La Paz - The secretary-general of the Organization of
American States (OAS) arrived in La Paz Friday and stressed the
organization's support to pacify growing unrest in Bolivia's troubled
eastern crescent that has centred on income from
natural gas and on provincial autonomy.
Clashes between government supporters and the opposition claimed
an estimated 15 lives in Pando last week as angry opponents of
Morales occupied national telephone and tax collection offices and
cut off gas line feeds to Brazil.
Five of Bolivia's nine provinces are controlled by the opposition
to Morales.
'We only bring a message of support, solidarity and good will to
help in whatever is requested of us,' Insulza said after meeting
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca.
The dialogue between left-wing populist Bolivian President Evo
Morales and the provinces controlled by the opposition was set to
conclude Saturday, with a view to putting an end to an escalation in
violence that has claimed several lives.
'The dialogue is fragile, very fragile,' warned Tarija Governor
Mario Cossio, the main negotiator for the opposition in talks with
the government.
However, an official in the Morales administration told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa that the talks were set to conclude Saturday,
'with the signing of the national agreement in the presence of
President Evo Morales and of Jose Miguel Insulza.'
In the meantime, Governors Savina Cuellar of Chuquisaca, Ruben
Costas of Santa Cruz and Ernesto Suarez of Beni returned to their
respective provinces.
Pando had no representatives in the talks, after Governor Leopoldo
Fernandez was arrested on charges of 'genocide' in connection with
acts of violence that claimed an estimated 15 lives in the province.
The crisis has escalated with the approach of December's
referendum on Morales' new constitution, which is the centrepiece of
his programme to distribute more of Bolivia's wealth to the
impoverished, indigenous majority.
In August, Morales, the Andean nation's first indigenous
president, survived a recall referendum with two-thirds of the vote.
Bolivia's population of 10 million has a 60-per-cent poverty rate,
affecting mostly indigenous people.
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