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of Bolivia (and close ally of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, as well as of leftist Rafael Correa, the new president of Ecuador) is to divide Bolivia up, and separate off the rural areas that are rich in oil, gas, minerals and other resources, and where rich rightwing landowners stand to profit from those resources, at the expense of the vast poor population in the cities (often displaced small and indigenous farmers).
The rightwingers in Bolivia can't win elections fair and square (just as they can't here), so they are mounting a phony battle for "independent" states--that the central government, Morales and his constituency (the vast majority of Bolivians) will lose control of.
That's what this about.
It's a much bigger story than this--involving a huge democracy movement throughout the Andes region, and throughout Latin America--with leftist (majorityist) governments elected in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Nicaragua; soon in Paraguay (where Fernando Lugo, the "bishop of the poor," just announced his candidacy, and will likely win the presidency this year); and a hairsbreadth leftist loss in Mexico (0.05%) (--more than likely a stolen election). The vast poor population of Latin America--long brutally exploited by US corporations and their own rich elites--is finally coming into its own, as a political force, and the Bush Junta is trying to defeat this leftist tidal wave, in various ways: violent military coup attempt (Venezuela), "divide and conquer" (--tried to split Uruguay off from the leftist coalition--failed), bribery (biofuels deal for Brazil--possibly will go through, although Lulu is no friend of Bush); tried to strongarm Nestor Kirchner and other S/A leaders to "isolate" Hugo Chavez (Kirchner replied, "But he is my friend"), and other crap like this. And their tactic in Bolivia is division of the country, to eliminate the national government's control of oil, gas and other resources, so that the rich elite and Bush Cartel corporations can dibby up the profits.
One key and driving forces of this leftist revolution is the use of local natural resources for the benefit of the people who live there, especially the vast poor populations, who lack schools, medical care, homes, plots of land to grow food, decent jobs, labor rights--after decades and centuries of severe and often brutal exploitation. This goal directly threatens those who would rip off the country's wealth, for their own enrichment and the profit of foreign (often US) corporations.
What happened to Bechtel Corp. in Bolivia is a good example of the conflict. Bechtel privatized the water in one Bolivian city (permitted to do so by the corrupt rich elite), and then jacked up the prices to the poorest of the poor--even charging poor peasants for collecting rainwater! Fresh water is another resource at issue--along with the more obvious ones of gas and oil. The Bolivians rebelled, rose up (huge mass demonstrations) and threw Bechtel out of their country. Morales was a leader in that rebellion. He was then elected president.
The rightwing landowners who want the capitol moved are trying to disempower Morales. The poor are now concentrated in densely packed urban areas. They are his constituency, and they are very politically active, and put a great deal of pressure on the more entrenched and corrupt segments of government, to cooperate with Morales; and they are there, as a peaceful army, which will quickly mobilize and defend the president, if the rightwing ever moves against him--for instance, as they did in Venezuela, where tens of thousands of Venezuelans filled the streets and defeated the coup attempt against Chavez.
Dividing the country--and creating "independent" rural states that control the resources--is an alternative tactic, to winning elections (they can't) or mounting rightwing coups (they WILL be strongly opposed)(--and OTHER Andes democracies, and the OAS, might also intervene to stop a coup). So...move the power center away from Morales and his leftist/progressive constituency, to a "capitol" that is controllable by the rightwing, so the rich can divide the resources up among themselves and Exxon Mobile, etc.
The Bushites' cruelest tactic is larding billions in military aid onto the highly corrupt and criminal government of Colombia, where rightwing paramilitaries are chainsawing union leaders, peasant farmers and political leftists, and throwing their body parts into mass graves; and engaging in large scale drug trafficking. These rightwing paramilitaries have very close ties to the Uribe government. The murderous and highly toxic U.S. "war on drugs" is used to drive small peasant farmers off the land (who end up in urban shantytowns), so the big drug traffickers can move in--and Monsanto and Chiquita Banana and other corporate predators. These so-called "anti-drug" police/military forces--official and otherwise--are also causing trouble in the border areas and remote areas of the Andes democracies, including Bolivia. They are major trouble-makers--and very violent--and the rich rightwing landowners in Bolivia are very likely harboring such forces.
This is not a nice fight--the effort to split up Bolivia. I have no doubt at all that it was hatched in the Bush White House/State Dept/CIA, and that Bush's Undersecretary of State for Latin America--John "death squad" Negroponte--is in the middle of it.
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