Bolivians feud over shifting capital
Regional rivalries stoking dispute
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Bolivia has endured popular uprisings in recent years dubbed the gas war and the water war. Now it faces the capital war.
Multitudes have taken to the streets in recent weeks over a proposal to switch the capital from bustling La Paz to sleepy Sucre, a colonial city that lost its capital status in a bloody struggle more than a century ago.
It is the latest fissure in a nation where bitter regional rivalries have stoked fears of fragmentation and civil conflict. All agree Bolivia doesn't need more division.
"What matters to me is that there is no bloodshed, massacres, or calls for social convulsions," Silvia Lazarte, president of Bolivia's Constituent Assembly, told reporters.
The capital rivalry has further extended the odds against lawmakers meeting a deadline yesterday for drafting a new constitution. The date probably will be extended to December, officials say.
Here in high-altitude La Paz, where a boisterous crowd stretching for miles and reported at more than 1 million people marched last month to reject the idea of moving the capital, the proposal is viewed as a ploy by rebellious lowland provinces to wrest control of this impoverished but resource-rich nation of 9 million people.
"They want to divide the country," Nazario Ramirez, a civic leader, told the assembled masses.
Proponents of moving the capital say Sucre, a city of 250,000 near the country's geographic center, is in a better position to foster national reconciliation than La Paz, which is in the western Andean highlands, the stronghold of President Evo Morales.
"Bolivia is now on the verge of violent confrontation," Jaime Barron, a leader of the pro-Sucre movement, warned during a rally in that city, about 430 miles southeast of La Paz. "We propose to establish a center of national equilibrium in Sucre . . . erasing at once the grave danger that our homeland will fragment."
The move would be an economic and social boon to Sucre, which was the site of Bolivia's founding in 1825 and was the sole capital until losing a short-lived civil war to La Paz in 1899. The two cities have maintained a rivalry ever since. Bolivia's judiciary is based in Sucre, while the legislative and executive branches of government reside in La Paz.
"We need progress," said Patricia Unzueta, a literature professor in Sucre. "We need to be more ambitious."
But "pacenos," as La Paz residents are known, say the switch would devastate the economy of the country's major metropolis, home to about 1.7 million people, including La Paz and the adjoining, fast-growing suburb of El Alto. Sucre lacks a major airport and other infrastructure.
The idea of relocating the government seat has further slowed the nation's 255-delegate constitutional convention, which convened in Sucre a year ago.
The work of crafting a new constitution for South America's poorest country has devolved into a struggle between leftist supporters of Morales and conservative adversaries from the so-called "half-moon" lowlands, to the east, north, and south. Much of the nation's resource wealth, including Bolivia's vast natural gas deposits, is found in the subtropical half-moon expanses.
Advocates of the four half-moon provinces have been pushing for constitutional autonomy from the central government in La Paz. Some have formed an alliance with those who advocate moving the capital to Sucre.
Morales calls autonomy for those provinces a prelude to the outright breakup of Bolivia. The president's supporters view the proposed capital transfer as a means to derail a new constitution and split the country.
"La Paz is at the forefront of national unity," Morales declared last month following the capital's massive mobilization, which he labeled the country's largest-ever gathering.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, derides opponents in the half-moon region as oligarchic remnants of the white and mixed-race elite who long dominated and plundered Bolivia. The president is pushing for a constitution to benefit the highland indigenous people and coca-leaf growers who compose his base.
Representatives of the half-moon provinces call Morales a race-baiting autocrat and dictator-in-waiting like his patron, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. They want a greater share of the revenues from hydrocarbon and other resources. Officials from gas-rich southern Tarija province have threatened to declare unilateral autonomy next week if the new constitution doesn't grant it.
Another source of discord, the Armed Forces Day parade, is to be held today in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, a bastion of anti-Morales sentiment. Indigenous militiamen loyal to Morales are expected to participate, stoking resentment in Santa Cruz.
Despite the tumult and a turbulent history of military coups, Bolivia has demonstrated a certain resiliency in recent years.
A fragile democracy has held even after battles over water rights in 2000 and gas exports in 2003 shook the nation. They eventually paved the way for Morales's election in December 2005. 