New Bolivian governor to press for autonomy

Tag : Women Wears

By Ana Maria Fabbri and Eduardo Garcia
LA PAZ, July 11 (Reuters) - Bolivia's first woman governor says shewill join the opposition's widening regional autonomy movement,which has become a major challenge to her former ally President EvoMorales, when she takes office on Friday.
Savina Cuellar was elected prefect, or governor, of Chuquisaca incentral Bolivia in June just as a power struggle heated up betweenleftist Morales and rightist opposition governors of most ofBolivia's nine provinces.
A mother of seven, Cuellar wears a "cholita" outfit consisting ofwide skirts and a felt hat, traditional for many Bolivianindigenous women and often the mark of successful small businessowners and government workers.
Morales, who has nationalized key sectors of the economy, is thefirst president from Bolivia's majority indigenous population, andCuellar belonged to his Movement Toward Socialism party beforeleading an opposition coalition that she says is neither left norright.
"We have decided to call for a referendum ... once I take officewe'll decide when," Cuellar told Reuters in a telephone interviewon Thursday.
An autonomy vote in Chuquisaca would follow referendums in foureastern provinces governed by the opposition, which recently votedoverwhelmingly in favor of more power over their police, localeconomies and municipal governments.
Nonetheless, Cuellar said she wants to establish a dialogue withMorales, who says the new constitution that he is pushing willloosen the central government's grip on regional governments,giving the provinces more leeway.
Like the president, Cuellar is an Indian from a poor family. Bothrose to political prominence leading grass-roots movements.
She said she still grows potatoes and wheat.
"I learned to read when I came to the city to work as a maid, whenI was 13 maybe, and here, thank God, I learned, probably with theBible," said the 45-year-old politician.
Cuellar, whose mother tongue is Quechua, said she improved herheavily accented Spanish by attending a literacy campaign sponsoredby the Venezuelan government last year.
AUTONOMY MOVEMENT
Cuellar's election victory highlights the increasing polarizationin Chuquisaca as well as Bolivia as a whole.
She won with 51.58 percent of votes, thanks largely to the supportof middle-class voters in Chuquisaca's capital Sucre, while poorand rural voters overwhelmingly backed the candidate from Morales'Movement Toward Socialism party.
Last year, a string of protests shook Sucre, the country's capitaluntil a 19th century war.
Protesters demanded that the central government move the seat ofgovernment and Congress there from La Paz, a bastion of support forMorales.
"Morales should recognize his mistakes and apologize to Sucre ...he should not align himself with La Paz only," said Cuellar, whoblames Morales for the violence.
Cuellar said that Sucre will continue demanding its right to be"full capital" because the city has been left aside and there areno "jobs ... companies, or factories" there.
"The government should spend money on projects, because theprovinces, the villages, need roads, irrigation systems, hospitals,schools," she said. (Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Eric Walsh)