Bolivia legislators agree to put draft constitution before voters

Oscar Ordoñez and Patrick J. McDonnell report:

Bolivian legislators on Tuesday agreed to schedule a national referendum on their country's controversial draft constitution, a major victory for leftist President Evo Morales in this deeply divided nation.

"There is no going back from this process of change," said a jubilant, teary Morales, addressing thousands of supporters gathered in the Plaza Murillo in downtown La Paz.

The new constitution provides autonomy for indigenous groups and clears the way for more socialist measures by a president who has already moved to nationalize the nation's energy and telecommunications sectors.

Morales, however, reportedly agreed to modify several of the constitution's more incendiary sections, including those governing land reform and the authority of indigenous courts, which would augment the government judiciary.

Read more of "Bolivia legislators agree to put draft constitution before voters" here.

Click here for more on Bolivia.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Bolivia's Morales agrees to 2-term limit in constitution deal

Times wires report this morning:

President Evo Morales agreed to seek only one more five-year term in exchange for Congress' calling a Jan. 25 national vote on a new constitution that would empower Bolivia's oppressed indigenous majority.

The agreement, announced by Vice President Alvaro Garcia, came as more than 100,000 of the president's supporters packed the streets of La Paz, the capital, to root for the new charter and urge lawmakers from both parties to wrap up a final edit of the document.

The proposed charter has been widely celebrated by the president's poor, largely Indian supporters but has met fierce resistance from the middle and upper classes in the eastern lowlands, who say it overlooks their demands for greater regional autonomy. Lawmakers continued to debate eastern autonomy.

Click here for more on Bolivia.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Brazil's Lula takes center stage in Latin America

Chris Kraul and Patrick J. Mcdonnell report from São Paulo on the growing popularity of Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"Buoyed by a robust economy and his ability to work with leaders across the ideological spectrum, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has emerged as the chief power broker and mediator in South America.

"Lula's rise has paralleled the decline of U.S. influence in its 'backyard,' analysts say, a result in part of Washington's plummeting global prestige and the Bush administration's unremitting focus on the Middle East.

"A moderate with an unassailable leftist background, Lula has become the point man for healing regional crises such as the current turmoil in Bolivia and the recent escalation of tensions among Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador."

Click here for more about Brazil.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, second from the right, with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa at the meeting in which they talked about regional integration in Manaus, Brazil. Credit: Antonio Lacerda / European Pressphoto Agency

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticizes U.S. over financial crisis

As his popularity has surged and his nation's booming economy has lifted thousands from poverty, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has largely refrained from the angry criticism of the United States that can be heard nearly any day from other South American leaders.

Not this time, reports Joshua Partlow for the Washington Post.

Last week, Lula told the U.N. General Assembly that the "boundless greed" of a few should not be shouldered by all, and on Monday, he said emerging economies had done their best to have "good fiscal policy" and "can't be turned into victims of the casino erected by the American economy."

"This crisis belongs to the American bankers, to the European bankers. It doesn't belong to the Brazilian bankers," Lula said Monday. "It's not fair for Latin American, African and Asian countries to pay for the irresponsibility of sectors of the American financial system."

Earlier this week, Chris Kraul reported from Ecuador on why Latin America should worry about the economic crisis in the United States.

Read the rest of the report from the Washington Post here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Latin America has reasons to worry about U.S. financial crisis

After being lectured for 20 years about the superiority of the free market, officials in Latin America see no small irony in the effort to bail out the U.S. banking system, writes Chris Kraul from Ecuador.

Latin America has several reasons to worry about the U.S. economic meltdown. Ecuador, for instance, fears the possible loss of duty-free export markets for its coffee, fish and flowers.

People here are also worried the crisis will cut into the $2 billion in annual remittances sent home by Ecuadoreans living in the U.S., and wonder whether the nation's use of the dollar as the national currency, a move made in 2000 to curb inflation, still makes sense.

But there is an undercurrent of schadenfreude when it comes to America's pain. Commentator Boaventura de Sousa Santos scolded the United States for its "ironhanded evangelizing" that free markets, privatization and deregulation were innately more virtuous than "corrupt and efficient" state-run economies.

"Millions were thrown into unemployment, lost their land and labor rights and had to emigrate," the Portuguese-born Santos wrote in an article widely distributed over the Internet.

Read more about how the United States woes are also Latin America's problems.

Click here for more on business.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Stock traders negotiate at the Mercantile & Futures Exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week. Credit: Mauricio Lima / AFP / Getty Images

Young Bolivians fight for their regions

His mother pleaded: Don't go to the road blockade. "I had a bad feeling," she recalled. "It was dangerous."

But her son insisted. Edson Abad Ruiz was a proud member of the Juvenile Union of Santa Cruz, a group dedicated to defending this rebellious eastern region of Bolivia from its chief foe, the leftist administration of President Evo Morales. He was badly beaten and died when unionistas brawled  with pro-government activists at a roadblock west of town, police say.

Read the rest of Patrick J. McDonnell's report from Bolivia here, and for more posts from the troubled country, click here.

Photo: Friends and relatives at Edson Abad Ruiz’s funeral. He was a member of the Juvenile Union of Santa Cruz. “Win or Die With Glory” is its motto. Untrained 'defense' groups are popping up in the rebellious lowland. Credit: Joao Padua / AFP/Getty Images

South American leaders hold emergency session on Bolivia

Leaders of nine South American nations called Monday for Bolivians to "take all actions necessary" to help calm the domestic turmoil threatening to split the fractured Andean country apart, reports Patrick J. McDonnell.

The hastily arranged summit, held in the Chilean capital, Santiago, underscored widespread fears that political violence in Bolivia could erupt into civil war.

The presidents expressed strong support for President Evo Morales and called for an end to violence that could break up the country.

But it was unclear what effect the meeting might have.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Click here to read the rest of this report on the summit of nine South American nations, and to read about events in Bolivia, click here.

Death toll rises in Bolivia

Unrest in Bolivia continues, and the death toll in last week's violence in a remote northern province rose to more than two dozen, Bolivia's government said Sunday as it held frantic talks with opponents to avert further bloodshed.

Sporadic clashes were reported Sunday on roads outside the city of Santa Cruz, center of opposition to President Evo Morales. Many Bolivians expressed fears that a tense situation could spin out of control if a deal was not reached, reports Patrick J. McDonnell from Santa Cruz.

Emergency meeting of South American leaders called in Bolivia

Chile has called for an emergency meeting of South American leaders after continued clashes in Bolivia that have left more than nine people dead and a dozen injured. This Associated Press report says that President Hugo Chavez, a staunch supporter of Bolivia's President Evo Morales, has already confirmed his attendance at the meeting, expected to take place on Monday.

Meanwhile, Patrick J. McDonnell filed this dispatch Saturday about the ongoing strife in the South American nation:

"Bolivia declared martial law Friday in the isolated northern state of Pando, site of violent clashes a day earlier that left at least nine dead and dozens injured.

"The move was the government's most dramatic action yet against a wave of violence this week in provinces opposed to the leftist leadership of President Evo Morales. The violence had prompted widespread speculation that the government would declare a national state of siege."

Read the rest of his dispatch about the unrest in Bolivia here, and for more about the events leading up to the clashes in Bolivia, click here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Venezuela follows Bolivia and expels U.S ambassador

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he was expelling the U.S. ambassador in the latest escalation of tensions between Washington and Latin American leftists, Patrick J. McDonnell and Chris Kraul report.

The move came a day after Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, accused the U.S. envoy in his country of fostering divisions and ordered him to leave (see Thursday's La Plaza post).

On Thursday, chaos worsened in Bolivia as clashes between government sympathizers and opponents in a remote province left at least eight people dead and dozens injured. And Washington retaliated for the expulsion of Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg by telling Bolivia's ambassador, Gustavo Guzman, to leave.

In a speech laced with obscenities directed at the United States, Chavez told a cheering crowd that he acted in solidarity with Morales. Earlier, he said his country would come to Morales' aid if "Yankee stooges" tried to oust him.

Chavez and the Bush administration have been bitter rivals for years. Although this latest step signals a further deterioration, it is not clear how the expulsions will affect the region's political and economic stability.

Click here for more on Venezuela and here for more about Bolivia.

Photo: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks to supporters outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. Credit AFP / Getty Images