Bolivia, opposition eye compromise to end violence

By Simon Gardner and Marco Aquino

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia's government and a main opposition leader voiced hope for reconciliation on Saturday after overnight talks to end a wave of political violence that killed at least 17 people and prompted martial law.

Leftist President Evo Morales called the talks to defuse a bitter power struggle with governors who oppose his socialist reforms and want a bigger share of energy revenue.

The government of the poor South American country declared martial law late on Friday in the remote Amazon region of Pando, scene of the worst violence. Morales said on Saturday he saw no reason to expand the martial law decree beyond Pando.

A sailor and a civilian were killed in fighting when the army took control of the airport in Pando's capital, Cobija, from protesters, Cabinet minister Ramon Quintana said on Saturday.

"Today the armed forces will have to use urban combat tactics to remove these armed groups" of protesters, Quintana said from Cobija.

The governor of natural gas-rich Tarija province, Mario Cossio, held talks at the presidential palace with the country's vice president into the early hours.

"We have fulfilled the objective of opening talks, and let's hope that in the coming hours this turns into a sustained process of dialogue which results in a pact to resolve problems in the framework of national reconciliation," Cossio said.

Cossio planned to brief three other rightist anti-Morales governors before additional meetings on Sunday, but it was not clear whether they would join the attempts at reconciliation.

"Neither the president nor the armed forces are going to be able to get away with what they want ... We are going to offer our lives fighting," said Pando Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez.

Officials said at least 15 people -- mostly pro-government peasant farmers -- had been killed in clashes on Thursday with backers of the opposition regional governor.

MASSACRE?

Morales officials blamed Fernandez for the deaths in Pando, saying he orchestrated "a massacre" of pro-government farmers.

Fernandez rejected the claim. "They've accused me of using hitmen, when everyone knows those socialist peasants, those fake peasants, were armed," he told a local radio station.

Television showed corpses being loaded onto a flatbed truck. Aid workers planned to visit the site on Saturday, the Red Cross said.

"We were not going to a confrontation," said a weeping 44-year-old woman community leader, who was not identified on an audio file on the ABI government news Web site.