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Violence Roils Bolivia Despite Crackdown

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The Associated Press

Published: September 15, 2008

LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales struggled to assert control over a badly fractured Bolivia on Sunday as protesters set fire to a town hall and blockaded highways in opposition-controlled provinces, impeding gasoline and food distribution.

At least 30 people have been killed in the impoverished Andean nation this week, Interior Minister Alfredo Rada said. All the deaths occurred in Pando province, where Morales declared martial law Friday, dispatching troops and accusing foes of killing his supporters.

Pando's security chief, Alberto Murakami, told The Associated Press by telephone that 15 people had died and 55 were injured.

Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana told local radio Red Erbol that authorities had arrested Pando Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez, "for violating the constitution and generating the bloody killings of the peasants." Morales has accused Fernandez of using Peruvian and Brazilian "assassins" against Morales' supporters.

But Pando officials insisted Fernandez was still free, and Quintana later clarified on Red Erbol that while the governor "should be put in jail for blatant crimes," he had not been detained.

The governor has denied having anything to do with the violence, saying it was not an ambush but rather an armed clash between rival groups.

The gravest challenge to Morales in his nearly 3-year-old tenure as Bolivia's first indigenous president stems from his struggle with the four eastern lowland provinces where Bolivia's natural gas riches are concentrated and where his government has essentially lost control.

The provinces are seeking greater autonomy from Morales' leftist government and are insisting he cancel a Dec. 7 referendum on a new constitution that would help him centralize power, run for a second consecutive term and transfer fallow terrain to landless peasants. Morales says the new charter is needed to empower Bolivia's indigenous majority.

The leaders of those provinces have designated the governor of gas-rich Tarija, Mario Cossio, as their representative. Cossio was expected to arrive in La Paz on Sunday to resume talks on easing the crisis. South America's leaders were also trying to prevent Bolivia from splintering. They were to gather in Chile today for an emergency meeting called by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

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