South American neighbours offer support to Bolivia's Morales
|
|
|
Buenos Aires, Dec 12 - Nine South American countries have expressed their 'permanent solidarity with the people and government' of Bolivia in the wake of a building political showdown over President Evo Morales' efforts to enact a new constitution, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.They also expressed their conviction that Bolivia 'will manage to resolve the present situation in a framework of democratic principles,' a statement signed by the leaders of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay and Uruguay, said Monday.The respective heads of state were in Argentina to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Cristina Fernandez as president.Earlier Monday, opposition governors from five of Bolivia's nine provinces rejected the draft constitution approved by Morales supporters in the constituent assembly.In a statement signed after a meeting in the central city of Cochabamba, the governors of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando provinces said the charter has 'no legal validity whatsoever'.The leaders of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Panda - known collectively as 'the crescent' - also said they planned to push ahead with their demands for regional autonomy in defiance of La Paz and the draft constitution.The Declaration of Buenos Aires by the nine South American leaders, issued by the Argentine foreign ministry, expressed confidence in 'the ability of the Bolivian political forces to maintain a climate of dialogue and understanding, rejecting all attempts to damage the stability of the institutions and the democratically elected government'.Morales said at a press conference Tuesday he appreciated the support expressed by the region's countries amid the political dispute surrounding the new Bolivian charter.Among other things, the socialist president said he will 'withstand' what he calls a conspiracy by his country's oligarchs and the 'international oligarchy, headed by the US', adding that the groups who oppose him 'are increasingly smaller, but increasingly violent'.Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, sees the new constitution as key to his project of are -founding' the nation in favour of its poor, long-suffering indigenous majority. (c) Indo-Asian News Service
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Brazil study links high police kill rate in Rio to bonuses Rio de Janeiro - An independent study in Brazil suggests that the soaring number of police killings of suspected criminals in Rio's war on drugs is linked to bonuses now paid to courageous police officers, according to a newspaper report Monday. Th...
More than 100 dead in El Salvador flooding - Summary Mexico City/San Salvador - More than 100 people were killed as heavy rains set off mudslides and sent rivers over their banks in El Salvador, rescue workers said Sunday. The rainfall, which came amid a cold front and the remainders of Caribbean Hurri...
OAS chief deplores failure of Honduras deal Washington - Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Friday deplored the interruption of the deal to solve the crisis in Honduras. Insulza demanded respect, without subterfuges, for a deal that he stre...
Honduran de-facto leaders resign to form unity cabinet - Summary Tegucigalpa, Honduras - The Honduran de-facto government of Roberto Micheletti resigned late Thursday, paving the way for a government of national unity and reconciliation, but said it was to form the new government without the participation of the o...
Honduran de-facto government resigns - Summary Tegucigalpa, Honduras - The Honduran de-facto government of Roberto Micheletti has resigned late Thursday, paving the way for a national unity and reconciliation government. The move was announced in a televised statement by the government following ...
Dutch prince surprises Mexicans with rude slang Mexico City - Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands made Mexicans laugh with his use of Mexican slang that many mothers would have scolded their children for using, the media reported Thursday. At a meeting with representatives of the energy sec...
Six people killed at table-dance club in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico MexicoCity - Six men were shot dead early Wednesday at a table-dance club in Ciudad Juarez, in northern Mexico. Chihuahua state justice officials said a group of armed attackers stormed into the Amadeus club in a mixed commercial-residential area of ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|