Raul Penaranda

Raúl Peñaranda covers Bolivia for GlobalPost. He is a well-known Bolivian journalist and political analyst. He was the first Bolivian to obtain a Nieman Fellowship at...

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January 26, 2009 11:12 ET

Bolivia has a new constitution, but remains a divided country

Bolivia has a new constitution!

Sixty percent of the population voted in favor of the new charter which grants full political rights to the important indigenous population of this landlocked country, which is the poorest in South America.

The new constitution will also strengthen state control over natural resources and most economic activity.

Also, it permits President Evo Morales, an indigenous Indian and a socialist, to seek another term. Previously a second term was prohibited.

According to the new legal document, "community justice", which indigenous groups have followed for centuries, is now officially recognized. Indian communities will have also the right to receive a greater share of royalties on gas and oil exports and minerals produced on or beneath their lands. It's unclear how those rights will be apportioned between the more than 30 ethnic groups that represent at least 60 percent of the population.

Despite the new constitution, Bolivia remains a divided country, both geographically and ethnically. The 60 percent of the voters who approved the new constitution come primarily from the Andes Mountain region, where the Indian population is concentrated.

Those who opposed the constitution, and who oppose Morales in general, are concentrated in Bolivia's lowlands near the Pacific Ocean, where important agro-industrial companies are located and where the population is dominated by white and mixed race groups.

The approval of the constitution is widely viewed as good news for everyone who wants a better and just Bolivia.

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Posted by tno on January 29, 2009 15:50 ET

As the American, and very much gringo, son of Bolivian immigrants, I have always felt somewhat detached from my parents' home. I read this dispatch about a new consitution, and was left confused as to whether these changes ARE good for Bolvia's citizens. Certainly, Bolvia's indigent population has been underserved by its various government's for centuries, I dare say since Simon's great liberations. But is a now unilaterally leftist government any better than the center-right approach that preceded it?

My parents lived in different worlds as children, despite being citizens under the same flag. She was the daughter of a successful lawyer and politician who strived to do his best for his Taratan constituents and clients, mostly rich and white. She lived a life of affluence, until, after a leftist uprising, my grandfather was exiled for his political views and her family suffered the indignity of poverty and division. He grew up in Yungas, the son of an everyman who fought as hard for his wages as he did for those of his indigenous employees. Both grew up with "cholas" to serve and wait on them, yet my father never drew so stark a separation of classes as my mother did.

But if such disparate peoples are to meld, isn't the first and most vital step to find consensus? Isn't simply trading power a good way to keep the populations disparate and embittered towards each other? I pray for my family and all the citizens of "mi patria" that peace and unity, not merely tolerance and equality under the law, be their ultimate goal.

Jason Inofuentes