Bolivia’s leftist government and rebel rightwing governors were readying yesterday for negotiations aimed at ending a bitter and enduring political conflict that last week blew up into deadly violence.
Bolivian President Evo Morales was expected to engage his foes in the talks after South American presidents holding a crisis summit on Monday gave him their “full and firm” support and rejected any breakup of Bolivia.
His vice president and ministers met over Monday night with one of the five governors demanding autonomy for their eastern states to fix the parameters of the upcoming talks.
The conflict has been bubbling along since Morales, a former coca farmer and union leader, became president in 2006 and set about imposing reforms designed to benefit the indigenous majority he belongs to.
Matters came to a head last month when Morales called a Dec. 7 referendum on a rewritten Constitution that would break up big land holdings and redistribute revenues from natural gas.
Anti-government rallies sprang up in the rebel states, where the governors demanded more control over gas fields and militants set up roadblocks to separate the economically vital eastern lowlands from the poorer Andean western half of Bolivia. Government offices and airports were taken over by stone-throwing mobs, and residents clashed in several areas. In the northern state of Pando, they turned deadly, with at least 18 people dead and 100 wounded.
Defense Minister Walker San Miguel said 11 people suspected of “heading or instigating” gangs alleged to have gunned down people in Pando had been arrested and taken to La Paz.
The government has accused Pando’s governor, Leopoldo Fernandez, of having a hand in the killings. His state has been under martial law since Saturday. One soldier and one civilian were killed over the weekend after the military moved in.
Morales, when he arrived in Santiago, Chile, for Monday’s six-hour summit, charged that the coalition of rebel governors had tried to mount a “civic coup” against him.
The meeting with the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela resulted in a unanimous statement warning that all the governments represented “energetically reject and will not recognize any situation that attempts a civil coup and the rupture of institutional order and which could compromise the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bolivia.”
It also condemned the deaths in Pando and called for a commission to investigate allegations of a “massacre.”
The harsh words Morales reserved for his political enemies did not augur well for the planned talks.
Morales was also embroiled in a diplomatic row with the US, after ordering the US ambassador out of the country for allegedly giving support to the opposition.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Bolivian leader’s main ally, followed suit, expelling the US ambassador to Caracas.
The president of Honduras added to the show of solidarity by refusing a new US envoy, while Nicaragua’s leader, Daniel Ortega, snubbed an invitation to meet US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly later this month.
A furious Washington expelled the Bolivian and Venezuelan ambassadors in retaliation.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS