[NYTr] Bolivia: New Constituion Goes to Congress; Oppos'n Warned they Can't Impose "Autonomy" Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:42:11 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com New Bolivian Constitution to Congress La Paz, Dec 14 (Prensa Latina) The Constituent Assembly leadership is to hand over to Bolivian Parliament Friday the text of the new Constitution, before of a massive demonstration by social and native movements to celebrate that historic achievement. The forum's direction and chief from parliamentary groups worked on the final revision and correction of the new Constitution, which has 411 articles and 12 transitory regulations. The document will be delivered Saturday to President Evo Morales, in an act attended by representatives from 36 native peoples of the country. The new Constitution was approved last weekend by two thirds of votes, in accordance with the Assembly's Extension Law. Only pending is article 398, on the maximum land a private owner can have, and a popular referendum, to define if that is 10,000 or 5,000 hectares per person. Deputy Land Minister Alejandro Almaraz told Prensa Latina that Bolivia has a significant amount of landowners against democracy, national unity and agricultural revolution. On Thursday, a mob led by officials from the Sucre mayor's office attacked the Gran Mariscal Theater and burned a car with documents from the Constituent Assembly. The violent incident staged by the forum's enemies is one more of a spiral of violence that moved sessions to Oruro. hr iff cmv mf PL-16 *** Bolivian de Facto Autonomies are Illegal La Paz, Dec 14 (PL) The separatist autonomous statutes that Bolivian opposition is brewing will only be legal within the framework of the new Constitution, government sources warned on Thursday. Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia backed the proposals for autonomy but rejected the intention to impose them, because they violate the Constitution. Garcia, who is also the president of the National Congress, said that imposing the de facto autonomies in the departmental "Half Moon" (Beni, Pando, Tarija and Santa Cruz) as of Friday is a mistake. He called the people in those departments to reject "desperate actions" by leaders who want to implement by force what is already established in the Constitution. The vice president questioned the absence of the majorities in the drawing up of the document: for example, in Santa Cruz, only the followers of opposition Prefect Ruben Costas, less than 50 percent of the population, participated in the process. "Why didn't they call the 53 percent of Santa Cruz people who did not vote for Mr. Costas?," wondered Garcia, who noted the marginalization of majority sectors. He made it clear that the proposal to hold an autonomic referendum must be subordinated to legality and the constitutionality of the new Constitution, approved last weekend in the city of Oruro. Garcia warned that the statute approved on Wednesday in Santa Cruz attempts against the unity of Bolivians and the integrity of the territory, and condemned the creation of an Autonomous Police. He also criticized a proposal to create the Santa Cruz citizenship, which will force Bolivians from other departments to request visas to enter the "Half Moon". "Such juridical aberration to control the migration of its inhabitants is not established even in long-tradition federal societies," he stressed. hr jg cmv PL-20 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================