[NYTr] Bolivians Rally in Support of Evo Morales

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Granma Daily -  22 November, 2007
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art58.html

Bolivians Rally in Support of Evo Morales

LA PAZ, November 21.— Thousands of Bolivians marched on Wednesday
through the streets of the capital in support of President Evo Morales,
days after the opposition called for "civil disobedience" in the
regions they govern, reported Reuters.

The demonstrators demanded the closing of the Senate that is controlled
by the rightwing faction who have stepped up pressure against
government mining and agriculture reforms.

Constant protests by the opposition during the last three months in
support of moving the administrative capital to Sucre have paralyzed
the drafting of a new constitution by the constituent assembly.
Attempts to renew their work have failed.

Prensa Latina reports that constituent assembly First Vice President
Roberto Aguilar denounced that assembly members from Poder Democratico
Social (PODEMOS), the principal opposition force, are instigating
violence to maintain the assembly on hold.

Nazario Ramirez, a community leader from El Alto, a Morales stronghold,
told the local Arbol Radio that the indigenous organizations of his
region will be "in a state of constant protest until the constituent
assembly concludes."

A march of civic groups from El Alto will join the thousands of small
farmers who have blocked the entrances to the city of Sucre and have
recently held rallies in support of Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous
president.