Do Not Go Gently Into That Socialist Night
The people of Bolivia have declined to go gently into the socialist worker's paradise that Hugo Chavez puppet Evo Morales has tried to decree. They have decided to, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
The protests in the southern city of Sucre came hours after pro-government allies in a constitutional assembly approved a preliminary draft late on Saturday of the new constitution, a key Morales political project.
Morales, a leftist and Bolivia's first Indian president, says the new constitution will give the country's indigenous majority more political power.
But the vote was boycotted by the rightist opposition, which has heavily criticized the assembly.
On the streets of Sucre, protesters stood face to face with police officers, setting fires to tires as tear-gas rained down on them.
They also set fire to Sucre's San Roque prison, starting a prison riot that saw at least 100 inmates escape, local media said.
Bolivia's state news agency ABI reported police had been ordered off the streets in Sucre to avoid further provoking protesters. The agency said the police officer who was killed had been lynched by a mob. Three other officers were injured.
"The constitutional assembly needs to leave. They're no good. It's just for La Paz; it doesn't represent Bolivia," said a university student who did not give his name after a night battling police.
Protests have raged for days against the assembly and the constitution it was drafting, and on Saturday police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse thousands of demonstrators.
The disturbing fact about this is that the anti-Morales factions thought a boycott was an effective tool. It is not - it is a foolish self-minimization of an opposition group. It is never a good idea to decline to exercise one's political voice.





