Thousands march in support of Bolivia's Morales
By Eduardo Garcia
LA PAZ, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Bolivian leader Evo Morales marched through the streets of La Paz on Wednesday shouting slogans against the opposition, days after Morales' foes called for "civil disobedience" in the regions they govern.
The march of mostly Aymara Indians from the city of El Alto -- a Morales stronghold near Bolivia's administrative capital La Paz -- came as the leftist leader faces increasing pressure from the rightist opposition against his mining and land reforms.
Morales, the South American country's first president of indigenous descent, controls the central government but the opposition rules in five of Bolivia's nine provinces, and they demand more autonomy and a larger share of state revenue.
Earlier this week, opposition leaders called for "civil disobedience" in the regions they govern, and Morales responded by calling them "seditious."
The conservative opposition also controls the Senate, which Morales has accused of blocking nearly a hundred bills approved by the lower chamber, where his party enjoys a comfortable majority.
"We're annoyed because opposition senators are not working and just spend their time doing things against the interests of the most needy," protest leader Jorge Choque was quoted as saying by state-run news agency ABI.
Wednesday's protest comes after weeks of civil unrest in the southern city of Sucre, the seat of an elected assembly charged with overhauling the constitution.
Locals want the assembly to make Sucre the country's full capital -- it is currently the constitutional capital and home to the top court -- which would mean moving all government offices and Congress to Sucre from Morales stronghold La Paz.
The often-violent protests in Sucre have brought deliberations at the assembly to a halt for nearly three months, and it has only a few weeks to produce a new constitution before its mandate expires in mid-December.
The Constitutional Assembly, through which Morales aims to give grass-roots movements and indigenous groups a greater say in the running of the country, was a major plank in the campaign that brought him to office nearly two years ago.
"From today we're going to be in a state of constant protest ... once we finish with this rally we'll travel to Sucre to defend the Assembly," Nazario Ramirez, one of the leaders of Wednesday's pro-government rally, told local radio Erbol.
(Reporting by Eduardo Garcia, editing by Fiona Ortiz and Vicki Allen)
