Morales rallies disrupted ahead of Bolivia recall
By Juan Carlos Zambrana
TRINIDAD, Bolivia, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters on Wednesday mounted roadblocks and surrounded an airport, forcing Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales to abandon rallies days before a recall vote.
The protests came as Morales was forced to move independence day celebrations to his power base of La Paz because of threats of violence in the opposition-run city of Sucre.
They came a day after Venezuelan President and close ally Hugo Chavez and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez scrapped a planned visit for energy talks after two people were killed and several injured in protests across the country.
Morales flew to the eastern, opposition-run city of Santa Cruz on Wednesday afternoon, but protesters surrounded the football stadium he was due to visit and blocked roads.
"The President arrived at El Trompillo airport in Santa Cruz and remained there until he returned to La Paz," said presidential spokesman Ivan Canelas. "The event planned in the stadium did not happen."
Morales then flew on to the central town of Trinidad, but his plane did not touch down after protesters surrounded the airport. Instead, he returned to La Paz.
Community leaders in Trinidad announced that Morales' visit had been suspended, triggering cheers from around 100 youths on motorcycles who had circled the airport to disrupt his arrival.
He had been due to address thousands of peasant farmers and poor people in a local stadium. The event eventually went ahead without him, attended by two ministers.
Morales is at loggerheads with right-wing opposition provincial governors who are pushing for autonomy and blocking reforms he says will help the poor.
He and eight of Bolivia's nine provincial governors face the recall vote on Sunday, which he ordered hoping to undermine his opponents.
Morales is betting a victory will relaunch his nationalization and land redistribution policies and pave the way for a new constitution to empower Bolivian Indians.
Road blocks, opposition hunger strikes and other protests have been mounting. Opponents have described Morales as a "madman" and traitor. (With reporting by Carlos Quiroga, Writing by Simon Gardner, editing by Alan Elsner)
