BOLIVIA: Fights break out in Bolivian National Assembly seriously wounding one party member

Record ID: 375105

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Fights break out in Bolivian National Assembly seriously wounding one party member
  • Date: 2nd September 2006
  • Summary: (LATIN) SUCRE, BOLIVIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PAN: GRAN MARISCAL THEATRE WHERE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS ARE HELD
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0DPXYHODME0G3D3J7TH1XOEU
  • Story Text: Altercations between members of President Evo Morales' Movement Toward Social (MAS) party and the opposition marred Friday's (September 1) session of Bolivia's fledgling National Assembly in Sucre.
    Amidst tensions that lead to arguments and eventually scuffles, MAS party member and member of the National Assembly Roman Loayza was severely injured after falling off the stage from which National Assembly meetings are directed.
    Fellow members of the MAS party immediately accused members of the opposing Podemos party of pushing Loayza, but review of videos indicates that Loayza tripped and fell six feet in the area separating the stage from the seating.
    As assembly members fought and yelled accusations, Loayza was taken to the hospital where he is reportedly in a coma. Early reports indicate that he may not survive.
    Tensions were running high because MAS controversially approved a rule that would allow the National Assembly power over the legislative and judicial branches and be able to approve constitutional reforms with a majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote set by earlier agreement. MAS and the opposing Podemos party had agreed on the two-thirds vote for approval in March but Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party fell short of the number, winning only 135 of the 255 seats.
    Bolivians voted in July on the 255-member assembly to redraft the country's constitution. The rewrite of the constitution is part of plan Morales' to 'refind' Boliva with the aim of greater social and economic inclusion for Bolivia's poor, indigenous majority.
    Morales is facing the roughest stretch of his current presidency, with numerous protests against his government. Recent polls show that Morales' approval rating dropped 7 percentage points to 61 percent, the lowest rating since Morales took office in January of this year. Evo reached his peak in March with 81 percent public approval, but his numbers have slid consistently over the past five months.
    Morales, who was at a meeting on Friday, declined to comment on the violence or respond to opposition accusations of demagoguery. The spokesperson for Podemos party Jose Antonio Aruquipa said that his party will look into stepping down from the National Assembly and filing an international complaint against Morales' government.
    Aruquipa also said that Podemos party members were at risk of attacks in the streets of Sucre by groups of farmers supporting MAS.
    Protesters demanding that the MAS party make good on promises of public works greeted Vice President Alavaro Garcia Linera in Sucre on Thursday (August 31) with chants and signs. Garcia was under police protection, but various fights broke out between MAS activists and the protesters.
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