Bolivian Leaders Find Their Promises Are Hard to Keep

[Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

MAS between a rock and a hard place. -- Yoshie

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/world/americas/26bolivia.html>
September 26, 2006
Bolivian Leaders Find Their Promises Are Hard to Keep
By SIMON ROMERO

LA PAZ, Bolivia, Sept. 24 — Vice President Álvaro García Linera could
not have been more explicit in a fiery speech last week calling on
Bolivia's indigenous groups to defend the government "with your chest,
with your hand, with your Mauser."

Mr. García Linera, an urbane sociologist normally known for his
moderating influence, promptly apologized and said his comments had
been misinterpreted. But his remarks underlined the heightening
tension that is once again threatening to tip this Andean nation into
turmoil.

Many Bolivians had hoped that the election last year of Evo Morales as
president would put an end to the instability marked by seven
presidents in six years and angry protests by the country's indigenous
majority, who had been sidelined from power since Spanish rule began
in the 16th century.

The country's first indigenous president, Mr. Morales promised to end
what he had called the looting of the country's natural resources by
foreign companies, and quickly sought to nationalize Bolivia's energy
sector.

But just nine months into his term, Mr. Morales, like his
predecessors, seems similarly beset on all sides as the realities of
governing have pulled him closer to the political center.

On one side, the president is now being portrayed by some former
supporters, whose expectations he had stoked, as a lackey of foreign
interests and the country's light-skinned elite.

His popularity rating, though still high, has taken a quick hit,
dropping to 61 percent from 81 percent in recent months, according to
polls here. A line scribbled on a building a block from the
headquarters of the national energy company captured the
disillusionment. "Evo, traitor," it reads, "don't give away Bolivia's
gas."

On the other side, the president faces fresh unrest in the restless
lowland provinces in the east, where the elite of mostly European
descent have been unnerved by his election and are pushing for more
autonomy.

Groups in the eastern province of Santa Cruz, and neighboring
provinces, have been chafing at efforts to rewrite Bolivia's
Constitution in an assembly that would give Mr. Morales's supporters
more decision-making power.

They have also been wary of his plans to build two new military bases
in the lowlands, with financing from Venezuela, a move seen as a way
to increase the government's authority in the region.

Mr. Morales's government, meanwhile, charged business leaders in Santa
Cruz with "racism" last week after they decided not to invite him to
the city's main business fair.

Mr. Morales's supporters have also been holding protests. They want
the president to stick to the promises that got him elected, among
them liberalizing laws on coca cultivation and spreading wealth toward
the poor.

Yet, despite a steady stream of militant talk, officials in the new
government seem to have arrived at a grudging recognition that Bolivia
must cooperate with the very investors and lending organizations that
are despised symbols of foreign influence among many of Mr. Morales's
supporters.

Nowhere is this apparent contradiction more vivid than in relation to
Mr. Morales's most ambitious project, the nationalization of Bolivia's
energy resources, which seems to be in danger of not meeting initially
lofty expectations. The government has recently backtracked on several
key measures, ceding ground to Brazilian and European energy
companies.

Mr. Morales's negotiators, for instance, have temporarily reversed a
move to take control of Bolivia's two main oil refineries from
Brazil's state-run energy company, Petrobras, and have failed to
provide regulations so the nationalization can move forward. The
government has about a month left to act on the nationalization decree
issued in May before it expires.

The government also overrode a move this month by its energy minister
to exert almost total control over extraction of oil and natural gas
reserves. Adding to the disarray, the minister, Andrés Soliz, angrily
resigned and was replaced by the more moderate Carlos Villegas.

Carlos Alberto López, an independent energy analyst here, said, "It's
obvious the government has bitten off more than it can chew, but it
doesn't want to reveal this reality to the population."

Mr. Morales, an Aymara Indian and former coca farmer, has largely left
carrying out the nationalization and other economic projects to
subordinates as he seeks to maintain a revolutionary image.

Mr. García Linera, the vice president, has emerged as a key
intermediary between the government and investors. "These last couple
of weeks have been the most challenging of our government," Mr. García
Linera said in an interview.

Mr. García Linera reached out to the United States in a trip to
Washington in July, attempting to win support for renewing trade
preferences from the Bush administration.

In an effort to soothe tension between the government and business
interests in Santa Cruz, the capital of the eastern province, Mr.
García Linera brokered an agreement last week with regional political
leaders to avert a full blockade of roads into the city.

Still, tension persists between La Paz and Santa Cruz. One graphic
symbol of the dislike many Cruceños, as the people of Santa Cruz are
called, harbor for Mr. Morales is in the form of a photomontage some
people there have downloaded to their cellphones. It shows the words
"Viva Santa Cruz" written above an image of the president with a
gunshot wound.

Such examples of polarization have arisen in response to radical
proposals discussed in the constituent assembly, like changing the
country's name to Qollasuyo, an indigenous word invoking the Inca
empire.

These ideas contrast with quiet efforts by Mr. Morales's government to
lure foreign investment and improve ties to lending institutions like
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"Seen together, these actions show that the changes actually put
forward and implemented by the government are very superficial," said
Carlos Arze, director of a research organization here that studies
development issues.

Meanwhile, recognition that Bolivia is dependent on Brazil, the
largest buyer of its natural gas, is encouraging a much softer
nationalization stance. Mr. Villegas, the new energy minister, said in
an interview, "We want a rational redistribution of petroleum income
in the country, while also telling foreign companies that we want them
to profit."

--
Yoshie
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