It’s no secret that Bolivia has been on a track course much like Venezuela, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, current president of the country, has stated so himself. In fact, one of Morales’ political allies and mentors has been none other than Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. Such a role model has been all too apparent, as Morales is attempting to pull off a similar constitutional maneuver that Chavez is currently attempting as well, thereby making Morales what I call Chavez's shadow clone.
But I digress. As the BBC of November 27, 2007 reports, the constitutional draft Morales has been pushing for was violently met with protests in the Sucre region started November 24 after some 150 pro-government delegates to a Constituent Assembly on Saturday approved the outlines of a new draft constitution. The opposition boycotted the meeting and thus the draft constitution was easily passed. One of the provisions of the constitutional package is a removal of the term limits to the Bolivian presidency, a controversial change that is also the centerpiece of Venezuela’s current constitutional reform package. Given the fact that protests have occurred in response to this new draft proposal, one wonders just how south Morale's plan has gone. Today, let's consider the this recent development, which has been quite the problematic thorn in Morales' administration.
Clearly, the riots are indicative of a strong disapproval of Morales’ current plan. While Morales was elected to office on his leftists, almost-socialist policies, his new political agenda is starkly similar to that of Venezuela’s authoritarian, leftist government. The Reuters UK of November 26, 2007 reports that many Bolivians are unhappy with this change. While they are happy with socialist welfare policies and land reforms, they do not want to much power centralized into the government. The BBC of the same date adds that such Bolivians fear the loss of rights at the hands of corrupt governments. The riots, which left three dead and at least 130 injured, according to the Bloomberg of November 26, 2007, has been merely one of many riots that have shown the country’s immense dislike of the new draft constitution. In fact, the reason why the Constituent Assembly was even in Sucre to pass the outlines of the new constitution was because in August of this year, protests in La Paz, the administrative capital of the country, prevented the Constituent Assembly from voting on the issue.
But it's not just the growing discontent of the people that's so problematic; the presence of the draft constitution has strengthened the opposition party. As the Agence France Presse of November 26, 2007 reports, former Bolivian president Jorge Quiroga, a key opposition figure, claimed the proposed constitution was "drafted in a barracks, written with rifles and bayonets, and stained with the blood of the people of Sucre." Such comments and many others have increased the emotional and political appeal of opposition leaders. Opposition leaders have been gaining in popularity and in political clout primarily because of the presence of this new constitutional draft. Because of the highly unpopular nature of the draft constitution and because of comments by Morales such as "civil disobedience isn't democracy, and we hope the Bolivian people ... identify these traitors, the people who are against the nation and want to damage this process of change.” Morale’s refusal to acknowledge any criticism against his new constitutional plan has alienated many of his followers and pushed many Bolivians into the hands of opposition leaders.
These two previously mentioned factors have culminated in the most dangerous aspect of Morale's unpopular draft constitution- ie, the increased the willingness of the Bolivian populous to take more actions of civil disobedience against their government. Although Morales harshly condemned anyone who would engage in civil disobedience, that clearly didn’t spot the riots in Sucre in happening. In fact, the appearance of the draft constitution has made the Bolivian people more willing to take actions of civil disobedience to protest such plans by the current government. According to the BBC of November 26, 2007, opposition leaders in six of Bolivia’s nine provinces called for a general strike by the Bolivian people today to protest the draft constitution of Morales. As the All Headline News of November 27, 2007 notes, such a bold political move would only have been possible because of the highly unpopular constitutional draft. Today's BBC noted that while the strikes (still ongoing) did paralyze some of the financial centers of Bolivia, the Bolivian Congress passed a motion that gave greater flexibility to the Constituent Assembly (the body that passed the outline of the constitution) to convene and took budget money from several cities, thereby showing the government' refusal to listen to the protesters. This action will increase tensions in the country between government and people.
Morales has a problem: The Bolivian people have already spoken; they reject this new draft constitution despite Morales' aggressive push for this plan. Given the uncompromising mentality Morales has to this issue, it seems that unfortunately, as opposition lawmaker Fernando Messmer stated today, "There will be violence, there will be clashes."
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