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BOLIVIA UNDERGOING HISTORIC CHANGE, VICE PRESIDENT TELLS OAS COUNCIL

Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro García Linera, speaking at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington today, said his country was at a “historic juncture” as the government seeks to deliver on equal rights, social inclusion and well-being for the majority, through democratic principles based on dialogue and negotiating differences.

García told member state ambassadors at a protocolary meeting of the OAS Permanent Council that Bolivia’s elite and the ruling class, as well as political institutions, were all undergoing a process of readjustment. He said that this readjustment will over the next few months involve dissent, tensions and conflicts that will be resolved on the basis of agreement and reason.

For a country plagued by longstanding class divisions as well as racism and discrimination—80 per cent of the population being indigenous—such conflicts are expected, according to García. He also touched on the “impasse” in the Constituent Assembly over definition of procedures for debating such issues as the rule of law, autonomous and on-autonomous entities, land and hydrocarbons—vital to the future and stability for Bolivians.

Accordingly, he said, groups that previously had a monopoly on political power are readjusting. Garcia said these groups must learn to share power, and that those that had never held power but now have access, must also learn to find a balance.

Secretary General José Miguel Insulza welcomed the Bolivian Vice President during the meeting that was chaired by Suriname’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Henry L. Illes.

The Secretary General noted efforts by the Evo Morales government to institute fundamental changes to move society forward, calling them “changes demanded by history and reality in a nation that is so important to the Americas. Bolivia has suffered a kind of poverty that it should not have, for a country so endowed with resources.”

He said the Vice President was in the United States at a very auspicious moment for Bolivia, as Andean countries’ preferential access to the US market has been extended—a key facility for a number of OAS member countries. “The Organization fully supports Bolivia’s move to maintain those preferences,” said Insulza.

According to Secretary General Insulza, Evo Morales’ election by an absolute majority provides Bolivia with an opportunity for real change, based on full citizen participation and democracy. He said that is why the OAS has long sought to assist Bolivia in major endeavors such as monitoring its presidential, parliamentary and Constituent Assembly elections. “We can therefore attest to the commitment and enthusiasm with which Bolivians undertook their transformation responsibilities.”

In concluding, the Bolivian Vice President said he hoped the transformation set in motion by President Morales and the Bolivian people would win the support of the international community. “Our hope is that, difficulties notwithstanding, our brothers and sisters would support us in this productive democratic process, because we believe Bolivia’s success—and the democratic and peaceful resolution of longstanding tensions—would also spell success for Latin America as well and would be a great lesson for Latin America on how to settle debts with history, on the basis of democracy,” declared García Linera.

Reference: E-190/06