IPS-English BOLIVIA: Future Uncertain After Pitched Battle Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:10:45 -0800 ROMAIPS LA HD IP CS BOLIVIA: Future Uncertain After Pitched Battle Franz Chávez LA PAZ, Nov 26 (IPS) - Things began to settle down in Sucre in Bolivia Monday after four died in clashes between conservative anti-government protesters and the police over the weekend. The catalyst for the violent protests was the approval of a new draft constitution by the pro-government majority in the constituent assembly. The violence escalated over the weekend after the assembly met late Saturday to hold a vote. However, the session was boycotted by the rightwing opposition. The draft was passed in a preliminary vote by 138 of the 255 assembly members. Leftist President Evo Morales backed the assembly's decision on the draft, which must now be discussed article by article. Outside of the military academy in the southeastern city of Sucre where the assembly was meeting for security reasons, protesters clashed with police, leaving two demonstrators and one police officer dead. A third protester died early Monday as a result of his injuries. In addition, around 100 people were wounded, several of whom are in serious condition. The violent crowds, made up of university students and other middle-class Bolivians, as well as militant members of rightwing parties, attacked public buildings, mainly police and fire stations. The protesters are demanding that Congress and the executive branch offices be moved from La Paz to Sucre, which was once the country's capital but is now only the seat of the Supreme Court. After a recess of four months, the resumption of the constituent assembly's sessions shook not only the streets of Sucre but the entire country, which is heavily polarised over the changes promoted by Morales, the country's first-ever indigenous president. The governing Movement to Socialism (MAS) party and its allies hold a majority of seats in the assembly, which is rewriting the constitution with the aim of increasing the participation of and opportunities for the country's indigenous majority, most of whom live in dire poverty and have suffered centuries of discrimination. But the assembly left off its agenda the Sucre demand that the capital be moved to that city. In the military academy on the outskirts of Sucre where they were meeting, the members of the constituent assembly were protected from the violent protesters, who threw stones at the police and the soldiers who had set up a security cordon around the academy. The circumstances in which the three protesters and one police officer were killed, in the midst of a rain of stones and tear gas, have not yet been clarified. Over the weekend the city turned into a battleground, with streets blocked by burning tires and wood. At a safe distance, groups of indigenous supporters of the constituent assembly are on the alert, offering to accompany the assembly members to their second session. A total of 117 assembly members decided not to take part in the session, on instructions from opposition parties, while they attempted to set up a parallel assembly to undermine the legitimacy of the session held by the MAS members, their allies, and dissidents of conservative parties. The Morales administration attempted to negotiate a solution to the demand to move the legislative and executive branches to Sucre, which became the main hurdle to the sessions of the assembly. The members have a Dec. 14 deadline to approve the draft of a new constitution, which would then be put to voters in a referendum. Continuous demonstrations by university students and conservative sectors in Sucre around the downtown theatre where the assembly members had been meeting made it impossible for them to resume their sessions, as the MAS delegates, indigenous representatives and their allies were attacked every time they attempted to enter the building. At the last minute, they decided to meet in a military institution, for safety reasons. Indigenous people and representatives of social organisations have been arriving in Sucre to support the continued sessions of the assembly. Several thousand had reached the city by Monday. Pouring into the narrow, colonial streets of Sucre are coca growers -- whose leader is President Morales -- other campesinos (peasant farmers), members of organisations of informal sector workers like street vendors and craftspeople, residents of the vast slum city of El Alto, which is next to La Paz and has a reputation for social activism, and Aymara indigenous ”warriors” known as the ”red ponchos”. The ”red ponchos”, from Omasuyos, a province east of La Paz, announced last week that they would even offer their lives to defend the constituent assembly, which they are depending on to restore the rights of indigenous people, give them the opportunity to participate in decision-making, and provide them with land. The demand for land reform has created a division between the country's impoverished western highlands, mainly inhabited by Aymara and Quechua Indians, and the wealthier east, where large landowners, ranchers and conservative sectors are defending their vast agribusiness interests and calling for greater autonomy. They also want more control over the country's abundant natural gas resources, which are mainly found in the east. In four of Bolivia's nine departments -- Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija -- voters have demanded autonomy in popular referendums. Groups of campesinos have begun to block the roads into Sucre, threatening to cut off the city's water supplies. In the eastern department of Santa Cruz, conservative groups led by an organisation called the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (Santa Cruz Youth Union), which is in favour of regional autonomy, have attacked public institutions over the past few months, and last week middle-class women in that city tried to occupy government offices. The government says the group took part in the protests in Sucre over the weekend and incited violence. ***** + BOLIVIA: Polarisation Reaches Boiling Point (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39065) (END/IPS/LA IP HD CS/TRASP-SW/FCH/07) = 11270204 ORP006 NNNN