MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia: Morales and opposition governors agree to sit and talk

Morales won Sunday's recall with more than 67% support

Bolivian President Evo Morales and opposition regional governors agreed on Wednesday to meet in an attempt to ease the bitter power stand off that has paralyzed the country for most of the year.

The decision to accept President Morales invitation was announced in the city of Santa Cruz by Pando governor Leopoldo Fernandez following a meeting with his counterparts from Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas; Tarija, Mario Cossio; Beni, Ernesto Suarez and Savina Cuellar from Chuquisaca. Opposition governors, mayors and grass root leaders coordinate actions and decisions in the framework of the so called National Democratic Council, Conalde. The announcement followed a weekend recall vote in which both Morales and his biggest rivals were confirmed in their posts, a result some political analysts said would only serve to deepen their standoff. Governors in four of Bolivia's nine regions want more autonomy and a greater share of the country's booming energy revenues. They are demanding that Morales scrap a bill to redistribute farmland among the poor and reject economic plans to further advance on the private sector. Opponents of Morales, the first indigenous president of the landlocked and poorest country of South America are also unhappy with a new draft constitution that Morales wants to implement against their will and consolidates many of his "socialist" initiatives. "We're going with an open mind, to give Bolivia a respite, with the aim of solving the contradictions that have been mirrored in the recall vote, through dialogue," the governor of the natural gas-producing Tarija region, Mario Cossio, told reporters. Morales won Sunday's recall with more than 67% support but the governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija also achieved sweeping victories in the vote, according to the latest official results. Five Morales cabinet ministers were sent to each of the opposition provinces to contact local authorities and agree on a timetable and agenda. In a long interview with a La Paz newspaper Morales said that he was satisfied with the recall vote results and "last weekend I was again Evo Morales". "Bolivians have overwhelmingly given me their support, which also shows that they no longer believe in the mass media", added the president: "they attack me systematically but have been unable to prevent me from winning". "I'm a man of dialogue, have always been and will make everything possible to honor my responsibility as president of all Bolivians", promised Morales.