c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) The World Council of Churches has called on the government of Bolivia of involve the nation’s indigenous people in efforts to resolve the political crisis that has paralyzed the country’s capital of La Paz and prompted President Carlos Mesa to offer his resignation.
La Paz has been besieged and brought to a virtual standstill by protests that began in mid-May. Indigenous Indians and labor groups are pressing a variety of demands mostly focused on a call to nationalize Bolivia’s oil and natural gas industries.
Anti-globalization sentiment runs high in Bolivia following two decades of free market reforms that enriched small, mostly non-Indian elite but failed to deliver many benefits to the indigenous poor.
On Friday (June 3), the World Council of Churches sent a letter to Bolivian churches saying inclusion of Bolivia’s “indigenous peoples in social and political life” is one of the requisite steps “for the construction of meaningful and true democracy.”
The letter was a response to the ecumenical pastoral letter “Come to a Common Agreement” issued in late May by the Catholic archbishop of La Paz along with leaders of Bolivian Protestant and Pentecostal churches urging dialogue among Bolivian social groups and classes.
In his letter to the Bolivian churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary, recalled the biblical mandate to “work for an inclusive society in which the most vulnerable and marginalized people _ in biblical language, the poor _ deserve special attention.
Catholic leaders have called on both the government and the protesters to refrain from violence. The country is estimated to be 95 percent Roman Catholic.
The National Association of Evangelicals of Bolivia has also issued a statement calling for dialogue and a joint solution to crisis in the country.
Bolivia, with a population of 8.9 million people, is Latin America’s poorest country with nearly 65 percent of the population living in poverty. The current crisis is another chapter in Bolivia’s ongoing clash between its haves and have-nots, the latter made up mostly of Bolivia’s indigenous majority.
In an effort to defuse the crisis, Mesa has called for a constitutional assembly for October and a referendum over greater regional autonomy. The country’s pro-business economic elite in the country’s southeast region, where much of the nation’s gas and oil wealth is located, has been pushing for more autonomy from La Paz and more control over that wealth.
Mesa, who became president in October 2003, was brought to power by an Indian-led uprising that forced his predecessor from office.
In a televised speech on Monday night (June 6), Mesa said the demonstrations that besieged the city had made Bolivia ungovernable. An estimated 100,000 demonstrators filled the streets and blockaded the capital.
“My responsibility is to say this is as far as I can go,” he said. “For that reason, it is my decision to present my resignation as president of the republic.”
Church leaders had met with Mesa, congressional leaders and other government officials over the weekend in an effort to mediate the confrontation and had urged protesters to call a truce, Reuters reported.
But Mesa’s offer to resign has so far failed to stem the demands of the impoverished Indians for a larger share of Bolivia’s wealth.
On Tuesday (June 7), the day after Mesa offered his resignation, riot police and demonstrators again clashed, with police firing tear gas and beating some demonstrators, according to the Associated Press.
The United States has generally supported Mesa through the crisis, fearing the unrest could bring to power another leftist government in Latin America like that in Venezuela.
DEA/JL END RNS
Editors who subscribe to Reuters photo: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for Reuters photos of Bolivia and President Carlos Mesa.
