They finally did it

01.22.2005

At a large outdoor rally, Ruben Costas, the president of the Comite Cívico, declared a cabildo (a convention meeting) to draw up an autonomous government that would go into function "immediately". While not a specific declaration that Santa Cruz is seceding from Bolivia, it's a de facto secession if the national government doesn't recognize the new self-defined autonomous regional government.

Costas' declaration was supported by Norah Soruco (MIR, Santa Cruz), vice president of the national Chamber of Deputies (the legislative lower house), who extolled the cruceño declaration. Mario Cossio (MNR, Tarija), the president of the president of the national Chamber of Deputies, hugged Costas & received a petition for autonomy w/ 500,000 signatures. The legislators, along w/ other members of the Santa Cruz legislative contingent, were sent by president Mesa to help mediate the conflict. Meanwhile, the president-appointed prefect (the department's governor), Carlos Hugo Molina, quit the Prefectural Building as a mix of university students & members of the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista took over the public building.

So far, there's no reaction from Mesa, or La Paz in general. An email from a friend suggests few there want to admit this just happened. The nation's eight other region's have declared their support for national unity in various ways. But most focus on support for democracy & opposition to destabilizing Mesa's presidency.

Personal support for Mesa has come from the mayors of La Paz, Trinidad, Potosí, Tarija, Oruro, Cochabamba, El Alto, and Cobija.

The National Confederation of Juntas Vecinales signed a "Pact of National Unity" w/ Mesa's government, expressing defense of democracy & calling for a national constituent assembly.

The Assamblea de la Paceñidad backs Mesa's government. Different civic groups in Sucre also announced their support for democracy. While El Alto's FEJUVE announced that they would mobilize to support the president. Some 25 groups in Cochabamba have joined to express support for Mesa.

Meanwhile, Mesa has retained the four deputies who were censured by parliament on Thursday (and were traditionally required to step down). Mesa's Minister of the Presidency, José Galindo, was also critical of parliamentarians from Santa Cruz who "pretend to be intermediaries" in the conflict. To counter, Cossio accused the emerging pro-Mesa legislative block of corruption & rent-seeking.

Other reactions came from Mario Kiseen, of Tarija's Business Federation, which called the Santa Cruz position a logical culmination of Mesa's "disgovernment" & leading from the government's attempt to fulfill the "October agenda".

The armed forces are said to be studying the Santa Cruz declaration, and haven't yet determined their position or course of action. But they did declare themselves institutionally bound to preserve national unity & democracy, w/in the framework of the constitution.

La Razón also published some economic data on Santa Cruz & La Paz, for economic context (this is, after all, a clash between new/old economic/political power).

Santa Cruz contributes 28.8% of GDP, to the 25.7% from La Paz. The economic growth rate in Santa Cruz is 5.25%, above the national average of 3.85%. The eastern department does rank lower than La Paz in tax revenue, w/ 38% to to the La Paz figure of 45%. But leads in exports, w/ Santa Cruz taking 70% of non-traditional exports (mainly agrobusiness), and 50% of all national exports. Many economic analysts agree Santa Cruz is Bolivia's "economic engine", it's secession would severely hurt the national economy.

Posted by Miguel at 04:16 PM

Comments

I tried looking this up but to no avail. Do you remember whether Cossio and Soruco were part of the group that voted for the Hydrocarbons Law from the Comision Mixta (mainly the MAS law)?

If I recall correctly, almost the entire Congress voted against Mesa's more moderate law. I seem to remember that Cossio was behind the Comision's law.

Posted by: eduardo at January 23, 2005 01:24 AM