CHILE/BOLIVIA: South American leaders throw their support behind Bolivian President Evo Morales after an emergency meeting in Santiago

Record ID: 1537866

  • Title: CHILE/BOLIVIA: South American leaders throw their support behind Bolivian President Evo Morales after an emergency meeting in Santiago
  • Date: 16th September 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF FUNERAL MAS FOR PRO-GOVERNMENT STUDENTS KILLED IN RECENT VIOLENCE
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2008 12:06
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABR991642Z5T1IN6NYJGPU2O84
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: South American leaders fully backed Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday (September 15) and called on rebel governors in the country's eastern provinces to cease violent protests against his socialist policies.
    Nine presidents from the region, who met for six hours in Chile's capital, also condemned any attempt at a coup in the impoverished country and called for an investigation into an alleged massacre of Morales supporters in one province.
    At least 16 people died in Bolivia in the past week as supporters of Morales clashed with rightist opponents angered at his attempts to give Indians more political power and redistribute land to the poor.
    "We (South American leaders) inform that their respective governments energetically reject and will not recognise any situation that implies a civil coup, a break in institutional order, or anything that compromises the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bolivia," said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet after the meeting.
    The leaders encouraged both sides to negotiate an end to Bolivia's deep political crisis, which disrupted natural gas supplies to its large neighbors Argentina and Brazil.
    "The presidents of UNASUR agree to create an commission, open to all its members and coordinated by the sitting president to accompany the work at the dialogue table conducted by the legitimate government of Bolivia,"
    said Bachelet.
    In last week's demonstrations, anti-Morales groups sabotaged natural gas pipelines and plundered and occupied public buildings throughout the east.
    "It is important for some groups to listen to the feelings of South America, of its presidents. That call to return the institutions of the state taken over by some violent people in some cities. We hope that those groups respect human rights. We hope that those that called for independence and separation under the pretext of autonomy work towards the unity of all Bolivians," said Morales after attending the summit in Santiago.
    Before heading to Chile, Morales and the opposition met to discuss potential steps to halt the deadly political unrest. Talks between the governors and the Bolivian vice president continued while Morales was at the summit.
    Perennially unstable Bolivia has massive natural gas reserves that are crucial to development in the region and neighbors are keen to preserve the Morales presidency.
    Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, is highly popular but his drive for deep socialist reforms such as land redistribution has polarized the country.
    Among those attending the summit were key Bolivia ally President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who is stridently anti-Washington, and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a moderate leftist who leads the region's biggest economy and Bolivia's top foreign investor.
    Morales and Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassadors in their countries last week, saying they were backing the Bolivian opposition movement.
    "You are facing a lying government (U.S.). Those that let themselves be taken by the Yankees are worse than the Yankees," said Chavez.
    In Bolivia, former conservative president Jorge Quiroga blamed Chavez for interfering in Bolivia.
    "The problem in Bolivia is the atrocious interference of the Caribbean oil-tyrant (Hugo Chavez) who fills his mouth with saying he will make us a Vietnam, that is what is happening in Bolivia," he said.
    Bolivia is divided over a constitution Morales is trying to push through. Conflict between both sides deepened after Morales and the governors were all strongly endorsed in an August recall vote.
    Morales' reforms have drawn fierce opposition in lowland regions in the east of the country, which want greater autonomy from the central government in highland La Paz and a bigger share of energy resources.
    The army has arrested 10 people accused of organizing anti-government protests in Cobija, the capital of sparsely populated Pando province in the Amazon near Brazil.
    The government declared martial law in the province on Friday, saying opposition groups had massacred pro-Morales peasants. Officials have said 16 to 28 people died in that incident in rural Pando, as well as two more in Cobija.
    In La Paz, funeral services were held for some of the dead.
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