Bolivians back new, pro-indigenous constitution

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivian voters embraced a new constitution Sunday that promises more power for the long-suffering indigenous majority and grants leftist President Evo Morales a shot at remaining in office through 2014.

The charter passed easily in a country where many can still recall when Indians were forbidden to vote. But its sometimes vague wording and resistance from Bolivia’s mestizo and European-descended minority foreshadows more political turmoil in a nation polarized by race and class.

“Brothers and sisters, the colonial state ends here,” President Evo Morales told a huge crowd in front of the presidential palace after the results of Sunday’s referendum were announced. “Here we begin to reach true equality for all Bolivians.”

The constitution — the central reform of Morales’ three-year-old administration — won by a 59 percent to 41 percent margin, according to an unofficial quick count with a three-percentage point margin of error. A final official tally will be announced in 10 days.

Morales, an Aymara Indian and Bolivia’s first indigenous president, has said the charter will “decolonize” South America’s poorest country by recovering indigenous values lost under centuries of oppression dating back to the Spanish conquest.

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Bolivians back new, pro-indigenous constitution
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