Bolivia Headed For Civil War?

The four districts of Bolivia that produce most of the natural gas in that country have announced that they are now autonomous from the central government and vow to hold a referendum to authorize a complete separation from the rest of the country and especially from Evo Morales and his new constitution. That constitution, drawn up by a rump group of legislators loyal to Morales, would have imposed taxes specifically on those four "rich" regions.

Thousands waved the Santa Cruz region's green-and-white flags in the streets as council members of the Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando districts made the public announcement.

The officials displayed a green-bound document containing a set of statutes paving the way to a permanent separation from the Bolivian government.

Council representatives vowed to legitimize the so-called autonomy statutes through a referendum that would legally separate the natural-gas rich districts from President Evo Morales' government.

The move also aims to separate the states from Bolivia's new constitution, which calls for, among other things, a heavier taxation on the four regions to help finance more social programs.

"The statutes will be ratified," said Oscar Ortiz, Santa Cruz senator. "With a public referendum, the people of our region will legitimize their will."

About 35 percent of Bolivia's 9.5 million people live in the four states, according to The Associated Press.

In the meantime, Bolivian network ATV showed what appeared to be armed, pro-government protesters creating blockades around the town of Yapacani, on the outskirts of Santa Cruz.

Some indigenous pro-Morales groups claim Bolivia's richer, white-ruled Eastern regions want to control the country's natural resources. Bolivia has South America's second-largest natural gas reserves, behind Venezuela. Most of it is produced in the Eastern regions.

This is a potentially lethal situation. Morales is exploiting both both class and racial divides while busily blaming the other side for doing the same. He is, of course, quite outspoken in his intent to redistribute wealth in accordance with the teachings of his hero, Hugo Chavez. In many ways, he is simply following the same playbook that was used in Venezuela. Because Morales is very much allied to Venezuela and because Chavez has bought a lot of military hardware recently, the rebellious districts may have a bad time of all this.