Bolivia, statute of autonomy of Santa Cruz approved in detail by 2/3

After two days of continuous session, the Provisional Autonomic Assembly of Santa Cruz, comprising parliamentarians, constituents, departmental counselors, municipal and indigenous representatives, adopted the Statute of Autonomy in stages at large and in detail.

The vote of the 155 articles was conducted by 2/3, with unanimity in a lot of them. The approval in detail concluded at 19:30 in the midst of a climate of happiness which spread to the hunger strikers in outside, who followed the voting process through the loudspeakers placed in front of the Prefectural Palace where the meeting was conducted.

As of this moment, the Statute will go to the Commission of consistency and style, so that it can be adopted on Saturday at 10:00 am in the process of revision, the final stage of the voting process. That day, there will be a meeting of honor in which they will deliver the Autonomic Statute to the Prefect of the Department, who then will present it to the people of Santa Cruz in an massive act.

The president of the Provisional Autonomic Assembly, Carlos Pablo Klinsky, noted that the statute "is the birth certificate of the New Bolivia. It is the instrument for carrying out the mandate of the iniyial Referendum on July 2, 2006."

"Although the government tried to stop us with troop mobilizations and rumors of a State of Siege, democracy won over fear," he said.

The closing ceremony of the meeting was attended by the leader of Santa Cruz historic struggles Carlos Valverde Barbery, who noted that "The Statute will be defended by the people, who willenforce it."

Also present was the president of the Committee Pro Santa Cruz, Branko Marinkovic, who appreciated the work done by members of the Provisional Autonomic Assembly, citing a phrase from Simon Bolivar: "The morality and not force are the columns of laws ".

The prefect of the Department, Ruben Costas, was hailed as "governor" at the end of the meeting. Pointing to a portrait of the warlord federalist Andres Ibanez who was presiding over the chamber, Costas told the assembly that "You engraved a dream in this statute. And now we must enforce it."

The Statute of Autonomy of Santa Cruz provides, among other things, "the desire to strengthen the unity of the Bolivian State, the creation of a Departmental Legislative Assembly, the protection of indigenous rights, the protection of press freedom and social control on the institutions of the department.