Sunday, June 22, 2008

Bolivia Autonomy Update:  Dept. of Tarija Makes it Four in a Row, In Spite of Pre-Election Violence

   

Police in Yacuiba, Tarija Display Explosives & Arms After Attack on TV Station
Source:  El Deber


In spite of a boycott of the autonomy referendum ordered by Evo Morales's MAS Party and a Saturday bombing of a television station in the city of Yacuiba, voters in the Bolivian Department of Tarija showed up in significant numbers Sunday to cast their ballots on the fourth autonomy referendum of the last two months.  Though at this early stage of the returns it would not be fair to publish final results, it is fairly clear that the referendum will pass by a significant margin.  The first set of numbers published at the Santa Cruz (Dept. of Santa Cruz) newspaper El Deber website showed the "Yes" votes (for autonomy) leading by 78.9% to 21.1% against the measure.  I will post a Monday update after final results are in, along with other relevant information, since I have learned that the news does not come in as rapidly as one might hope on election day.

The television station bombing in Yacuiba occurred at 5:00 a.m. local time Saturday, which meant there were no casualties.  Police have arrested at least three suspects, one of whom is a Sub-Lieutenant (2nd Lieutenant) in the Bolivian Army named George Peter Nava Zurita who it was reported is a member of the security team at the military office at the seat of government in La Paz.  Two younger university students, one from La Paz and another from Santa Cruz were also taken into custody.  No other details are available at this time.

StJacques
   

4 comments:

The Neither Party said...

I wonder if it is yet another effort by the advocates of autonomy to break Bolivia apart...
It will be interesting to learn more about the reported attack on the radio station, and the backgrounds of the accused. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I have my suspicions.
The whole event seems very suspect to me, causing me to wonder about the supposed perpetrators, and especially the background of the accused officer as well as his superior.
Might they have been grads of the WHINSEC (formerly School of Americas) USA terrorism school?
Might they more likely have been instruments of the autonomists, as opposed to supporters of Morales?
Might this have been a 'false-flag' operation on behalf of the separatists, intended to inflame anti-government feelings?
Just questions--not accusations--that this reader will appreciate knowing the facts about, because frankly, it seems to me that the whole operation stinks to high heaven.
Questioningly,,,John

StJacques said...

The instances of violence committed against the four departments of the Media Luna on the part of Evo Morales's MAS Party to intimidate or prevent voters from showing up at the polls are too numerous to count.

If you want to see some pictures of the types of thugs I am referring to you can look at one of my earlier posts following the May 4 vote in Santa Cruz:

http://stjacquesonline.blogspot.com/2008/05/bolivian-leftist-violence-sunday-during.html

The idea that this is a U.S.-backed operation or that the autonomy proponents are staging the whole thing is absurd.

StJacques
   

Martha Colmenares said...

Tienes un merecido reconocimiento en mi blog. “Premio Comprometido en Defensa de la Libertad y la Democracia”.
Un abrazo, Martha

Unknown said...

Best ragards StJacques