[News] Morales wins Bolivia majority vote

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Two Stories Follow

Morales wins Bolivia majority vote
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/08/2008811151353449635.html


Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, has won a 
referendum on his presidency, in a move that he 
hopes will break a political deadlock with opposition governors.

Morales was set to continue with his policies on 
Monday, with more than 63 per cent of voters 
ratifying his mandate and that of Alvaro Garcia, 
his vice president, according to unofficial results.

"Your vote consolidated the process of 
change,"  Morales told a flag-waving crowd in La 
Paz, the Bolivian capital on Sunday.

"We are here to continue recovering natural 
resources and the consolidation of nationalization."

Morales also called on four opposition governors 
who are defying his political programme to work with him.

But the president's victory in Sunday's polls was 
tempered by strong gains for his political 
enemies, leaving the country sharply divided.

Political opposition

The governors of the states of Santa Cruz, 
Tarija, Pando and Beni overnight celebrated their 
own strong wins in the referendum.

Ruben Costas, governor of Santa Cruz, struck out 
in his speech against the president's 
"dictatorship" and vowed Morales would not be able to step foot in his state.

Of the other four state governors whose jobs were 
also on the line in the plebiscite, three were 
seen to have been ousted - two of them Morales critics.

Manfred Reyes, of the central state of Cochabamba 
and one of the opposition leaders rejected in the 
referendum, has vowed to fight any attempt to make him stand down.

That raised the prospect of violence in his 
state, which has already been shaken by clashes 
early last year between his supporters and Morales loyalists.

Morales relies on massive support among Bolivia's 
indigenous majority, which accounts for six out 
of 10 of the country's inhabitants.

They live mostly in the Andes to the west and 
have become increasingly assertive under Morales 
in their demands for a greater share of the national wealth.

But the elite, mostly of European descent, have 
much of the national wealth in the eastern 
lowlands in the form of farmland and gas fields.
**********************************************************************
Optimism and Uncertainty Follow Bolivian Recall Vote

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1418/1/
Written by Alexander van Schaick
Monday, 11 August 2008

Cochabamba, Bolivia - President Evo Morales and 
his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party won a 
resounding victory in Bolivia’s Recall Referendum 
held Sunday, August 10. According to exit polls, 
more than 60% Bolivian citizens voted "Si" to 
ratify Morales, a mandate that he hopes will 
enable the approval of Bolivia’s new draft constitution.

The recall referendum also put eight of Bolivia’s 
nine departmental prefects (governors) to popular 
vote. According to exit polls, opposition 
Prefects Manfred Reyes Villa in Cochabamba and 
José Luis Paredes in La Paz were trounced at the 
ballot box, each with only 40 percent support. In 
Oruro, Alberto Aguilar, one of the two prefects 
aligned with MAS, may also be revoked.

On the other hand, in Bolivia’s lowlands, where 
opponents of President Morales have led a 
movement for "Departmental Autonomy" from the 
central government, the prefects of Santa Cruz, 
Beni and Tarija have been approved with large 
margins of support. It is unclear if Leopoldo 
Fernández, prefect of the lowland department of 
Pando, has garnered enough votes to continue in his post.

The referendum did not include Savina Cuéllar, 
Chuquisaca’s conservative prefect, given she 
assumed the position only a month ago after a special election.

On a national level, MAS has scored an important 
victory in reaffirming support for their national 
agenda, including state recuperation of natural 
resources, wealth redistribution, agrarian 
reform, and support for indigenous rights. 
However, conservative sectors have once again 
shown their strength in the lowlands and will 
likely continue to impede the Morales administration at every step of the way.

Ruben Costas, Prefect of Santa Cruz, stated 
during a victory speech, "This insensible 
totalitarian, MASista, incapable government 
negates the development of the people and only 
seeks to concentrate power and convert us into its pawns."

In Cochabamba, it remains unclear how the results 
of the Recall Referendum will play out. Despite 
his lack of popular support, Manfred Reyes Villa 
announced in a message Sunday night that he will 
not recognize the results of the Referendum and carry on his work as prefect.

"We are going to continue doing battle legally 
against the [Recall Referendum] because someone 
has to be at the head of the defense of Democracy 
and Bolivian citizens' rights and obligations and 
that someone is me," stated the prefect, as 
quoted in the Cochabamba daily, Opinion.

Since the Senate passed the law convoking the 
Recall Referendum, Reyes Villa has carried out a 
legal and media campaign against the referendum 
on the basis of what he views as its unconstitutionality.

After the results were announced on Sunday night, 
a crowd of several hundred people gathered 
outside the prefect’s office in Cochabamba’s 
principal plaza, shouting "Manfred Out" and 
"Don’t cry now Manfred!" If Reyes Villa refuses 
to step down, peasant and left-wing urban 
organizations will almost certainly mobilize to 
force him out of office. Such a scenario might 
lead to a repeat of January 11, 2007, when three 
people where killed in fights between supporters 
of Reyes Villa and President Morales.





Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20080811/7a7c3dd3/attachment.html