Insulza stresses OAS support for pacification of Bolivia

Sep 19, 2008, 19:35 GMT

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.