On Saturday the Autonomous Department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia will see the light

Without sleep, without rest, without stopping. That way is being written the statute that will give life to the Autonomous Department of Santa Cruz. 150 representatives, elected parliamentarians, assembly members, councilors and advisers, have left everything in order to approve the norm the new department government.

Délmar Mendez, who is a departmental advisor and member of the Provisional Autonomic Assembly, explained that until 13:30 on Thursday they approved 92 articles and that at the end of the afternoon there will be at least 100. There are several sensitive issues and that require a careful treatment, such as the economic regime, he said.

Oscar Vargas, president of the Municipal Council of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, after several days on a hunger strike, said that he is working tirelessly to complete the statutes up on Saturday at noon. They are creating a new department that is within Bolivia. "We do not talk of separatism or division, but we go forward with the peoples claim for autonomy," he said.

As a detail, we can say that the new name will be Autonomous Department of Santa Cruz. Its main authority is the Governor, who ceases to be called as Prefect.

The Governor is the first autonomous authority of the department of Santa Cruz and the department head. He has the highest representation and also the representation of Bolivian Estate in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz will have a Legislative Assembly consistent of 28 members who shall be elected through popular vote. The organs of self-government of the autonomous department of Santa Cruz are the Department Legislative Assembly and the Department Executive, through which the Department exercises its powers in accordance with this Statute.

The transfer of responsabilities will be accompanied by a mandatory economic and financial resources set forth in the General Budget of the Nation (PGN), which are used by the Governor to fund all the projects and tasks cited in the Statute.

NO TO INTIMIDATION

The prefect of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, warned that the government is entering a process of intimidation or bullying the Bolivian people as a whole, by sending soldiers and police to create unrest. "We know that military and civilian police have arrived, they are quartered ready to act, but we want to tell you that this action bothers people in Santa Cruz and I therefore ask them to stop provoking," said Costas. "One of the minister of centralism (Rada) is thinking about taking the leaders of this movement into jail, but let me tell you that they would have to first imprison all two million citizens from Santa Cruz who no longer want to live in a centralist state" he said. "I ask them not to be stupid, and to stop pouring more gasoline into the fire," he warned.

FEAR AND DECISION

The topic of the moment in Santa Cruz is the militarization of the city and the possibility of a confrontation in the streets. While there is some fear for what might happen at any time, there is also a firm belief: "We will defend with my life the rights of Santa Cruz and my rights", was the general response.
People have begun to buy perishable foods for several days, taking forecasts to feed their families, fear can be seen in every neighborhood. Many people even talked about removing their savings from banks with the fear that banks will be overtaken by the government as had been reported.

OVERTAKING THE INRA

The taking of the INRA (National Institute for Agrarian Reform) by the government and the kidnapping of all documentation in such facilities, heightened fears that the government plot something similar to what happened in Sucre. Representatives of the CAO (Eastern Agrarian Chamber) said they will submit a demand because this jeopardizes the disappearance of hundreds of documents that were in those units.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS

Because a movement of soldiers began in Tarija, another department of Bolivia, people are starting to take precautions. Hopefully there will be no confrontation, was the reflection of the departmental authorities.

Meanwhile, in Sucre people will assist to a march on Friday to demand a referendum on autonomy and to become the national capital.

Beni and Pando are already progressing in their autonomic statutes and will show the results of this process on Saturday.

HUNGER STRIKES

In Bolivia, there are more than 1,300 people on hunger strike. In Santa Cruz it is estimated that there will be up to 1,000 people in voluntary fasting by Friday. The same is expected in other departments that continue this strike.