Declaration of autonomy
07.05.2006Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections
Yesterday, on 4 July (which is also the anniversary of the founding of Tarija), prefects of the four Bolivian departments where "Sí" won the autonomy referendum met to reaffirm their commitment to regional autonomy (see El Deber). The prefects of Tarija, Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando — the so-called media luna departments — declared their readiness to defend their constituents' pro-autonomy votes.
More importantly, they've also expressed opposition to the government's new hydrocarbons contract w/ Argentina. The new contract gives all profits to YPFB, the Bolivian state-owned hydrocarbons company, rather than distributed to the departments that produce oil & natural gas. They were speaking specifically of the IDH (the Direct Hydrocarbons Tax).
In short, the prefects of Santa Cruz & Tarija (who spoke out about this, according to reports) are opposed to continued centralization of the country's economic resources. Clearly, the autonomy they envision is one that gives more than simply direct elections for prefects or other local leaders — they've imagined a sort of federal system to replace the current centralist state.
Meanwhile, the votes from Sunday's constituent assembly election are still being counted. So far only Tarija & Pando are finished, another department or two might finish today.
Posted by Miguel at 10:56 AM