SUCRE, Bolivia - President Evo Morales launched his ambitious drive to give more power and opportunity to Bolivia’s Indian majority on Sunday when he officially opened a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the nation’s constitution.Bolivia is living in a revolution,” said Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera. Those who have been excluded for 514 years, who have been marginalized for 514 years, those who have hidden in the basement during these 514 years today reclaim their right to equality, citizenship, and prosperity. Not with bullets, but with votes, with words, and with leadership.”
Morales said a new era had begun” with the start of the assembly. But there are challenges ahead for Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, which holds only a thin majority in the assembly _ not the two-thirds needed to control the body outright.
Conservatives, many from eastern provinces, want to keep more of their wealth from being consumed by socialist programs. And a proposal to grant states greater autonomy from the central government won overwhelming support in the wealthier eastern and southern states during a July 2 national referendum.
BoliviaÂ’s current constitution was adopted in 1967 under Rene Barrientos Ortuno, who rose to power in a military coup and was then elected president. Morales, who rose to political prominence as leader of a coca growersÂ’ union, wants not only to give the indigenous community more say in government but also to place more state controls over the free-market economy, following the nationalization of BoliviaÂ’s natural gas industry on May 1.
That transfer of power will depend heavily on Quechua Indian political activist Sylvia Lazarte, elected Friday as assembly president. Just how Lazarte should run the assembly already is the subject of spirited debate.
Bolivian law requires that the text of the new constitution be approved by two-thirds of the assembly. But it is silent on whether the body needs such a majority to attend to administrative chores such as appointing committees and setting agendas. MAS delegates want to run the assembly by simple majority.
| And if that doesn't work, they'll try colored ballots, new rules, intimidation of delegates, and whatever else they need to do. |