S. American leaders meet to resolve Bolivia crisis
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Chile on Monday for an emergency summit with eight other South American leaders aimed at helping end the political turmoil gripping his impoverished country.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, said he was there to get support from his South American counterparts, as he accused opposition Bolivian governors of trying to topple him.
"We've seen looting, the ransacking of institutions, attempts to assault the police and the armed forces," he said before going to La Moneda government palace where the leaders began talks.
Morales is highly popular but his drive for deep socialist reforms such as land redistribution has polarized Bolivia and as many as 30 people died last week as rebel governors and their supporters stepped up their opposition.
Perennially unstable Bolivia has massive natural gas reserves that are crucial to development in the region, and neighbors are keen to preserve the Morales presidency.
Among those attending the summit were key Bolivia ally President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who is stridently anti-Washington; and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a moderate leftist who leads the region's biggest economy.
Lula is seen as having the biggest potential influence at the summit since Brazil is Bolivia's top foreign investor and is heavily dependent on natural gas exports from its neighbor.
Analysts say leaders must support Morales without appearing to back efforts by Venezuela's Chavez to make the Bolivia crisis into an excuse to attack the United States.
"They are trying to overthrow President Evo Morales and the conspiracy has been born of, financed by and supported by the United States empire," Chavez said on arriving.
Morales and Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassadors in their countries last week, saying they were backing the Bolivian opposition movement.
The group of South American presidents hopes to repeat the success of a similar summit in March that managed coax Andean nations away from an armed conflict. The United States has not been at the table at either gathering.
DIVIDED
Bolivia is divided over a constitution Morales is trying to push through to formalize rights for the country's Indian majority and break up large farms to give land to poor peasant farmers.
Conflict between both sides deepened after Morales and the governors were all strongly endorsed in an August recall vote.
His reforms have drawn fierce opposition in lowland regions in the east of the country, which want greater autonomy from the central government in highland La Paz and a bigger share of energy resources.
In last week's demonstrations, anti-Morales groups sabotaged natural gas pipelines and plundered and occupied public buildings throughout the east.
Before heading to Chile, Morales and a key rebel governor met to discuss potential steps to halt the deadly political unrest. They agreed to resume talks when Morales returns.
The army has arrested 10 people accused of organizing anti-government protests in Cobija, the capital of sparsely populated Pando province in the Amazon near Brazil.
The government declared martial law in the province on Friday, saying opposition groups had massacred pro-Morales peasants. Officials have said 16 to 28 people died in that incident in rural Pando, as well as two more in Cobija.
An official said he regretted contradictions on the death toll and would not give out a new figure until it is certain.
In the opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia, the opposition lifted roadblocks that have crippled the city to help foster talks. It was not clear whether supporters of Morales would lift their blockades.
(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino in Cobija, Eduardo Garcia and Carlos Quiroga in La Paz, Raymond Colitt in Santa Cruz, and Claudio Cerda, Rodrigo Martinez and Lisa Yulkowski in Santiago, editing by Fiona Ortiz and Jackie Frank)
