests and strikes, they mocked the former coca grower as nothing but a narco-president.
They held their own referendums and declared themselves autonomous. Some called for a military coup.
Among their ultimate aims was to stop Morales from passing a new national constitution that would enhance the power of the state over the economy, enshrine new rights for indigenous groups and perhaps give him several more years as president. The opposition vowed to stop it.
But as Bolivians go to the polls Sunday to vote on that constitution, Morales opponents are divided and seemingly demoralized, with many acknowledging they have little hope of voting it down. In a country where a majority of people are of indigenous descent and poor, the opposition does not, at the moment, have a national figure or a message to challenge the appeal and charisma of Morales.
"Today, there is not a serious opposition in the country," said Manfred Reyes Villa, the former governor of Cochabamba and a Morales opponent, who was ousted during a nationwide recall referendum in August.
Those free-market advocates who disagreed with Morales's policies -- demanding more regional revenue from oil and gas companies, state payments to poor children and the elderly -- coalesced not in a political party but around regional governors and civic committee leaders in the eastern states. They had momentum in May and June when Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija passed autonomy referendums.
But their movement stumbled in August, during a national referendum on whether to recall Morales halfway through his first term. Morales won by a landslide, capturing 67 percent of the vote, exceeding the 53 percent he achieved during his election in December 2005.
The victory not only energized his push for a new constitution, it also inflamed the situation in opposition territory. Anti-government mobs ransacked and burned government offices. The trouble peaked on Sept. 11, when a group of Morales supporters came under attack on a dirt road in the Amazonian region of Pando. About 20 people were killed, though the numbers are in dispute, and a subsequent report from the Union of South American Nations called it a "massacre." Civil war seemed a possibility.
"They were much more aggressive. They didn't have a response to the recall referendum," Antonio Peredo, a senator from Morales's Movement Toward Socialism party, said of the opposition. "The only response that they found was the violence, in hope that the government would respond with violence, and then they could publicize the image of an authoritarian dictatorship capable of massacres."
Morales imprisoned the governor of Pando, Leopoldo Fernández, and accused him of orchestrating the killings. The killings and the arrest, according to analysts and politicians, undercut the opposition's momentum.
"With Pando, the regional opposition just collapsed," said George Gray Molina, a research fellow at Oxford University and former United Nations official in Bolivia. "I think they lost authority and legitimacy even among their own grass roots."
Opposition leaders say it was Morales who became more aggressive, using what he saw as a powerful mandate from the recall referendum to crack down on his enemies.
Either way, the violence proved repellent to many.
"If there is one thing that unites Pacenos and Crucenos," as people here call residents of La Paz and Santa Cruz, "according to our research, it is a desire for reconciliation and unity and a rejection of violence and extremism," said Mark Feierstein, a partner in the Washington-based firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, which has recently conducted polls in Bolivia.
And Fernández's arrest, considered by Morales critics to be illegal, intimidated other opponents, said Jaime Aparicio, a former Bolivian ambassador to the United States.
"The moment that this governor was put in jail without due process and without legal procedure, the moment they accepted that, they were, first of all, divided, and second, they were totally scared the same thing could have happened to them," he said. "And that is when they lost their impulse and energy."
From this weakened negotiating position, opposition lawmakers agreed on Oct. 21 to a series of amendments to the constitution, to reach compromises on some of the administration's more controversial measures. That paved the way for Sunday's referendum.
The final draft of the 411-article constitution would increase the state's power and allow for presidents to be reelected, which could give Morales a second five-year term.
The new constitution would enshrine a series of rights for Bolivia's 36 Indian "nations," including setting aside seats for minority indigenous groups in the National Congress and requiring that they be consulted before natural resources are extracted in their territory.
"Historically and politically, this is going to be like closing a black page in our past. We are opening a new era, where we can build a new country," said Sabino Mendoza, a union leader for coca farmers and a member of the constituent assembly. "For the first time, the campesino, the indigenous person, will know that they have worked on this constitution . . . they are the owners of these ideas."
The constitution also would limit sprawling landholdings, and the state could confiscate land not deemed productive. Although existing properties would be grandfathered in, voters will decide whether the maximum size of future property should be 12,400 or 24,700 acres.
The opposition to Morales and this constitution are by no means gone, and the clamor of dissenting voices has grown louder in recent weeks. Marches and protests championing the "no" vote have attracted thousands.
The Catholic church has joined the fray over concerns such as the text's failure to declare life as beginning "from conception," which it fears might allow for the legalization of abortion.
The proposed draft also does not declare Catholicism the national religion, as the current constitution does.
But polls suggest that the opposition will have trouble mustering votes to stop the constitution. And Morales, who greeted screaming supporters Thursday night from a stage in front of the presidential palace in La Paz, seems nothing if not confident.
"Patriots, we are not visiting the palace, we are here to stay for life," he said. "Sunday's vote is not for the government; it is for the Bolivian people."
Republished from Washington Post
Bolivia: After Rallies for New Constitution, Morales Nationalizes Oil Company
Benjamin Dangl, Saturday, 24 January 2009
On Thursday, January 22, the last day of campaigning for the new constitution before the document is set to a vote on Sunday, January 25th, representatives from Bolivia’s diverse social movements convened in downtown La Paz. The rally, located in the Plaza Murillo, marked the end of over two years of meetings, conflicts and mobilizations to, as President Evo Morales often says in speeches, "constitutionalize" much-needed changes. The following day, Morales nationalized the Chaco oil company.
All of the previous weeks' marches for the constitution seemed to gather in the plaza, along with a culmination of fireworks, cheers and music. At a central stage, acts alternated between speeches from representatives of the various social movements present and musical performances from groups from around the country, including Afro-Bolivian dances and political hip-hop from La Paz. Members of the Bartolina Sisa women’s organization spoke, along with miners, neighborhood council members, retirees, students, and campesino and indigenous leaders.
The presence of such diverse groups underscored the importance of Bolivian social movements’ participation in the process of change carried out in collaboration with the government. As Sacha Llorenti, the Vice Minister of the Coordination of Bolivian Social Movements told TeleSUR, "The structural transformations that the country is going through cannot be understood without recognizing [the role of] the social movements, the popular organizations of this country."
The plaza was packed. People were dancing in the streets, bands played around the area, both on and off stage, pounding drums and blowing into flutes. Just as the crowds and marches from around the city converged, so did the campaign literature – pamphlets, papers, calendars, posters – everything was being passed around, even tossed into the air like confetti. Though Bolivian flags were draped around the plaza, the majority of the flags were the rainbow checkered wiphalas of Bolivia’s indigenous majority. Beer was sold on the sidewalk – a reminder that this was the last legal day to drink alcohol before the vote; drinking, like campaigning for the constitution, was prohibited for the next three days to promote clear-headed voting on Sunday.
Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived around 8pm, after giving a speech in La Paz earlier that day, flying to Cochabamba to close the campaign there, and then returning to the Plaza Murillo for a final push for the constitution. When Morales arrived, someone from the stage began a chant that spread through the crowd: "Evo! Evo! Evo!" The President spoke of the diversity of the crowd, the music and culture present in the plaza. "This is plurinationalism," he said, referring to a key theme in the constitution. "But some [elite] families in Bolivia don’t believe in plurinationalism," he continued, pointing his finger in the air, condemning the new constitution’s critics. He went on to speak of the progressive gains in the new constitution, discussed the victory of his recall vote in August, and the regional support he’s received from other Latin American leaders: "happily, we aren’t alone." After touching on the standard themes from recent speeches, he closed with a "Patria o Muerte" cheer.
The applause that followed was quickly stifled by thundering explosions from fireworks set off in the middle of the plaza. The fireworks blasted off in random directions, dangerously close to the crowd, with bits and pieces of cardboard from the explosions flying everywhere. Besides the hope that many in the crowd were savoring for the moment, what was striking was that just over 50 years ago it was illegal for indigenous people to enter the Plaza Murillo. And on that night, a largely indigenous crowd was celebrating the imminent passage of a new constitution that would grant unprecedented rights to Bolivia’s indigenous majority.
The next day, Friday, January 23, Morales signed a decree nationalizing all of the shares of the Chaco Petrolera Ltd. Oil Company. The President said employees at the company would keep their jobs, but the directive board would be replaced. The company is managed by Anglo-Argentine Panamerican Energy, and is a subsidiary of the British company BP. Under Morales, the Bolivian government has previously taken over various gas, oil, mining and telecom companies.
After signing the decree in Entre Rios, Morales said, "Little by little, we are taking back our companies, our natural resources." He explained that "oil companies are not respecting Bolivian standards," but that the government "will respect private investment as long as they respect Bolivian norms… We want partners, not bosses."
"The best homage to the country and for those who have given their lives in social struggles is this recuperation [of the gas industry] which belongs to us," Pedro Montes, the executive leader of the Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB), told the Agencia Boliviana de Información. "Evo Morales is not alone because we, the workers, are accompanying him."
Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Bolivia, and is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press). He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com
On Thursday, January 22, the last day of campaigning for the new constitution before the document is set to a vote on Sunday, January 25th, representatives from Bolivia’s diverse social movements convened in downtown La Paz. The rally, located in the Plaza Murillo, marked the end of over two years of meetings, conflicts and mobilizations to, as President Evo Morales often says in speeches, "constitutionalize" much-needed changes. The following day, Morales nationalized the Chaco oil company.
All of the previous weeks' marches for the constitution seemed to gather in the plaza, along with a culmination of fireworks, cheers and music. At a central stage, acts alternated between speeches from representatives of the various social movements present and musical performances from groups from around the country, including Afro-Bolivian dances and political hip-hop from La Paz. Members of the Bartolina Sisa women’s organization spoke, along with miners, neighborhood council members, retirees, students, and campesino and indigenous leaders.
The presence of such diverse groups underscored the importance of Bolivian social movements’ participation in the process of change carried out in collaboration with the government. As Sacha Llorenti, the Vice Minister of the Coordination of Bolivian Social Movements told TeleSUR, "The structural transformations that the country is going through cannot be understood without recognizing [the role of] the social movements, the popular organizations of this country."
The plaza was packed. People were dancing in the streets, bands played around the area, both on and off stage, pounding drums and blowing into flutes. Just as the crowds and marches from around the city converged, so did the campaign literature – pamphlets, papers, calendars, posters – everything was being passed around, even tossed into the air like confetti. Though Bolivian flags were draped around the plaza, the majority of the flags were the rainbow checkered wiphalas of Bolivia’s indigenous majority. Beer was sold on the sidewalk – a reminder that this was the last legal day to drink alcohol before the vote; drinking, like campaigning for the constitution, was prohibited for the next three days to promote clear-headed voting on Sunday.
Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived around 8pm, after giving a speech in La Paz earlier that day, flying to Cochabamba to close the campaign there, and then returning to the Plaza Murillo for a final push for the constitution. When Morales arrived, someone from the stage began a chant that spread through the crowd: "Evo! Evo! Evo!" The President spoke of the diversity of the crowd, the music and culture present in the plaza. "This is plurinationalism," he said, referring to a key theme in the constitution. "But some [elite] families in Bolivia don’t believe in plurinationalism," he continued, pointing his finger in the air, condemning the new constitution’s critics. He went on to speak of the progressive gains in the new constitution, discussed the victory of his recall vote in August, and the regional support he’s received from other Latin American leaders: "happily, we aren’t alone." After touching on the standard themes from recent speeches, he closed with a "Patria o Muerte" cheer.
The applause that followed was quickly stifled by thundering explosions from fireworks set off in the middle of the plaza. The fireworks blasted off in random directions, dangerously close to the crowd, with bits and pieces of cardboard from the explosions flying everywhere. Besides the hope that many in the crowd were savoring for the moment, what was striking was that just over 50 years ago it was illegal for indigenous people to enter the Plaza Murillo. And on that night, a largely indigenous crowd was celebrating the imminent passage of a new constitution that would grant unprecedented rights to Bolivia’s indigenous majority.
The next day, Friday, January 23, Morales signed a decree nationalizing all of the shares of the Chaco Petrolera Ltd. Oil Company. The President said employees at the company would keep their jobs, but the directive board would be replaced. The company is managed by Anglo-Argentine Panamerican Energy, and is a subsidiary of the British company BP. Under Morales, the Bolivian government has previously taken over various gas, oil, mining and telecom companies.
After signing the decree in Entre Rios, Morales said, "Little by little, we are taking back our companies, our natural resources." He explained that "oil companies are not respecting Bolivian standards," but that the government "will respect private investment as long as they respect Bolivian norms… We want partners, not bosses."
"The best homage to the country and for those who have given their lives in social struggles is this recuperation [of the gas industry] which belongs to us," Pedro Montes, the executive leader of the Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB), told the Agencia Boliviana de Información. "Evo Morales is not alone because we, the workers, are accompanying him."
Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Bolivia, and is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press). He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com
Bolivia's New Constitution
Alex van Schaick, Jan 21 2009
In October,
Indigenous Rights
Strengthening the rights and power of
Article 5 requires that the state institutions cater to the linguistic traditions of indigenous people, who may be less comfortable speaking Spanish than a native language. The article stresses, "The official languages of the State are Spanish and all the languages of the indigenous peoples and nations. The pluri-national Government and the departmental governments must use at least two official languages, one of which must be Spanish and the other will be chosen taking into account the use, convenience, circumstances, necessities and preferences of the population."
The Bolivian constitution cements some of the rights outlined in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which supports indigenous self-government and self-determination. Article 289 in the constitution stipulates, "Rural indigenous autonomy consists of self-government and the exercise of self-determination for rural indigenous nations and native peoples who share territory, culture, history, language, and unique forms of juridical, political, social, and economic organization."
Concretely, the draft constitution gives indigenous people organized in an autonomous territory the right to write their own statutes, as long as these do not violate any laws or the constitution. Indigenous communities will decide how to manage development—economic and otherwise—how to administer local natural resources. Local indigenous governments will also be allowed to levy some taxes and appropriate the funds.
Fulfilling a long-standing demand of
New Responsibilities of the State
The state has myriad new responsibilities to the Bolivian people under the draft constitution. Citizens have the right to water, food, education, health care, housing, retirement, electricity, telecommunications, and other basic services. The state will have the obligation to insure access to such basic services in an efficient and equitable manner. Education must be free and health insurance must be universal.
Article 20 establishes access to water and sewage systems as human rights and bans the privatization of these services.
The new Magna Carta guarantees access to pharmaceuticals with the state prioritizing the domestic production of generic drugs. Access to drugs "cannot be restricted by intellectual property rights or commercialization," reads article 41. And Article 42 states, "It is the responsibility of the State to promote and guarantee the respect, use, research, and practice of traditional medicine" and mandates the creation of a register of natural medicines as the cultural patrimony of
Sovereignty over Strategic Resources
One of the central demands of
Article 349 declares, "Natural resources are the inalienable and indivisible property and direct dominion of the Bolivian people and will be administrated, in the collective interest, by the State." YPFB, the state oil and gas company, will be in charge of the entire productive chain (exploration, exploitation, commercialization), although it is authorized to sign contracts with private companies allowing their participation in productive activities. Both YPFB and
Gender Rights
The draft constitution contains provisions that strengthen women's rights although it falls short on abortion and same-sex marriage or civil unions. On the positive side, article 14 prohibits discrimination based on sex, gender identity, or sexual preference. And article 15 contains language against familial and gendered violence. Article 48 guarantees equal remuneration for men and women with the same job.
The constitution also requires equal participation of women and men in
Workers' Rights
With regard to workers rights, the new constitution does not fundamentally alter worker-employer relations but offers workers a few new protections. Aside from recognizing the right to strike and form unions, the constitution guarantees job stability. According to Article 49, "The State will protect job stability. Unjustified firing and all forms of labor abuse are prohibited."
Article 54 establishes that workers in businesses that are going bankrupt or are abandoned in "an unjustified way" will be able to take over such enterprises, with State support, and turn them into "community or social" business if such action is in accord with the law and the public interest.
Environmental Rights
Military Issues
Following in
While
It remains to be seen whether the lofty aims of the constitution will yield concrete results.
Alex van Schaick is a NACLA Research Associate. He recently returned from a Fulbright scholarship in
Republished from NACLA
¿Sí o No? Bolivians Mobilize for National Vote on New Constitution
Benjamin Dangl
In the morning on Sunday, January 18, after a heavy rain fell on La Paz, Bolivia, the sun came out, drying the umbrellas of thousands of marchers winding through the city streets. The mobilization was in support of a new constitution which is to be voted on this January 25.
Eddie Mamani, a resident of La Paz with an indigenous wiphala flag draped around his neck, spoke loudly to be heard over the brass band playing behind him. "For too many years we have been exploited by right wing politicians who do not govern for all Bolivians. We are marching today for our children and our grandchildren."
The march, which stretched for some five blocks, was filled with the white, blue and black flags of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), the party of President Evo Morales. The sound of fireworks mixed with honking horns from cars and buses waiting for the march to pass. While posters of Morales bobbed up and down in the crowd, and copies of the new constitution were handed out to onlookers, marchers yelled "Sí, Sí, Sí! Vamos por el Sí," urging voters to cast a "Yes" ballot in the upcoming vote. Polls indicate that the constitution will be approved.
Along with the nationalization of Bolivia’s gas reserves, rewriting the constitution was a major promise of Morales during his 2005 presidential campaign. The road to this new constitution has been a long, complicated and often violent one. One key event in this process was the July 2, 2006 election of assembly members to the constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. Later, in December of 2007, the new constitution was passed in an assembly meeting in Oruro which was boycotted by opposition members. After months of street battles and political meetings, the Bolivian congress ratified a new draft of the constitution last October 21. In many ways, these various steps will culminate in the January 25th vote.
Among other significant changes, the new constitution allows for a broader involvement of the state in the Bolivian economy, including the state’s participation in the gas and oil industry. It establishes the Bolivian state as plurinacional to reflect the diversity of indigenous and Afro-Bolivian groups in the country. It formally promotes the official use of the country’s 36 indigenous languages. The new constitution also grants autonomy to indigenous groups across the nation, enabling them to govern their own communities. This autonomy for indigenous communities may undermine the power of right wing prefects in opposition-led departments. The current constitution also expands the number of seats in the recently opposition-controlled Senate, and other seats are reserved specifically for Senators elected from indigenous communities.
Like many of the constitution’s critics, Rolando, a thirty something resident of La Paz, was not enthusiastic about the extended rights granted to indigenous people. Rolando, sporting a beard and baseball cap, said he wouldn’t be voting in support of the new constitution because "it was not written for all Bolivians. It just takes into account the rights of rural and indigenous communities." This is an often-heard critique of the constitution. Yet it doesn’t fully take into account that 62% of the population self-identify as indigenous, and about the same percentage live under the poverty line. Many who support the new constitution are doing so because the document grants long overdue rights to the "originarios," indigenous Bolivians who have been marginalized for centuries.
Another point of contention is the way the constitution deals with religion. The current constitution says, "The State recognizes and upholds the apostolic Roman Catholic religion. [It] guarantees the exercise of every other cult." The new constitution says, "The State respects and guarantees the liberty of religion and spiritual beliefs, in accord with one’s cosmovisiones. The State is independent of religion." Many critics, besides fearing the separation of church and state, say this change opens the window for the government to allow gay marriage and legalize abortion. Unfortunately, nothing indicates that pushing for such much-needed policy changes is on the current government’s agenda.
Under the new constitution, land deemed productive will not be broken up by the government, but unproductive land will be redistributed, and a cap on new land purchases – set either at 5,000 or 10,000 hectares – will be voted on separately. Land reform is an area of the constitution which has been highly criticized from the Bolivian left. Critics say the constitution should go further in addressing the fact that most of Bolivia’s land is in the hands of just a few wealthy families. These weak land reforms are considered a major concession to the right wing; much of Bolivia’s fertile land is in the eastern departments, currently controlled by opposition prefects.
In what appears to have been another concession to the opposition, the draft constitution was also changed to prevent Morales from running for two additional terms, as an earlier draft of the constitution allowed. If the new constitution is approved, Morales will run for his last consecutive term in general elections in December of 2009.
The coming days will be full of marches across the country for and against the new constitution. Sunday’s mobilization was a preview of things to come. Max, a participant in the march waving a MAS flag, and who described himself as "just another Bolivian citizen," said that he is supporting the new constitution because of the many constitutions which Bolivia has had throughout its history, "this is the best one." He also approved of the way the constitution was developed in the constituent assembly and believed it was "written for all Bolivians" and will "help keep our leaders honest."
One section of this march ended up in a park with a giant blown-up balloon figure of Evo Morales in the middle of it, and dozens of people handing out pamphlets on the new constitution and MAS calendars for the new year. While one group of people slapped "Sí" bumper stickers on cars in the area, another woman methodically peeled the same stickers off the guard rail of a nearby bridge.
Lourdes Calla, a brown-haired activist in the MAS, wove a wiphala flag and jumped to the rhythm of a nearby chant. "I am voting in support of the constitution for the equality of all Bolivians – there should be no upper and lower economic class, we’re all Bolivians," she said. "This new constitution has been created through a historically democratic process, and defends the rights of indigenous and rural communities. Now is the time to put these rights into practice."
Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Bolivia, and is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press). He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com
In the morning on Sunday, January 18, after a heavy rain fell on La Paz, Bolivia, the sun came out, drying the umbrellas of thousands of marchers winding through the city streets. The mobilization was in support of a new constitution which is to be voted on this January 25.
Eddie Mamani, a resident of La Paz with an indigenous wiphala flag draped around his neck, spoke loudly to be heard over the brass band playing behind him. "For too many years we have been exploited by right wing politicians who do not govern for all Bolivians. We are marching today for our children and our grandchildren."
The march, which stretched for some five blocks, was filled with the white, blue and black flags of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), the party of President Evo Morales. The sound of fireworks mixed with honking horns from cars and buses waiting for the march to pass. While posters of Morales bobbed up and down in the crowd, and copies of the new constitution were handed out to onlookers, marchers yelled "Sí, Sí, Sí! Vamos por el Sí," urging voters to cast a "Yes" ballot in the upcoming vote. Polls indicate that the constitution will be approved.
Along with the nationalization of Bolivia’s gas reserves, rewriting the constitution was a major promise of Morales during his 2005 presidential campaign. The road to this new constitution has been a long, complicated and often violent one. One key event in this process was the July 2, 2006 election of assembly members to the constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. Later, in December of 2007, the new constitution was passed in an assembly meeting in Oruro which was boycotted by opposition members. After months of street battles and political meetings, the Bolivian congress ratified a new draft of the constitution last October 21. In many ways, these various steps will culminate in the January 25th vote.
Among other significant changes, the new constitution allows for a broader involvement of the state in the Bolivian economy, including the state’s participation in the gas and oil industry. It establishes the Bolivian state as plurinacional to reflect the diversity of indigenous and Afro-Bolivian groups in the country. It formally promotes the official use of the country’s 36 indigenous languages. The new constitution also grants autonomy to indigenous groups across the nation, enabling them to govern their own communities. This autonomy for indigenous communities may undermine the power of right wing prefects in opposition-led departments. The current constitution also expands the number of seats in the recently opposition-controlled Senate, and other seats are reserved specifically for Senators elected from indigenous communities.
Like many of the constitution’s critics, Rolando, a thirty something resident of La Paz, was not enthusiastic about the extended rights granted to indigenous people. Rolando, sporting a beard and baseball cap, said he wouldn’t be voting in support of the new constitution because "it was not written for all Bolivians. It just takes into account the rights of rural and indigenous communities." This is an often-heard critique of the constitution. Yet it doesn’t fully take into account that 62% of the population self-identify as indigenous, and about the same percentage live under the poverty line. Many who support the new constitution are doing so because the document grants long overdue rights to the "originarios," indigenous Bolivians who have been marginalized for centuries.
Another point of contention is the way the constitution deals with religion. The current constitution says, "The State recognizes and upholds the apostolic Roman Catholic religion. [It] guarantees the exercise of every other cult." The new constitution says, "The State respects and guarantees the liberty of religion and spiritual beliefs, in accord with one’s cosmovisiones. The State is independent of religion." Many critics, besides fearing the separation of church and state, say this change opens the window for the government to allow gay marriage and legalize abortion. Unfortunately, nothing indicates that pushing for such much-needed policy changes is on the current government’s agenda.
Under the new constitution, land deemed productive will not be broken up by the government, but unproductive land will be redistributed, and a cap on new land purchases – set either at 5,000 or 10,000 hectares – will be voted on separately. Land reform is an area of the constitution which has been highly criticized from the Bolivian left. Critics say the constitution should go further in addressing the fact that most of Bolivia’s land is in the hands of just a few wealthy families. These weak land reforms are considered a major concession to the right wing; much of Bolivia’s fertile land is in the eastern departments, currently controlled by opposition prefects.
In what appears to have been another concession to the opposition, the draft constitution was also changed to prevent Morales from running for two additional terms, as an earlier draft of the constitution allowed. If the new constitution is approved, Morales will run for his last consecutive term in general elections in December of 2009.
The coming days will be full of marches across the country for and against the new constitution. Sunday’s mobilization was a preview of things to come. Max, a participant in the march waving a MAS flag, and who described himself as "just another Bolivian citizen," said that he is supporting the new constitution because of the many constitutions which Bolivia has had throughout its history, "this is the best one." He also approved of the way the constitution was developed in the constituent assembly and believed it was "written for all Bolivians" and will "help keep our leaders honest."
One section of this march ended up in a park with a giant blown-up balloon figure of Evo Morales in the middle of it, and dozens of people handing out pamphlets on the new constitution and MAS calendars for the new year. While one group of people slapped "Sí" bumper stickers on cars in the area, another woman methodically peeled the same stickers off the guard rail of a nearby bridge.
Lourdes Calla, a brown-haired activist in the MAS, wove a wiphala flag and jumped to the rhythm of a nearby chant. "I am voting in support of the constitution for the equality of all Bolivians – there should be no upper and lower economic class, we’re all Bolivians," she said. "This new constitution has been created through a historically democratic process, and defends the rights of indigenous and rural communities. Now is the time to put these rights into practice."
Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Bolivia, and is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press). He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com
Bolivia to take Israel to The Hague
Fri, 16 Jan 2009
Bolivia is seeking to take Tel Aviv to International Criminal Court over the brutal atrocities the Israeli forces have committed in Gaza.
The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible for the offensive on the Gaza Strip" and make it to stand trial at the international body in the Hague, said Sacha Llorenti, whose portfolio covers civil society.
Moves to begin the legal process will begin "probably next week," Bolivia's deputy justice and human rights minister Wilfredo Chavez told journalists during the visit to Geneva, AFP reported on Friday.
Bolivia followed in the steps of its ally Venezuela and severed diplomatic ties with Israel over its massacre of the Gazans and snubbing the international calls for an 'immediate' and 'durable' truce, said the Latin American governments.
The Bolivian president Evo Morales told a group of diplomats in the administrative capital of La Paz that he will request the International Criminal Court (ICC) to file genocide charges against Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The ICC is competent to adjudicate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after 2002.
Israel and its closest ally, the United States, are not among the 108 signatories of the Rome Statute creating the Hague-based court in 2000 to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
After 21 days of non-stop bombardment and aggression, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has left 1,133 Palestinians killed and more than 5,200 wounded.
Republished from Press TV
Bolivia is seeking to take Tel Aviv to International Criminal Court over the brutal atrocities the Israeli forces have committed in Gaza.
The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible for the offensive on the Gaza Strip" and make it to stand trial at the international body in the Hague, said Sacha Llorenti, whose portfolio covers civil society.
Moves to begin the legal process will begin "probably next week," Bolivia's deputy justice and human rights minister Wilfredo Chavez told journalists during the visit to Geneva, AFP reported on Friday.
Bolivia followed in the steps of its ally Venezuela and severed diplomatic ties with Israel over its massacre of the Gazans and snubbing the international calls for an 'immediate' and 'durable' truce, said the Latin American governments.
The Bolivian president Evo Morales told a group of diplomats in the administrative capital of La Paz that he will request the International Criminal Court (ICC) to file genocide charges against Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The ICC is competent to adjudicate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after 2002.
Israel and its closest ally, the United States, are not among the 108 signatories of the Rome Statute creating the Hague-based court in 2000 to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
After 21 days of non-stop bombardment and aggression, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has left 1,133 Palestinians killed and more than 5,200 wounded.
Republished from Press TV
Bolivia severs ties with Israel
January 14, 2009 -- Al Jazeera -- Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, says he is breaking off ties with Israel in protest against its war in Gaza, which has left more than 1000 Palestinians dead.
Morales said on Wednesday that he would seek to get top Israeli officials, including Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, charged with "genocide" in the International Criminal Court.
The Bolivian president also dismissed the United Nations and its "Insecurity Council" for its "lukewarm" response to the crisis and said the general assembly should hold an emergency session to condemn the invasion.
"Considering these grave attacks against ... humanity, Bolivia will stop having diplomatic relations with Israel," Morales told diplomats in the Bolivian capital, La Paz.
He also said that Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, should be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize for failing to stop the invasion.
Palestinian 'holocaust'
Morales's move follows the decision by his ally Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, to expel Israel's ambassador in the country because of the offensive, calling it a "holocaust". Morales expelled the US ambassador from Bolivia in September after accusing him of encouraging violent protests against his government.
Chavez did the same not long afterwards in "solidarity" with Morales.
More than 1000 Palestinians have now died in Israel's offensive in Gaza, around 40 per cent of whom were civilians, aid agencies and Palestinian medics say.
Thirteen Israelis have also died, four from rocket fire from Gaza
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