Bolivia a the edge of Civil War! Evo Defiant is backed by Chávez!

People survey the damage on the street where stores were looted by protesters after President Evo Morales’ government ordered a state of siege in Pando province in the northern city of Cobija on the border with Brazil September 13, 2008. Bolivia was split in two by protests and roadblocks after eight people died in clashes between opponents and supporters of the leftist Morales administration.

The disastrous policies of Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, have brought the country at the edge of Civil War. Disorder has turned into anarchy as Morales has lost control of most of the rural areas, and his own people have turned against him. Venezuela’s president-dictator wannabe, Hugo Chavez has threatened with intervention if the unrest continues.

LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian President Evo Morales defied rightist opponents on Saturday by vowing to introduce divisive reforms just hours after signs of a compromise had emerged to halt violence that has killed 17 people and prompted martial law.

Addressing a crowd of thousands in the central city of Cochabamba in the poor Andean nation’s coca-growing heartland, Morales accused opponents of seeking to topple his government with violence and called them enemies of Bolivia.

Anti-government demonstrators destroy a Venezuelan national flag during a protest rally in Santa Cruz, September 12, 2008. Bolivian President Evo Morales sought on Friday to halt a wave of political violence that killed 10 people, arranging talks with one of four rebel governors who fiercely oppose his socialist reforms. Unrest abated after three days of protests. But anti-government protesters were blocking roads in much of eastern Bolivia, causing fuel and food shortages in the opposition-controlled city of Santa Cruz.

“They are conspiring against us with a fascist, racist coup,” Morales, Bolivia’s first Indian leader, said as he pledged to adopt a new pro-indigenous, pro-poor constitution bitterly opposed by right-wing governors demanding autonomy.

“Their plan is to topple the Indian. They may topple the Indian, but they will never topple the Bolivian people,” Morales added. “Just imagine how unpatriotic they are. They are the enemies of all Bolivians.”

The government of the South American country declared martial law late on Friday in the remote Amazon region of Pando, scene of the worst violence pitting supporters of Morales against those of the governors.

Officials said at least 15 people — mostly pro-government peasant farmers — were killed in clashes on Thursday with backers of the opposition regional governor of Pando, Leopoldo Fernandez, whom the government has vowed to arrest.

Read Full Story at Reuters.

Message from the Prefect of Santa Cruz pointing to Evo Morales for deaths after fighting in the streets as the country is at the edge of civil war