Statute. Santa Cruz begins to legislate

Santa Cruz already has a birth certificate as an autonomous department. The Provisional Assembly carried out a detailed approval of The Statute of Autonomy of the Department of Santa Cruz. After 35 hours and nine minutes of debate. It’s now the turn of the Commission of Concordance to make the necessary corrections and adjustments in order to put it under the consideration of the assemblymen in a public event to be held on Saturday at 10. There in “El Parque Urbano” (Urban Park) the autonomous government will begin to have its full expression.

A resolution from the statute commands that the Department Council become a Legislative Assembly in order to start receiving department competences and above all, prepare the legal and institutional framework on which the new system will develop, explained Delmar Mendez, about the basis of the first transitory resolution.

The session was incessant. In the morning the assemblymen showed clear signs of tiredness after 24 hours of debate, and they still had 50 sections left to approve. However, instead of approving them without a detailed observation, the discussions became longer and more intense. The composition of members in The Provisional Autonomous Assembly enriched the discussion and made each sector be sure that the statute didn’t affect their interests. Congressmen, constituents, city council chairmen, and department councilmen, thoroughly examined each section and introduced reforms of form and content in the document that fully approved and published by El Deber.

Even though many of the section were sanctioned at first instance, the controversial sections took between 30 and two hours in being approved, and many of these had to be sent to the Settlement Commission, which returned them to plenary at the end of the session. In average, each section took around ten minutes in being approved.

This dynamic was imposed until concluding the sections that hadn’t been adjourned. Nevertheless, when the approval of the transitory resolution that granted the Department Council to become The Legislative Assembly began, the discussion began to heat up. Congressman Antonio Franco demanded that The Provisional Assembly take over that power, that’s when Councilman Delmar Mendez reminded him that this determination had been taken by the mentioned council in December 2006, even before the million people town meeting. An argument took place with the participation of all the sectors present, as a result, a female constituent asked for order, in order not to make the disagreements evident to the medias. It was then, when the chairmen of the city council, Oscar Vargas, pointed out that these disagreements where positive and were a clear demonstration of pluralism. The positions were laid out, and it was accepted that The Department Council be the organ to become the legislative power starting Saturday. This indicated the implied decease of the Provisional Assembly, which will end its functions this same day.

From then on, everything was party. Mendez gave start to the rejoice by thanking Juan Carlos Urenda, and no one could stop the wave of acknowledgements that included Carlos Pablo Klinsky, the team of advisers, Ruben Costas, German Antelo, and Branko Marinkovic, the thousand people that had been on strike, the constituents, and the people of Santa Cruz, God and The Virgin of Cotoca. At the end, everything resulted in a party of folk music, hugs, and the Cruceño (native of Santa Cruz) anthem. The joy and the happiness were such, that they even forgot that there were still sections to be sanctioned. When it all came to normality, new competences were introduced to the Department’s Government, regulations of social control were included; moreover, labor demands were recognized such as the minimum wage for the workers in the department, wages for teachers and indigenous rights.

In the end, the prefect gave end to the session by confessing that his excitement could only be compared to the birth of his four children. The street transformed into a big party where Marinkovic was the leader of the orchestra, “Bang the leather!!!” he ordered and a “tamborita” began to play.

While there was celebration in Santa Cruz, in La Paz, President Evo Morales assured that the autonomies promoted by the prefect and the civic committee are separatist and seek the division of the country. He also qualified the statues as illegal and warned about the possible use of the Armed Forces to preserve the unity of the country.

“The Armed Forces, the Bolivian people, are here so that the country never breaks apart” he stated.

“The project of autonomies searches for the separation of Bolivia, but the unity of the country is not a topic of discussion, there is no referendum for the unity of the country” he added.

Previously, at noon the vice-president, Alvaro Garcia Linera, affirmed that the approved statutes will only be legal within the legal framework of the New Political Constitution, and asked that they be ratified in the new referendum in order to consider them. For the first and only time, a government official admitted the legitimacy of the regions to create their statutes, but warned: “it is not legal or legitimate to try to impose it de facto, because it violates the current Constitution.” He added that the statutes were being formulated behind the backs of the majorities and reminded that Costas had been elected with the 47%, which indicated that 53% of the department was not included in the decision. The government’s position was also supported by the pro-government wing of the Congress, which judged the statutes as unconstitutional. Furthermore, the Bolivian Attorney General asked that the constitutional reforms be within the framework of the laws.

While polarization and antagonism increases, The Catholic Church, Human Rights, and The People’s Defender, The National Press Association and private employers expressed the need for an urgent dialogue. To the moment, no one seems to listen.