Revolt against the peasant president

[Ambiorix]

Revolt against the peasant president

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/04/bolivia


The reform agenda of Bolivia's left-wing leader, Evo Morales, is being challenged by right-wing militias and rich ranchers in a wealthy region that wants to push back the 'pink tide' in Latin America
Rory Carroll and Andres Schipani in Santa Cruz
The Observer, Sunday May 4 2008 Article history
he tide of left-wing and indigenous movements sweeping to power across South America is about to hit a wall of resistance. In country after country the old order has collapsed, ending decades, and in some cases centuries, of rule by white elites. Their time is supposed to be up. Santa Cruz, however, did not get the memo. Hundreds of thousands of people in this wealthy lowland region of Bolivia are expected to vote for autonomy today in a referendum seen as a repudiation of the so-called "pink tide".

It is an audacious - and illegal - challenge which Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous President, has denounced as a separatist plot. Alarmed left-wing allies such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez claim to detect Washington meddling. The insurgents are a coalition of rich ranchers, establishment politicians, right-wing militias and ordinary voters. They want to defend Santa Cruz's economic interests - its cattle, soy crops and gas reserves account for almost 30 per cent of GDP - as well as a sense of identity at odds with indigenous political ascendancy.

'This vote will show a new path for Bolivia, one that is peaceful and democratic,' said Branko Marinkovic, an opposition leader. 'The right to vote has to be respected. It is people at the ballot boxes who determine the future of a country.'

Others see less noble motives for the initiative. 'Bolivia essentially used to function as an apartheid state, and the psychology of the elite is very defensive,' said Jim Shultz, director of the Democracy Centre, a Cochabamba-based think-tank sympathetic to government aims.

Opposition leaders will use a referendum victory to try to loosen the control of the capital, La Paz, and shield Santa Cruz from government efforts to 'refound' Bolivia. At least three more states in the relatively prosperous lowlands may follow with their own autonomy votes.

Analysts say that could derail Morales's administration, or at the very least force painful concessions in the draft constitution at the heart of his 'democratic revolution'. Santa Cruz's defiance may appear quixotic, given that just two years ago Morales, a llama herder turned trade union leader, won a historic mandate to empower an indigenous majority excluded from power since the Spanish conquest 500 years ago.

South America's left-wing tilt has since strengthened: Ecuador and Paraguay elected radical outsiders as Presidents, Venezuela continued espousing socialist revolution, and Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay retained left-wing governments. Santa Cruz has swum proudly against the tide. Large, jubilant crowds thronged the streets this week chanting 'Autonomía' and waving the region's green-and-white flags. They denounced Morales as a socialist autocrat who siphoned their wealth to the western highlands.

Since the government has declared the referendum an 'illegal survey' some 6,700 students and members of the Unión Juvenil Crucenista, a quasi-militia which sports military gear and sometimes swastikas, will staff polling stations. 'We're so proud of these kids. With them we have nothing to fear,' said one middle-class woman at a rally.

Local TV showed militia members roughing up indigenous street traders and knocking one over as they sped away in vehicles. Graffiti have sprouted across the city. 'This 4 May grab your weapons, we're going to kill all the Kollas,' said one. The Kolla were a pre-Inca race whose name is now used as an insult. Other slogans call Morales a llama and Chávez a monkey.

Until a 1952 revolution, indigenous people were not allowed near the presidential palace in La Paz, let alone to vote, and their empowerment under Morales has discomfited many pale-skinned Bolivians. 'Racism and exclusion is a part of this autonomy process,' said Gabriela Montano, the President's envoy to Santa Cruz. In a recent interview her boss was more forthright: 'They do not accept a peasant and an indigenous person as a President of the republic.'

Old practices such as bonded labour endure in some haciendas where families were indebted to owners and could not leave, said Celima Torrico, the country's first indigenous Justice Minister. 'There are captive families in the areas of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija. They are like slaves. Cows are treated better.'

The opposition denies prejudice is a factor. 'The voice of the people is not racist. Democracy has no colours,' said Marinkovic, the opposition leader.

No one denies money is a factor. Santa Cruz wants a greater share of gas revenues and big ranchers want protection from a land reform act which is supposed to redistribute giant estates to peasants.

Marinkovic's family, for instance, is accused of illegally acquiring 64,250 acres from Guarayo Indians, a claim he denies. Landowners have blocked inspections, including an American rancher and his son, a former Mr Bolivia beauty pageant winner, who have been charged with shooting at and detaining the deputy land minister when he visited their property.

Despite a plea from the President to stay away, several thousand government supporters have converged on Santa Cruz in the past 48 hours, vowing to disrupt a referendum they view as an attempt to destabilise their champion in La Paz. 'We have to fight against this autonomy,' said an indigenous woman in a traditional skirt and hat. 'We would rather die than live like slaves.'

Opposition militants reportedly threw stones at buses of government supporters, prompting talk of retaliation by a radical indigenous group known as the Red Ponchos. 'We want to defend national unity,' said one Poncho member, Edgar Quispe. The group beheaded several dogs late last year as a warning to the opposition.