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Last Updated: Jul 31st, 2011 - 17:29:39 |
Regional leaders meet over Bolivian crisis
By Pav Jordan
Sep 15, 2008, 21:19
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Chile on Monday for an emergency summit of South American leaders aimed at helping end the political turmoil gripping his impoverished country.
As many as 30 people have been killed in Bolivia in the past week as supporters of Morales clashed with rightist opponents angered at his attempts to give Indians more political power and redistribute land to the poor.
Bolivia, an unstable country at the geographical heart of South America, has massive natural gas reserves that are crucial to development in the region, and neighbors are keen to preserve the Morales presidency and the rule of law.
Arriving in Chile, Morales -- Bolivia's first indigenous president and a close ally of Venezuela's anti-Washington leader, Hugo Chavez -- accused four opposition regional governors of seeking to topple his government.
"We've seen looting, the ransacking of institutions, attempts to assault the police and the armed forces," he said. Anti-government groups have sabotaged natural gas pipelines and plundered public buildings during the crisis.
Most presidents from South America's 12-nation Unasur group were due to attend the meeting, including Chavez and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- a moderate leftist who leads the region's biggest economy.
Brazil is also Bolivia's top foreign energy investor and is heavily dependent on its natural gas exports.
Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said he expected the leaders to send a message of support to Morales and to affirm Bolivia's "territorial integrity."
DIVIDED
Bolivia is deeply divided over a constitution Morales is trying to push through to formalize rights for the country's Indian majority and break up large farms to redistribute land to poor peasant farmers.
Such reforms have drawn fierce opposition in lowland regions in the east of the country, which want greater autonomy from the central government in highland La Paz and a bigger share of energy resources.
Before heading to Chile, Morales and rebel governors met to discuss potential steps to halt the deadly political unrest.
Morales and Mario Cossio, governor of natural gas-rich Tarija province and the representative of the rebel governors, agreed to resume talks when Morales returns from Chile.
"It is better to take a bit more time to make sure we get it right rather than end badly or not at all," Cossio said after the overnight talks at the presidential palace.
On Sunday, the Army said troops had arrested 10 people accused of organizing anti-government protests in Cobija, the capital of sparsely populated Pando province in the Amazon near Brazil, where up to 30 people were killed in last week's violence.
The president declared martial law in the province on Friday, after at least 14 people, mostly pro-Morales farmers, were killed in violence that the government called a massacre by opposition groups.
Government officials have said between 16 and 30 people died in Pando, both in Thursday's clashes and in later violence at Cobija's airport.
Sacha Llorenti, deputy minister for social movements, said the government regretted contradictions on the death toll and would not give out a new figure until officials were able to establish an exact figure.
In the opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia, the opposition lifted roadblocks that have crippled the city to help foster talks. It was not clear whether supporters of Morales would lift their blockades.
Bolivia's political polarization deepened after a recall vote in August that Morales won in a landslide but that also strongly endorsed governors, who want more autonomy to run their provinces.
Last week's violence forced a temporary cut in natural gas exports to Argentina and Brazil, Bolivia's top revenue source.
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