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Bolivia's Social Movement as example for the world May 30, 2006 8:23 AM

Cochabamba's Water War: The Start of Other Struggles
Written by Claudia Lopez, Translated by Nancy Wallace
In 1985 the Bolivian state, headed by the MNR (Nationalist Revolutionary Movement) proudly pronounced the end of the economic crisis with the Supreme Decree 21060, putting the country on the same neoliberal path that had taken
hold in the rest of the world.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/300/1/  [ send green star]
 
just finished this book and recommend it to all May 30, 2006 8:33 AM

   ¡Cochabamba! Water War in Bolivia Oscar Olivera and Tom Lewis; Foreword by Vandana Shiva Pages: 224 ISBN: 0-89608-702-6 $16 Historically a common trust, water is now bought and sold as a private commodity. With billions at the mercy of an unrestrained marketplace, it is easy to understand why this precious resource is at the center of the international movement working to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization. The triumphant struggle of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia, sounded a significant opening salvo in the water wars. In 2001, water warriors there regained control of their water supply and defied all odds by driving out the transnational corporation that had stolen their water in the first place. ¡Cochabamba! is the story of the first great victory against corporate globalization in Latin America. Oscar Olivera, a 45-year-old machinist who helped shape and lead a movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets, powerfully conveys the perspective of a committed participant in a victorious and inspirational rebellion. The beloved and highly respected Olivera relates the selling of the city’s water supply to Aguas del Tunari—a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel—the subsequent astronomical rise in water prices, and the refusal of poverty-strapped Bolivians to pay them. Olivera brings us to the front lines of a movement, chronicling how the people organized an opposition and the dramatic struggles that eventually defeated the privatizers. With hard-won political savvy, Olivera reflects on major themes that emerged from the war over water: the fear and isolation that Cochabambinos faced with a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering the city’s water supply; and the impact of the water wars on subsequent resistance. http://www.southendpress.org* As the poorest country in Latin America, Bolivia had no choice but to get
rid of the vampire corporations that were sucking the blood from it. I hope
other countries will follow suit including the US... although we have wasted
our natural resources/wealth and now squander those of other countries by force.
 [ send green star]
 
People’s Trade Agreements versus Free Trade Agreements June 01, 2006 9:50 AM

 
View Article  People’s Trade Agreements versus Free Trade Agreements
 
gas nationalization backlash June 25, 2006 2:54 PM

Friday, June 23, 2006

VIEW: Who owns Bolivia? - Joseph E Stiglitz

Without transparency, it is easy for citizens to feel that they are being cheated - and they often are. When foreign companies get a deal that is too good to be true, there is
often something underhanded going on. Around the world, companies and countries should agree on a simple principle: there should be "open contracts, openly and transparently
arrived at".

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C06%5C23%5Cstory_23-6-2006_pg3_6  [ send green star]
 
Andean Information Network July 11, 2006 7:02 PM

NEW AIN UPDATE! A New Constitution for Bolivia: The History and Structure of the Constitutional Assembly

June 28, 2006 

On March 6, 2006 the Bolivian Congress passed legislation convoking a constitutional assembly. As a result on July 2, 2006 Bolivians will vote for 255 representatives to write a new constitution and determine whether their departments (the equivalent of states) will have greater autonomy.  The demand for a new constitution is a result of longstanding popular pressure...read more... 


NEW AIN UPDATE!  Bolivia's Agrarian Reform Initiative: An Effort to Keep Historical Promises

June 28, 2006
In May 2006 the Morales government launched its land reform program, a key campaign promise, and has begun land redistribution in Bolivia, a country with one of most unequal land distributions in South America.  Inequitable land tenure has been a persistent problem, and there is consensus within the country of the need for agrarian reform...read more...

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Bolivias new constitutional assembly - fact vs. myth July 13, 2006 10:08 AM

 
is tasked with re-writing the country's constitution.  The elections have become one point of contention between the
U.S. and Bolivian governments.  While some U.S. officials have portrayed this as a power grab by Evo Morales, Bolivia's new president, the upcoming Constitutional Assembly elections are actually the culmination of a
decade-long process intended to provide greater political representation to those Bolivians who have been historically marginalized, including indigenous peoples.

The most significant issue in U.S.-Bolivian relations continues to be counterdrug policy.  The attached
<
http://www.wola.org/publications/AIN-WOLA%20Drug%20Policy%20Memo%20FINAL%20
brief.pdf>  brief, co-authored by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Andean Information Network (AIN), Crisis
<
http://www.wola.org/publications/AIN-WOLA%20Drug%20Policy%20Memo%20FINAL%20
brief.pdf>  or Opportunity?  Bolivian Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Response, lays out the new government's  "coca yes, cocaine no" strategy, which seeks to clearly distinguish between coca, a plant long used by indigenous peoples for health, religious and cultural purposes, and cocaine,
an illicit drug.

The brief argues that President Morales has an unprecedented opportunity to devise a drug control strategy that enjoys significant support within Bolivia and could achieve the long-term results that have proven elusive to
date.  Despite concerns expressed by U.S. officials, coca eradication efforts continue through a cooperative reduction strategy in place since October 2004, and the Morales and Bush administrations continue to work together on interdiction efforts.  While it is too soon to evaluate the
impact of the new government's efforts, the U.S. government - and the international community more broadly - should give the Bolivian government the breathing room that it needs to implement its drug control strategy.

We also wish to bring your attention to several other timely memos being released by collegial organizations.   These memos provide information on important political developments in Bolivia and help put the Constitutional Assembly elections in context.  Please click on the links below to access memos on:

*        an overview of the Evo Morales
<
http://www.wola.org/publications/BoliviaIPS.pdf>  administration, prepared by the Institute for Policy Studies;
*        the Constituent
<
http://www.wola.org/publications/BoliviaAINconstit.pdf>  Assembly process, prepared by AIN;
*        land reform <
http://www.wola.org/publications/BoliviaAINland.pdf>
issues in Bolivia, also prepared by AIN;
*        Bolivian <
http://www.wola.org/publications/BoliviaKrueger.pdf>
international relations, prepared by independent Bolivia expert, Chris Krueger.  

For more information, please contact John Walsh at WOLA at
jwalsh@wola.org
or Kathryn Ledebur of AIN at kledebur@ain-bolivia.org.  [ send green star]
 
Articulos sobre Bolivia July 14, 2006 10:30 AM

 *Between Electoral Theater and Revolution: Bolivia Looks Toward Rewriting its Constitution *
Benjamin Dangl, UpsideDownWorld.org

Before Evo Morales won a landslide victory in the Bolivian presidential election on December 18, 2005, one of his key campaign promises was to organize a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. The election for representatives to that assembly took place on Sunday, July 2nd in
tandem with a referendum on autonomy for all provinces. The election, and its results, revealed significant aspects of the relationship between the Morales administration and the social movements that helped put him in power.

Complete Article:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/353/1/

Below are the links to two recently published articles on Bolivian trade policy, regional integration, and the People's Trade Agreement:

Integration of the Latin American Homeland
http://boliviasolidarity.org/newsupdates/bolivia/integration

Bolivia Advocates Alternative Vision for Trade and Integration
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/355/1

 [ send green star]
 
 July 14, 2006 1:41 PM

I just wish I can duplicate Bolivian president a zillion times!!!

 [ send green star]
 
Andres Soliz Rada resignation as minister for hydrocarbons and energy September 19, 2006 11:33 AM

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2006/09/andres-soliz-rada-resignation-as.html

La Paz, September 15, 2006
Mr Evo Morales Ayma
President of the Republic

Ref.: irrevocable resignation

Your Excellency Mr. President,

Last May 17, I notified to you the urgency with which I had to remove myself from the cabinet for personal reasons. In that opportunity, at your request and that of Mr Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, I accepted remaining in the position of Minster for Hydrocarbons and Energy for an additional time. I consider that this time has been completed, the reason for which I am presenting to you my irrevocable resignation.

I take use of this opportunity to put on record the patriotism with
which you have lead this country, the reason why I feel thankful for
allowing me the opportunity to accompany you in the historic
nationalisation of gas and petrolem, last May 1.

This is a moment to recall that the nationalization pushed forward, in a decisive way, the process of recuperation of the dignity and self esteem of our people that the neoliberal and racist policies had
attempted to squash in a definitive manner. Thanks to the
nationalization, the country has recuperated around $200,000 million in gas and petroleum reserves, whose value the petroleum companies tried to note down in the stock exchange as if it was theirs.

Even though we were not able to including in the May decree the
expropriation of the necessary shares from Chaco, Andina and
Transredes, so that YPFB could immediately control 50% + 1 of the
shares of these companies, we achieved, at least, that the state
company be represented, although as a minority, for now, in their
board of directors, after transferring the shares, which were under
the control of the AFPs, to YPFB.

The Ministerial Resolution 202/2006 from last August 25, obliged
Petrobras, Andina and Repsol to pay $32 million monthly, complying
with article four of the nationalization decree, which talks of the
additional 32% taxes for participation in the mega fields of Sabalo
and San Alberto. Due to this, YPFB has collected $64 million and we
can count on a further $96 million in the next months.

As the Nationalisation Decree allows for, the Ministry organized, with total transparency, the auditing of petroleum companies that operate in this country, the results of which will allow YPFB to sign new contracts in advantageous conditions.

In the agreement to sell gas to Argentina, we achieved a commitment from the neigbhour country to construct, with a preferential credit loan, a separation and liquification plant, whose property will be in the hands of Bolivia, in Yacuiba, that will have to process the totality of gas sold to the neighbour country, and which will become functional at the moment of expansion of the pertinent volumes of exportation. Now Bolivia must authorize Argentina's future exportations of gas to third countries.

The Ministry has finished the first draft of the law of integral
reorganization of YPFB, which in the next few days will be sent to the Congress of the republic. The National Energetic Balance, which has stopped being elaborated since 1996, is also almost at the point of completion. We have also obtained the designation of the directory of the state oil entity, that should lead the company.

Nothing of what I have mentioned would have been possible to achieve without the heroic struggle of our people and the social movements which on October 17, 2003, changed our history, by expelling the principal neoliberal politicians that caused so much damage to Bolivia, and which were squashed by your electoral victory last December 18.

At this opportunity, I would like to pass on my extensive gratefulness to Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, the men and women that make up your cabinet, as well as the leaders and parliamentarians that back the revolutionary process, of whose devotion and sacrifice I have been witness to.

Finally, I would like to manifest my gratitude to the loyal people
that worked with me in the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy, who's dedication and friendship I counted on at all times.

Please receive, companero and brother President, my fraternal hug

Andrés Soliz Rada

Translated from Bolivian Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy website

 [ send green star]
 
A Briefing on Bolivia September 19, 2006 1:42 PM

Oil & gas Nationalization

The popular demand for public control of the nation's gas and oil resources has been a long-standing one in Bolivia, and has been at the forefront of national politics for three years. In July 2004 more than 90% of the voters in a national referendum supported a measure to recover control of Bolivia's gas and oil reserves. Nationalization was also a central pledge by President Evo Morales during the 2005 elections. On May 1, 2006 Morales, issued an executive decree declaring the "nationalization" of Bolivia's oil and gas reserves. The Democracy Center is dedicated to providing its readers with up to date and accurate analysis of this issue as it unfolds.

 [ send green star]
 
 September 19, 2006 2:20 PM

great  [ send green star]
 
Evo Morales' speech at the UN September 22, 2006 10:16 AM

Evo at the UN

Speech delivered by the president of the republic, Evo Morales Ayma, in front of the United Nations General Assembly.

New York, September 19, 2006.

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2006/09/evo-at-un-speech-delivered-by.html

 [ send green star]
 
"Bolivia's Morales celebrates foreign water company's exit,... January 07, 2007 11:50 AM

...plans more nationalization"

The Associated Press
Thursday, January 4, 2007
LA PAZ, Bolivia

President Evo Morales on Wednesday celebrated the departure of French-owned
water utility Aguas de Illimani from Bolivia and vowed to continue his
administration's reversal of a decade-old privatization of key Bolivian
industries.

In a ceremony at the presidential palace in La Paz, Morales officially bid
farewell to the affiliate of French transnational Suez, which has provided
water to the capital of La Paz and its poorer satellite, El Alto, since a
former public utility was privatized in 1997.

"Water cannot be turned over to private business," Morales said. "It must remain a basic service, with participation of the state so that water service can be provided almost for free."

Aguas de Illimani's high rates and a reluctance to expand service into the
fringes of the twin cities prompted protests in El Alto in 2005 demanding the
water system be returned to state control.

Then-President Carlos Mesa moved to rescind Aguas de Illimani's contract, but
negotiations continued for two years before Morales' government and the company agreed to severance terms this week.

"We have achieved an agreeable exit, assuring that foreign businesses will not
simply be expelled from Bolivia," Morales said Thursday.

The president echoed other speakers at the ceremony in calling for other foreign companies operating in privatized sectors to be returned to state control, including La Paz power utility ElectroPaz, owned by Spanish energy company Iberdrola, and telecommunications company Entel, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia.

"We have much left to do," Morales said.

Elected a year ago as Bolivia's first Indian president, Morales nationalized his
country's extensive natural gas reserves on May 1, assuming a greater share of
their revenues and control over their Bolivian operations.

Morales has also expressed a desire to also nationalize the mining industry.

Bolivia will accept US$15.1 million (?11.5 million) in debt from Aguas de
Illimani, US$5.5 million (?4.2 million) of which is owed to the company's
Bolivian shareholders.

The company will be replaced by a newly formed public utility that Germany,
Spain and Venezuela have together donated US$5.5 million (?4.2 million) to
get up and running.

Bolivian Water Minister Abel Mamani, a leader of the 2005 El Alto protests, said
Thursday the new company will need an investment of at least US$35 million
(?26.7 million) over its first five years to expand service to the parts of
the La Paz-El Alto metro area most in need of water.

Under pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, former
President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada privatized a wide swath of Bolivian
industry in the mid-1990s, including the oil and gas, water, power, railroad
and telecommunications sectors, as well as the national airline and pension
plan. But the privatization has mixed results and failed to create new jobs as
Sanchez de Lozada had hoped.

_______________________________________________
waterjustice mailing list
waterjustice@tni.org
https://mail.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/waterjustice  [ send green star]
 
Turning Gas into Development in Bolivia January 07, 2007 2:08 PM

Will Evo Morales' attempt at re-nationalization bring real change?
Aaron Luoma and Gretchen Gordon

This article is from the November/December 2006 issue of Dollars & Sense: The Magazine of Economic Justice available at http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/1106luomagordon.html

"On May 1 of this year, banners reading "Nationalized: Property of the Bolivian people" were hung over filling station entrances and strung across the gates of refineries and gas and oil fields across Bolivia. From the San Alberto field in Bolivia's southern state of Tarija, President Evo Morales stood flanked by his ministers and military before a crowd of television cameras. In a carefully orchestrated public relations event, Morales made the surprise announcement that the military was at that moment securing the country's oil and gas fields. "  [ send green star]
 
Bolivian protesters burn building January 09, 2007 10:59 PM

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A3F56E19-6A18-420A-864E-6B3D85D8B88F.htm

 [ send green star]

 
FRENTE A LA LEGALIDAD NEOLIBERAL LA LEGITIMIDAD POPULAR January 10, 2007 4:23 PM

Las conquistas sociales nunca han sido producto de  la “legalidad”, no han sido Leyes ni jueces los que han cambiado el país, siempre ha sido el pueblo en las calles. 1952, 1978, 1979. 1982, 2000, 2003, 2005, son fechas que en las que el pueblo, rompiendo toda legalidad, inició la revolución de abril, reconquistó la democracia, demandó tierra y territorio, derrotó la dictadura de  Pereda, Banzer y de García Meza. A partir del año 2000 con la Guerra del agua el valeroso pueblo de Cochabamba comienza la larga lucha para derrotar al neoliberalismo.

La Guerra del gas recuperó la voluntad popular como el único instrumento legítimo de reivindicación, por encima de la legalidad que sólo favoreció a los ricos de siempre; y también por encima de los partidos políticos que solamente piensan en aprovechar el poder.

Hoy día en Cochabamba se libra una nueva batalla, salimos a las calles y los caminos a ocupar espacios de VOZ y DIGNIDAD, nuestra palabra no está comprometida con ningún interés partidario o económico, nosotros hablamos y actuamos por nosotros mismos.
       
Somos militantes de la autonomía de los movimientos y organizaciones sociales, creemos que otra Bolivia es posible; y que el pueblo es el legítimo depositario de la construcción de su presente y su futuro.

El pedido de la renuncia de Manfred Reyes Villa, más allá de su pasado como edecán de García Meza y su actuación en la masacre de la Calle Harringtón, inclusive por encima  del pacto firmado con Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, tiene que ver con las siguientes consideraciones:

1.        En declaraciones públicas, de manera conciente, ha demostrado que no le interesa la problemática del desarrollo departamental, sino que se ha convertido en un instrumento de la oligarquía cruceña incrustado en Cochabamba, y sólo se preocupa de proteger y apoyar esos intereses para mantener  sus privilegios acumulados sobre las espaldas del pueblo, estos intereses significan exclusión, división del país y mayor pobreza, es decir: NO QUIEREN QUE EL PAIS CAMBIE
2.        Cochabamba no se puede  convertir en un apéndice de la oligarquía de Santa Cruz, pero Reyes Villa, mediante el uso de la represión como en sus tiempos de edecán de García Meza, y con un fuerte tinte racista pretende  imponer un pensamiento ajeno a la mayoría del pueblo.
3.        Manfred Reyes Villa, ahora disfrazado de demócrata, pisotea la decisión del pueblo cochabambino que votó en el Referéndum con un NO a las autonomías departamentales.

Por estas consideraciones, las organizaciones sociales, barriales, de jóvenes, y profesionales, que siempre salimos a las calles, queremos dejar manifiesta nuestra posición al margen de cualquier posición e interés partidario y exigimos la RENUNCIA del capitán Manfred Reyes Villa.

Esta es una lucha entre la riqueza de unos cuantos y la pobreza de millones de nosotros, es una lucha a muerte …por la vida

No podemos aceptar que otros piensen por nosotros, no podemos dejar que Cochabamba  se convierta en el traspatio de la oligarquía cruceña, por eso debemos mantener las movilizaciones porque el pueblo en su sabiduría ha dicho:

¡¡¡¡¡FUERA  REYES VILLA  DE COCHABAMBA!!!!

Cochabamba, enero  del 2007

Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida, ASICASUR, Federación de Trabajadores Fabriles de Cochabamba, Adjudicatarios de Viviendas de Interés Social.  [ send green star]
 
"When Change Becomes a Reality in Bolivia" January 26, 2007 12:49 AM

 
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2007/01/when-change-becomes-reality-in-bolivia.html

When Change Becomes a Reality in Bolivia

Jubenal Quispe, January 16

The substantial changes initiated by the indigenous president, Evo
Morales Ayma, have unleashed a desperate resistance by those who had
accustomed themselves to illegal enrichment, abuse of power, theft and
lies, in order to oppress the great majority of Bolivians.

The petroleum companies and the large landowners affected by the
recuperation of hydrocarbons and by the redistribution of unused land
have imposed an implacable dictatorship via the mass media in this
country. Faced with the measures of change assumed by the current
government, the owners of the private mass media have signed a pact to
overthrow Evo Morales by pushing misinformed sectors against him.

According to the non-state owned mass media, no substantial changes
have occurred in Bolivia. Even though, the facts show that economic
income, as a result of the process of nationalization of hydrocarbons,
has risen from 300 to 1500 million dollars. Or even, that when the
state concluded its 2006 term, it did so with a surplus of 3000
million dollars. Something that has not occurred in the last 30 years.

In 2006, the wages for teachers rose 7%. All children in state schools
below the age of 10 received and will continue to receive 200 Bs per
year. All this thanks to the economic surplus from the trading of
natural gas.

Thousands of blind people have recuperated their eyesight via the
health program "Operation Miracle" and many more have begun to
liberate themselves from the tyranny of being illiterate with the
literacy program "Yes I Can", programs funded by Cuba and Venezuela.
The poor who consume less electrical energy are subsidized by the
petroleum companies thanks to a supreme decree.

According to the organization Transparency International, up until
2005 Bolivia occupied one of the first places internationally for
public corruption. Now it is in 13th place. Public functionaries,
thanks to the president's initiative to lower his wage, earn much less
that any other functionary in the Latin American region. Right now,
the proposed "Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz" law is in the congress,
which aims to investigate the wealth of ex-presidents and public
functionaries.

Moreover, there are laws such as the Education Reform, which is
decolonised, pluricultural, inter-religious and inter-ecclesiastic.
There is also still pending the law to increase taxes on mining.

To all this should be added that, like never before, indigenous
Bolivians are living through a process of psychological healing,
accepting and feeling proud of our cultural identity which had
previously been stigmatized.

There also exist negative aspects in the government of Evo Morales.
Discursive excesses or radicalisms, unnecessary confrontations,
incapacity in management, impunity for those responsible for the
deaths of the miners in Huanuni etc, which do not help the process of
change that has begun.

But there is more positive than negative

With these achievements, Evo Morales - who to the traditional
political parties and "owners" of Bolivia is an ignorant Indian,
lacking reason - has given a lecture on good governance to those who
(mis)governed the country in the past. The rich can not accept the
fact that an Indian is teaching them how to govern. Just like they
don't accept sharing their unjustly obtained privileges with the
needy.

In the current situation, the politicians defeated by Evo Morales, and
the many who have illegally enriched themselves in the period of
neoliberalism, are financing and organizing the middle and upper
classes in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba so that through the
strategically trained youth ("Crucenista Youth Union" and
"Cochabambino Youth Union") they can sow terror and death in Bolivia.
The aim is to sow chaos in order to attribute it to Evo Morales, and
by doing so, put a break on the processes of change.

During these last few days, the prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes,
trained up in the Schools of the Americas, responsible for numerous
massacres during the dictatorships and in the government of Goni,
disciple of Reverend Mon, and now catholic, responsible for the
privatization of water in Cochabamba, finds himself seeking refuge in
the city of Santa Cruz organising more violent and racist clashes
between Bolivians in order to attempt to sow chaos in the country, and
via this path, destroy the popular support of the current government.  [ send green star]
 
Bolivia Overcomes Constitutional Impasse February 26, 2007 12:58 PM

Prepared by the Andean Information Network
February 26, 2007

After a six month stalemate, Bolivia's Constitutional Assembly members
reached a compromise and approved a method of voting on February 14th.  As a result, the Assembly's 21 thematic commissions have finally begun considering the proposals for the content of the new constitution.  The procedural gridlock over Article 70, which defines how the individual articles and the final text of the constitution will be approved, represents much deeper differences between the central MAS government and opposition groups.  This ongoing struggle encompasses the hydrocarbons and autonomy issues as well as class, race and regional divides that have become increasingly acute throughout the country.

The multi-party compromise reached by the Assembly provides a glimmer of hope for the future of this conflict-ridden process.  If the central
government, opposition parties and departmental governors can follow the example set by the Assembly and make mutual concessions, instead of continually blocking each other's progress, the current political crisis may be transformed into a process of genuine political reform to benefit all Bolivians.

In spite of this step forward, the debate of specific articles for the new
constitution will most likely generate further controversy and friction.  It
will be essential for all parties involved to continue to compromise as the
Assembly only has six months before they must present the final text of the constitution to the Bolivian public.  The successful creation of a new
constitution is one of Bolivia's best options for peaceful political
transformation.

The Vote on Article 70  
Of the 255 members in the Assembly, 247 were present for the Feb 14th vote. Of those present there were 201 Yes votes (81%), 17 No votes, 19 Abstentions, and 10 did not vote. 

Support for the articles did not strictly follow party lines. The revised
article received support from members of the MAS, Podemos, UN, MNR, AS and some small leftist parties.  Some dissenting members of the Podemos, MNR, APB, AAI, and Camino al Cambio voted against the article. 

The Process
The voting process approved with the revision of Article 70 is lengthy,
complicated and still contains some gray areas.   

If each article of the new constitution is approved by the commissions and the entire body of the Assembly by two-thirds, the final text of the
constitution will be submitted to the Bolivian public for approval by
popular referendum.  However, this is unlikely given the contentious nature of many of the articles to be debated, the potential for continued
obstructions, the short time limit and the general disorganization of the
Assembly.  

If there are articles that do not receive two-thirds approval, the debate on the article will move to a committee.  This committee will attempt to reach consensus, but if that is not possible there is an option to allow the Bolivian public to chose between two versions of controversial articles in a popular referendum.  It is still unclear whether this vote would take place as part of the final approval of the text by Bolivian voters or would occur in a separate referendum.



Timeline: 

2006

March 6: Bolivian Congress passed legislation convoking a constitutional
assembly.

July 2: Elections for Assembly representatives

August 6: The Assembly convenes.



2007

February 14: Assembly reaches a compromise on voting procedures.

April 30: Deadline for commissions to submit their proposed articles to the
Assembly.

July 2: Deadline for Assembly to finish debate on the text.

August 6: Official deadline for the Assembly to present the new
constitution.


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