Morales land distribution plan passed by Senate

Bolivia’s Senate handed President Evo Morales this week another key political victory, following his nationalization of the energy sector: the passage of his controversial land-reform project.

The vote came after three conservative lawmakers voted in line with the ruling party, ending a weeklong opposition boycott and helping Morales achieve one of his leading campaign pledges.

Morales swept to power in a December 2005 election with a landslide majority on vows to carry out what he called a “revolution within democracy”.

His pledges included the nationalization of Bolivia’s energy oil and gas sectors, redistribute land to peasants, and establish a Constitutional Assembly to allow the indigenous majority and civil groups lead a rewriting of the Constitution.

President Morales has said all along these measures intend to alleviate poverty in South America’s poorest country, reduce dependence on foreign aid and end centuries of discrimination against Indians.

But the passing of the land-reform bill, with which Morales aims to redistribute some 20 million hectares, almost a fifth of Bolivia’s territory, within five years, could exacerbate ethnic and economic tensions between the indigenous population and the European-descended elite that have controlled the country for 500 years.

However, while his energy industry nationalization enjoyed widespread domestic support (in spite of strong resistance from Brazil whose oil company Petrobras dominates a significant percentage of the country’s gas deposits), his efforts to redistribute unproductive and in many cases illegally acquired land to the indigenous majority that forms his power base drew fierce resistance from large landowners in the eastern part of the country.

Last week, thousands joined a rally in the eastern region of Santa Cruz, the country’s agricultural heartland and economic powerhouse, to protest the plan.

“It’s a regrettable thing,” said Edilberto Osinaga, manager of the Agricultural Chamber of Eastern Bolivia, referring to the land reform bill. He added Morales’ plan was a “witch hunt” against farmers and said the country’s food security could be in jeopardy.

The farmers’ leader did not rule out that some land owners might defend their estates with arms and said “hundreds” of them will join a nationwide hunger strike next week.

Bolivian political analysts say Morales’ latest victory highlights the weaknesses of the conservative opposition, which has pledged to step up protests against the government.
*
Dec 3

Workers strike in Bolivia to protest reform
Opposition leaders led a work stoppage in four Bolivian state capitals to protest President Evo Morales' control of an assembly called to rewrite Bolivia's constitution, a centerpiece of his populist revolution.

The strikers demand a greater say for opposition parties in an assembly formed to rewrite Bolivia's 39-year-old constitution and which is currently controlled by Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS.

Friday's protests were centered in Santa Cruz, a prosperous city in the eastern lowlands where residents of largely European descent fiercely oppose the reforms proposed by Morales, the country's first Indian president.

The president hopes the new constitution, demanded by Bolivian's Indian groups for years before he took office last December, will grant greater political power and economic opportunity to poor and indigenous peoples.

Toward that same end, Morales on Tuesday signed a sweeping land reform bill granting his government the power to seize unproductive land held by wealthy elites -- many of whom live in Santa Cruz -- for redistribution to Bolivia's landless poor.

Morales has also nationalized his country's extensive natural gas reserves, aiming to use the new revenues to improve health and education services in South America's poorest country.

But Bolivia's conservative opposition says Morales is intent on remaking the country without their input -- and that his party's tactics have frozen them out of the constitution-writing process.

Minor skirmishes broke out between protesters and Morales supporters in Santa Cruz, Bolivia's largest city, where most residents stayed home from work to heed the strike call. Some protesters roamed the streets armed with sticks to disrupt traffic.

The strike also emptied streets in the eastern city of Trinidad, but in the central cities of Cochabamba and Tarija, to the south, the strike was not fully observed.

The protesters are seeking to reverse a move last month by Morales' party that allows the assembly to amend the new constitution by a simple majority despite opposition demands that a two-thirds vote be required. The motion will allow MAS, which controls 137 of the assembly's 255 seats, to push through Morales' populist reforms with no input from the opposition.

Morales has said requiring a two-thirds' vote on each of the constitution's hundreds of articles would condemn the body to gridlock.

The final draft of a new constitution, however, must still be approved by two-thirds of the body.

Protest leaders are also demanding the new constitution grant greater autonomy to the country's wealthier eastern states.

Morales, who is in Cuba for President Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebration, has agreed to meet with protest leaders Sunday.

Bolivia is only the latest South American country to rewrite its constitution in recent years. Since 1988, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela have all overhauled their government framework.

The opposition has accused Morales of modeling his constitution project on Venezuela's 1999 rewrite, which Morales ally President Hugo Chavez used to expand his own executive powers.

But Morales, who finished 25 points ahead of his nearest challenger in last year's presidential election, believes he has a powerful mandate to use the assembly for radical change in his country.