3 days to referendum

07.15.2004

Only a few days left before Bolivia's gas referendum. Ballots are printed, Mesa's government's making last-minute efforts to ensure "Sí" votes, syndicates & organizations are decided if they'll boycott or strike or whatever. It'll be interesting, the country's first experience w/ a referendum election — and on such a complicated topic.

Meanwhile, the armed forces announced that they'd only protect the referendum election (and it's outcome) if the government passes a law explicitly supporting their actions. The memory of trials against military officers who used force to protect constitutional order in October & February is fresh. The joint chiefs announced that w/o some legal document in writing, they won't interfere in the event of social conflicts. They're in no mood to risk their necks for a government that might later use them as scapegoats. Can't say I blame them.

Meanwhile, new rumors of a possible coup are swirling. The warning came from the Defensor del Pueblo, Waldo Albarracín, who claimed the golpiastas would follow the line of Luís García Meza — Bolivia's most infamous dictator from the early 1980s. The head of the armed forces also supported the rumors, but insisted it didn't come from active personal, but from reservist officers. In anticipation, the military ran counter-coup exercises around Plaza Murillo.

The town of Achacachi, power center for radical MIP dirigentes, saw national police return after a four year absence. The police are there to ensure normality during the referendum election. This seems to suggest that threats by Altiplano campesinos to burn polling stations & boycott the referendum are dissipating. Townspeople of Achacachi have rejected Felipe Quispe's claim to leadership as the Mallku. They warn that if Quispe tries to burn polling stations, "we'll burn him."

Posted by Miguel at 01:09 PM

Comments

I guess you should get out of there. Give a call as soon as you are in the states. get my number off of mopedarmy. We have a new risk challenger.

dan

Posted by: dan at July 16, 2004 07:51 AM

I thought I'd mention that BBC Mundo had an interactive debate on the Bolivian Referendum today. I didn't get a chance to listen to it yet, but they took web-based comments that were then moderated to a panel (including Felipe Quispe, if I'm reading the page correctly.) The link is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/forums/newsid_3894000/3894285.stm

Also, the ICG (Internation Crisis Group) released a report on June 6th covering the problems faced by Bolivia. A nice summary, which you can find here (this page has only the executive summary, the full report is in PDF at the top of the page):

http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm?id=2853&l=1

Posted by: Grant at July 16, 2004 05:34 PM