The Bolivian government led by Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, is under threat and Canadian labour is urging that Canada support the democratically elected leaders and condemn those who threaten violence and secession.
Members of his MAS party have been attacked. In late November, opposition protestors clashed with police in Sucre, Bolivia. They were demanding that the capital of Bolivia be moved to Sucre. Three people died and over 100 were wounded in the confrontations.
On Dec. 19, 2007, Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to “extend Canada’s support for the people and government of Bolivia in the face of conflict surrounding the new Bolivian constitution.”
Georgetti added that the opposition groups were attempting to “destabilize the democractic process in Bolivia” and that the CLC condemned these actions as an attempt to “deny the oppressed majority their right to reshape Bolivia.”
For more see New Politics in Old Bolivia: Public Opinion and Evo Morales (upsidedownworld.org)