Riots convulsed Bolivia's colonial capital on Sunday after allies of Bolivian President Evo Morales approved the framework for a new constitution that would permit his indefinite re-election and radically alter Bolivian politics.
At least two people, including a police officer, were killed.
A full article-by-article version of the constitution, which would establish a multiethnic state with 36 self-governing regions for indigenous groups, has yet to be approved.
But Morales on Sunday declared that the new charter's essence has now been determined. Voters will determine its fate, he said, without giving a date.
"The constitution will be approved in a referendum by the people, which is the most democratic" way, said Morales. An Aymara Indian and coca growers' union leader, Morales' political playbook has followed closely that of his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The unrest led national police commander General Miguel Vasquez to order all units out of Sucre, where the draft constitution was approved on Saturday, "to avoid more confrontations." He said the slain police officer had been "lynched" but offered no other details.
Hospital officials said the other victim was a carpenter who died of injuries after being hit by a tear gas canister as protesters attacked police headquarters and set fire to a jail, allowing 100 inmates to escape.
A third person, a lawyer previously identified as a student, was shot and killed on Saturday.
Forty others were injured as protesters hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and dynamite at police.
Morales said the protests "were manipulated by oligarchic and neoliberal [pro-capitalist] groups that don't want change."
"The heart of the matter is that some groups don't accept that an indigenous person is president," he said.
Rioting began on Friday, after delegates to the constitutional assembly -- loyal to Morales and primarily from his governing Movement Toward Socialism party -- reconvened in a military garrison outside Sucre.
They approved the framework for the constitution by a simple majority on Saturday, breaking a monthslong deadlock. All but three opposition delegates boycotted the assembly sessions.
The document would allow the president unlimited re-election and would give central authorities greater control over public revenue disbursements at the expense of state governments.
Opponents say the new constitution unfairly reduces the power of Bolivia's nine states.
Branko Marinkovic, a top opposition leader in Santa Cruz, said the charter's approval was "made illegitimate with blood."
The assembly must complete the new constitution by Dec. 14 and then submit it to a referendum. Under a complicated formula, only those articles not backed by two-thirds of the assembly must be approved by Bolivian voters.
"The country is more divided than ever," said Ximena Costa, an independent political analyst. "We are talking now not about a polarization, but rather of fractures within Bolivian society."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home