MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia bitterly divided over constitutional vote

A bitterly divided Bolivian Congress on Thursday approved a May 4 referendum on President Evo Morales' proposed constitutional review, which would grant greater political power to Bolivia's long-oppressed indigenous groups and greater government intervention in the economy.

Legislators from Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party, MAS, passed the bill in a chaotic session, thwarting opposition groups that last year walked out on the constitutional assembly and now refuse to recognize the framework. Most opposition lawmakers were blocked from attending Thursday's session by a crowd of flag-waving Morales supporters and miners in hardhats who seized the plaza outside the congressional building. Representatives from Bolivia's six out of nine provinces described the political move as "illegal and violent". If approved by voters, Morales' constitution would outline a detailed bill of rights and considerable autonomy for the country's 36 indigenous groups, long shut out of power by the country's Spanish descendent white elite. But opposition leaders say the charter places Indians over the rest of the population and fail to address demands for autonomy from the eastern provinces, which are fighting Morales' land redistribution plan and want to keep more of the region's gas revenues. Morales has called for the referendum on May 4 which is the same day the eastern state of Santa Cruz, home to his fiercest opposition, will hold a vote on a proposal to declare autonomy. Three other opposition-controlled eastern states are expected to follow suit later in the year. Congress also called for a national vote on whether a clause in the proposed constitution should cap land ownership at 12,350 acres or 24,700 acres. Bolivia currently has no limit on land ownership, but Morales' ambitious agrarian reform seeks to seize idle or fraudulently obtained property and redistribute it to the poor. Morales signed a third bill which bans the referendums in the four most pro active autonomy provinces, Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija. However Santa Cruz governor Ruben Costas announced the autonomy referendum will go ahead May 4, since Thursday Congress session was "entirely illegal". Costas and the president of the Senate, Oscar Ortiz went further and called Thursday congressional session as a "coup against democracy". Senator Ortiz claims that vice president and head of Congress Alvaro Garcia on Thursday cheated on the opposition by inviting them for a discussion in his office previous to the session. However this impeded them from returning to their benches because in the meantime the building was surrounded by pro President Morales pickets and activists who actively blocked opposition members from entering to the chamber.