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Bolivia begins to rewrite constitution
[ 2006-08-07 09:42 ]

出身于印第安部落的玻利维亚总统莫拉莱斯,一直以来被认为是印第安人心目中的“救世主”,他上台后在内政外交领域实施了一系列令人瞩目的措施。本周日,为维护多数土著印第安人的利益,莫拉莱斯总统召开国民修宪大会,修改承袭了几个世纪的欧式宪法。 请看更多相关图片

 

A Guarani Bolivian mother and her daughter watch a parade after the inauguration of the country's first constituent assembly which will redraw the constitution, in Sucre August 6, 2006. (Reuters)
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President Evo Morales launched his ambitious drive to give more power and opportunity to Bolivia's Indian majority on Sunday, officially opening a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the nation's constitution. 

Yampara Indians filed into the packed plaza in colonial Sucre at a half-jog, half-dance, while miners in hardhats sang union songs to the crashing sounds of a marching band, all celebrating the remaking of their country by the nationally elected assembly.

Morales, a leftist elected as Bolivia's first Indian president in December, envisions the assembly as a means to undo the centuries-old dominance of the European-descended minority and to create more opportunity for the poor, indigenous majority. The assembly began 181 years to the day after Bolivia first proclaimed its independence from Spain.

"You have an enormous responsibility to change our Bolivia," Morales told the delegates. "Not only a responsibility to bring us a new constitution, but as soldiers for our country's true independence. As constituents, you are soldiers in the struggle for liberty, for dignity, for equality."

Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party holds a thin majority in the assembly, but not the two-thirds needed to control the assembly outright.

Conservatives, many from eastern provinces, want to keep more of their wealth from being consumed by socialist programs. And a proposal to grant states greater autonomy from the central government won overwhelming support in the wealthier eastern and southern states during a July 2 national referendum.

(Agencies)

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

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