Bolivia: approved and announced charters different

By Aleksander Boyd

New York 15.12.07 - Political forces supportive of Evo Morales delivered today an amended version of the charter approved last Sunday. Even in this have deputies elected to Bolivia's National Constituent Assembly replicated what happened in Venezuela in 1999, when Chavez was pushing for constitutional remake. The two texts differ in number of articles -408 and 411. It is almost certain that amendments were done unilaterally by supporters of Morales without giving the opposition the chance of taking part in it. No debate or consultations were had, so how can the process be called democratic? In case Bolivian official webmasters have been taking lessons from their Venezuelan comrades I have taken the trouble to save both documents for future reference. Whoever was in charge of amending the approved version made sure that the issue of presidential reelection for one subsequent term, forbidden in the current constitution, was clearly established. So what else is new with Hugo's protege?

This is the version that deputies from constituent assembly approved last Sunday.

This is the version that deputies delivered today to Bolivia's president Evo Morales.