Page 11 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS A11
Monday 22 February 2016

Bolivia votes on whether Evo Morales can run for fourth term

CARLOS VALDEZ gineering Co. Ltd, which poverty, spreading Bolivia’s he won re-election with 60 natural gas and minerals,
Associated Press has obtained nearly $500 natural resource wealth percent of the vote. making up three-fourths of
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — An million in mostly no-bid and empowering its indig- But that boom is over. its exports, were down 32
influence-peddling scan- state contracts. enous majority during a de- Bolivia’s revenues from percent last year.q
dal involving a former lover Morales denied any impro- cade in office.
and a deadly incident of priety, and said he last saw Eusebio Condori, a 60-year-
political violence dogged the woman in 2007 when a old retired schoolteacher,
President Evo Morales as child they conceived died said he voted “no” be-
Bolivians voted Sunday on under circumstances that cause the scandal and the
whether he should be al- neither has explained. deaths “confirm that this
lowed to run for another The case deepened doubts government doesn’t have
a plan for Bolivia, only for
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, left, casts his ballot at a polling itself.”
station in Villa 14 de Septiembre, in the Chapare region, Bolivia, A 31-year-old mother of
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Bolivians are voting in a referendum on three, Maria Espinoza, said
whether to amend the constitution so that President Morales can she voted “no” because
run in 2019 for a fourth consecutive term. she believes in term limits.
She echoed the complaint
(AP Photo/Nicanor Vasquez) of others that too many
jobs depend on political
term. about the integrity of Mo- patronage.
The voters were deciding rales’ governing Move- “I hope for change in the
whether to amend the con- ment Toward Socialism, country,” she said.
stitution so that Morales, in which has been dogged Alejandro Perez, a 30-year-
office for a decade, can by scandal. old independent lawyer,
run for re-election in 2019. Adding to Morales’ woes said he voted “yes” be-
The current limit is two terms were last week’s asphyxia- cause “we’ve got to en-
and the change would al- tion deaths of six municipal sure continuity.”
low presidents to run for re- officials in El Alto, the teem- “Evo Morales is the only
election twice. ing city adjacent La Paz run person who can fight the
Pre-election polls indicated since last year by an oppo- economic crisis,” said Per-
voters were about evenly sition mayor. ez, adding that no one in
split — with some 15 per- Pro-Morales forces are ac- the opposition is capable.
cent undecided — on cused of setting the fire South America’s left has
whether to give Bolivia’s that provoked the deaths, recently been sullied by
first indigenous president sacking the building where scandal but Morales had
another shot at governing. the slain officials worked personally remained un-
Then the bombshell hit. and torching documents scathed.
An opposition-aligned jour- that allegedly incriminate His ruling circles have been
nalist revealed two weeks the previous mayor in pay- discredited, however, by
ago that an ex-lover of Mo- roll corruption. the skimming of millions
rales in 2013 was named Both developments threat- from the government-
sales manager of a Chi- ened to eclipse Morales’ managed Fondo Indigena,
nese company, CAMC En- achievements in cutting which runs agricultural and
public works in the country-
side.
Morales presided over Bo-
livia’s biggest economic
boom while prices for raw
materials soared just as he
took office, constructing
airports, highways and the
pride of La Paz, an Austrian-
built aerial tramway system,
and putting a Chinese-built
satellite into space. In 2014,

Colombia reporting 7 rebels dead in clash

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — occurred in the Arauca ing to start similar talks with
Colombian President Juan region east of Bogota. It the smaller group known as
Manuel Santos says gov- follows a series of attacks the ELN, believed to have
ernment forces have killed by the National Liberation about 1,500 fighters.
seven members of the Army on electricity installa- Santos said Saturday that
country’s second-largest tions and police. the “peace train is leav-
rebel movement even as Santos says his government ing that guerrilla force be-
officials move toward end- is close to a final peace hind.” He called on the ELN
ing the country’s long guer- deal with the larger Revo- to free a soldier and a civil-
rilla struggle. lutionary Armed Forces of ian it’s been holding.q
Santos says the operation Colombia and it’s been try-