Residents of Santa Cruz take to the streets to celebrate resounding victory
in referendum for autonomy.
SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA (MAY 04, 2008) REUTERS -
Bolivia's richest region of Santa Cruz voted overwhelmingly for
autonomy on Sunday (May 04) in a referendum widely seen as a rejection of
President Evo Morales' leftist reforms, exit polls showed.
The ballot was the first of four referendums on greater autonomy from
central government being planned by eastern provinces, raising tensions
between Morales' supporters and the conservative opposition that is
concentrated in the east.
According to pollster Focaliza, cited by local television, Santa Cruz
residents voted 86 percent for the autonomy proposal and 14 percent against.
The result had been widely expected because backers of Morales, a former coca
farmer and close ally of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, vowed to boycott the
referendum.
No figures were published on the abstention rate, but a low turnout
could weaken the referendum's legitimacy.
On the streets of Santa Cruz city, residents honked car horns as they
celebrated victory.
"The abuse perpetuated by the central government and the racism
have failed because today we were able to express ourselves democratically.
Today, we worked gloriously in the national memory to construct a new country
with responsibility and with humility," Santa Cruz governor Ruben Costas
told thousands of supporters in the city's main square where people danced
soon after the exit polls were broadcast.
Official figures were due to be published on Monday.
Voting was mainly calm, but officials said at least 18 people were hurt
as supporters and opponents of Morales fought with sticks and stones in Santa
Cruz city. One man died after police fired tear gas, a Reuters witness said.
The referendum theoretically gives Santa Cruz's conservative leaders
more control over natural resources that include fertile farmland and about 10
percent of Bolivia's oil and natural gas reserves.
Morales branded the ballot illegal and said more than 50 percent of
Santa Cruz voters had either boycotted the vote or voted "no".
However, he called for talks on the issue with the nation's nine provincial
governors.
"The people and the social forces are knowledgeable enough to
defend unity, the law, constitutionality and above all else, fight for the
equality of all Bolivians," he said in a televised speech after polls
closed.
Despite Morales' rejection of the validity of the ballot, the vote
could increase pressure him to negotiate with his opponents in Santa Cruz and
three other pro-autonomy regions in Bolivia's eastern lowlands.
The Amazon provinces of Beni and Pando and natural gas-rich Tarija are
preparing to hold similar referendums in the coming months.
Growing demands for regional autonomy have exposed a bitter divide
between Bolivia's wealthier lowlands and the poor Andean highlands, where tens
of thousands of people marched in several cities on Sunday to show support for
Morales -- Bolivia's first Indian president.
Bolivia is South America's poorest country, but its eastern areas are
home to the region's second-largest natural gas reserves after Venezuela and
it is a key supplier of the fuel to Brazil and Argentina.
As well as energy riches, Santa Cruz has fertile farmland and its
population has grown fast over the past 40 years, with Bolivians from the
highlands seeking a better life due to its growing economy.
Bolivia's highlands are more heavily indigenous, while areas like Santa
Cruz have a larger European-descended population.
The vast region covers roughly a third of Bolivia's territory and is
home to a quarter of the country's roughly 9 million people.
Morales has described the Santa Cruz referendum as a bid to destabilize
his government, engineered by conservative rivals who oppose his efforts to
break up large land holdings and reform the constitution to empower the poor,
indigenous majority.
The constitutional rewrite was one of Morales' key election pledges
along with the energy industry nationalization he declared soon after taking
office in 2006.
