Church warns Bolivian conflict may end in violence
By Carlos Quiroga
LA PAZ, April 8 (Reuters) - A bitter conflict between supporters of Bolivian President Evo Morales and his rightist rivals is at risk of spiraling into violence, Catholic Church leaders warned on Tuesday.
Morales and the opposition are locked in a standoff over a new draft constitution fiercely opposed by the leaders of four eastern provinces. They want greater autonomy from the central government in La Paz, a Morales stronghold.
The country's 40 Roman Catholic bishops, who have been mediating, urged both sides to cool the dispute that has raised fears of fresh political violence in the poor and historically unstable country.
"We're very worried by the growing distance between the regions, social classes and ethnic groups, and the ideological polarization that could end in confrontations with unpredictable consequences of pain and death," a Church statement said. "The situation is worsening dangerously."
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, says the new constitution will help empower the country's poor Indian majority. But opponents say the document is illegal since it was approved in a constitutional assembly without their representatives.
They also want greater freedom to control their provinces and have vowed to press ahead with referendums on provincial autonomy early next month. The first vote is due to take place in the economic hub of Santa Cruz on May 4.
The Catholic bishops met the four opposition governors on Monday in a bid to ease the crisis, but the regional chiefs of Santa Cruz, natural gas-rich Tarija, Pando and Beni said the referendums would go ahead as scheduled.
The Catholic Church has brokered several agreements in political disputes in recent decades in Bolivia, where sometimes violent street protests toppled two presidents between 2003 and 2005.
The foreign ministers of Brazil and Argentina, Bolivia's top natural gas buyers, and a team from the Organization of American States have visited the country in recent days and expressed concern over the deadlock. (Writing by Helen Popper, editing by Todd Eastham)
