Morales’ party MAS predisposed to yield district autonomy in Bolivia
La Paz, July 9th (EFE) - One of president Evo Morales' closest collaborators affirmed today that Bolivia's governing party is predisposed to allow the establishment of autonomous regimes in the four of the country's districts, where such an initiative has the support of the majority. Raul Prada, who was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly on July 2nd, said in his testimony on Radio Erbol that this "predisposition" is not only held by Morales' party, but also by "all the progressive organizations."
In addition to electing members of the Constituent Assembly, the Bolivians who came to the ballot boxes last Sunday were asked to express themselves at a referendum on whether or not the national government should cede political and administrative autonomy to several regions of the country.
Although the "no" position on the autonomist model was the most-chosen option (57.5 percent), the "yes" votes were a majority in four of the nine districts of the country, Santa Cruz, Beni, Tarija, and Pando. Prada expressed himself as in favor of "accepting the results" of these four districts. He said that "the Constituent Assembly, which will be installed on August 6, must resolve administrative and political rivalries in order to write a new constitution." According to Prada, a university professor, "there has not been any more discussion on the autonomy issue in the government party."
Last week, president Morales insisted that there was nothing for him to talk about and that the matter should be resolved by the Constituent Assembly, although he hinted afterwards that he recognized the electoral result of the regions. With regard to Morales' position, the governments of the four districts demanded that the president respect the will of the people and announced that they will defend the votes of their regions "through any means within their reach."
Prada leaned toward rejecting the notion that there is a confrontation over autonomy. "There isn't," he asserted while pointing out that "it's not sensible to dwell" on an issue that concerns the cruceno, beniano, pandino, and tarijeno leaders. According to the MAS assembly member, the important thing right now is to define, in a step-by-step fashion, the political and administrative rivalries that the autonomous governments of these four districts will have and those that will be given to the five who reject the autonomist process.
For the La Paz, Oruro, Potosi, Chuquisaca, and Cochabamba districts, which are all located in the Andean zone and the valleys of Bolivia, Prada also said that there will be "special regimes within the new state" that MAS is asking to create in its plan to "re-establish" the country. "One must discuss, for example, the autonomy of Aymaran, Quechuan, and Mestizo communities in a complete state that responds to the complexity of their specific needs regarding government, expression, and cultural dynamics," he pointed out to Erbol.
Prada defended the right of the indigenous communities, which amount to over 30 percent of Bolivian territory, to establish their own autonomies with their respective forms of government. In exchange, he insisted that the Constituent Assembly should prepare a magna carta equivalent to the creation of a new state. "We should not restrict ourselves to local matters. We must handle national issues, which are the ones we have to construct a new state with," he emphasized.
In the Constituent Assembly, which will be operational for a year in Sucre, MAS will have at least 140 positions, which amounts to 53 percent of the assembly's total 255 members, according to president Morales' party's calculations. EFE Univision.com