The other campaign….

… no, not the Zapatistas, but the crucial  Constitutional Referendum in Bolivia, being voted on today.

Expected to pass by about 2/3rds of the voters (although it only needs fifty percent plus one to be ratified), the campaign has been — if nothing else — problematic.  In common with other recent Latin American constitutions, the Bolivian constitution will give more power to the Presidency, affirm the state’s control over natural resources, and strengthen individual rights as well as attempting to shift political power to marginalized groups.  In something of an “affirmative action” move, the consistion will codify set-asides in the National Assembly for the indigenous majority and minorities like the Afro-Bolivians.

Of course, the “powers that be” — in control of gas and agricultural products — have opposed the new constitution, with United States support.  Abiding in Bolivia has been providing extensive documentation on the consititutional referendum, and the opposition.  While not quite as weird as our (“us”, being the U.S.) Ambassador’s ham-handed attempts to foment a fascist coup to prevent the consitution from being passed nor as baroque as our military attache’s adventures in a Santa Cruz whorehouse, they haven’t given up completely.

Jim Schultz’ “Blog from Bolivia” reports on the political ad campaign:

One ad, seeking a No vote, touts a bloody fetus and declares that the new constitution would legalize abortion. It doesn’t, nor does it come close to doing so. Another ad shows two men kissing, beckons voters to “not be a part of the sin” and urges a No vote. The new constitution includes vague language about discriminatation based on sexual orientation. The best ad of the bunch features side-by-side images of President Evo Morales, the constitution’s main promoter, with Jesus Christ (who to my knowledge has remained neutral so far). Declaring that the new constitution eliminates religious rights (another, ‘it doesn’t’) the ad asks voters, “Whose side are you on?”

Jesus, who has not run for public office in Bolivia, is a popular figure here.

Morales and his MAS party aren’t staying out of the exaggeration Olympics in all this either. Their ads proudly proclaim that the new constitution would put the nation’s natural resources into the hands of the people. But the actual articles, especially after the huge compromises made in October, leave things a good deal mushier than that.

Worth reading all this week will be Abiding in Bolivia, Bolivia Blog as well as the Peruvian site  Inca Kola News and Canadian/Venezuelan News of the Restless.  One to add to your links is El Gaviero, based in Santa Cruz (the hotbed of opposition to the new Constitution) which is not so much a new website, but a new and improved “Down South” —  M. Grace’s fine site on Bolivian and Latin American politics in a new (and copyrighted, please note) wordpress format.