Church in the World

Church intervenes as peacemaker in Bolivia

Americas

BOLIVIA?S bishops are this week trying desperately to bring together the warring parties in a conflict that threatens to tear their country apart. Their chances of success appear slim, despite a call from Pope Benedict XVI for all sides to show a sense of responsibility and engage in ?open and sincere? talks. Cardinal Julio Terrazas, Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and the bishops? conference have agreed to mediate between the embattled Government of President Carlos Mesa, on the one hand, and militant ethnic, political and regional groups on the other. The cardinal held his first meetings with government and congressional leaders over the weekend of 4-5 June, but little progress seemed to have been made. On 6 June, President Mesa offered his resignation for the second time in three months, and left it up to Congress to decide whether to accept it. Congress was expected to meet on Thursday to decide whether to accept the offer.

The issues at stake are complex, and concern the future viability of Bolivia ? South America?s poorest country ? as a state. The mainly Indian population of the poor highlands, in the west of the country, including the capital, La Paz, are demanding more say in government, and are pressing President Mesa to summon a constituent assembly, which would rewrite the constitution to give them more power. They also want a better deal for Bolivia from the transnational companies that control some of the biggest oil and natural gas reserves in Latin America, and the most radical among them are calling for complete nationalisation.

President Mesa, who has been beset by sometimes violent demonstrations and roadblock protests since the middle of May, is trying to hold some sort of middle ground, arguing that getting too tough with the transnationals would be counter-productive for a poor country in desperate need of both capital and technology. But he has failed to impose the authority of his office since he took over in October 2003, following a mass uprising against his predecessor.

The other principal actors in this drama are the wealthy provinces of Santa Cruz and Tarija, in eastern Bolivia, which have more in common with neighbouring Brazil and Argentina than the bleak Andean highlands to the west. This is where most of the country?s oil, gas and productive agricultural land are found, and business leaders ? many of them European immigrants or their descendants ? view the turmoil in the capital as an opportunity to press their case for more local autonomy than is granted them under Bolivia?s highly centralised form of government. They have taken to the streets to demand a referendum, which they would almost certainly win.

President Mesa hoped last week to stem this rising tide of dissent by putting forward a package of proposals for both a constituent assembly and autonomy referendums, to take place in October. But his ideas satisfied nobody the Indians and left-wing parties, who bitterly oppose more autonomy for the eastern provinces, said they would keep up their protests, while Santa Cruz insisted that it would go ahead with organising its own referendum in August.

It was at this point that the bishops stepped in. As the country?s most respected institution, the Church is widely regarded as the last remaining hope of reaching some sort of consensus, and all sides agreed to the mediation. The best hope of a compromise may be to bring forward general elections scheduled for 2007 to December this year.
Colin Harding