Talks aimed at settling a long-running conflict in Bolivia between President Evo Morales and rebel governors that blew up into deadly unrest last week were under way yesterday, as soldiers battled to restore order.
The meeting between Vice President Alvaro Garcia and Tarija state Governor Mario Cossio, who was also representing the four other governors in the opposition coalition, started late on Sunday.
A summit between South American presidents concerned over the strife in Bolivia was also to be held in Chile yesterday.
Both sides in Bolivia waved an olive branch after six days of street violence that left at least 18 people dead and 100 wounded in the northern state of Pando.
Troops sent to that state, which was put under martial law by Morales on Friday, were facing off with armed anti-government protesters in the main city of Cobija.
They were also hunting the state governor, Leopoldo Fernandez, to arrest him for rejecting the martial law order, and for allegedly having a hand in the deaths of 16 of those killed. The government said the dead, mostly peasants who supported Morales, had been gunned down in an ambush.
Opposition leaders in the state of Santa Cruz said on Sunday they had ordered an end to roadblocks that had been set up in protest against the government, and which had caused a penury of fuel in the state, as a gesture of “goodwill for dialogue.”
Garcia responded by saying the government was “amply predisposed” to negotiate.
The governors have rejected socialist reforms Morales is seeking to impose, including rewriting the Constitution to break up big land holdings to give parcels to poor Bolivian Indians and to redistribute the country’s revenues from lucrative gas fields.
The conflict has pitted the indigenous majority, which includes Morales, against the white or mixed population inhabiting the eastern lowlands.
Morales has been defiant, vowing as recently as Saturday to “emerge victorious” with his reforms or die trying. He also accused the rebel governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca of “plotting a fascist, racist coup” against him.
Garcia said Morales would not take part in the negotiations, but would step in at the end to sign any resulting deal.
The internal problems of Bolivia took place against a parallel diplomatic row with the US.
On Sunday, the US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, left the country under an expulsion order by Morales, who had accused him of supporting the opposition and encouraging a division of the country.
Before flying out, he told reporters in La Paz that Bolivia could expect “serious consequences” in return, beyond the expulsion of the Bolivian ambassador, which had already been announced.
Morales, Goldberg said, had “not correctly evaluated” the effects of his order, and he highlighted the US-led fight against cocaine production in Bolivia, which receives US$100 million a year in US aid.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS