Bolivian vote challenges president's populist agenda

[Bacchus39]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_autonomy;_ylt=Ak3fJVVd1pmRR14HJtfdRPy3IxIF

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales faced an invigorated state autonomy movement that could cripple his populist agenda after a vote by Bolivia's largest and richest state for greater freedom from his central government.


With local exit polls Sunday showing the Santa Cruz referendum would pass in a landslide, Morales denounced the vote but quickly invited state governors for further negotiations.

The eastern lowland state of Santa Cruz, a stronghold of conservative anti-Morales opposition, called the referendum in hopes of separating its native freewheeling capitalism and mixed-blood heritage from Morales' vision of a communal state ruled by Indian values.

The spreading autonomy movement has replaced traditional political parties as Morales' chief opposition: Three other eastern states — Beni, Pando and Tarija — hold similar autonomy votes next month, and two more are considering such a move.

"Let's work together tomorrow for a true autonomy," he said in a nationally televised address following Sunday's vote. "For the people, and not just certain groups — an autonomy that permits the people to decide their destiny."

Santa Cruz leaders want to keep a bigger slice of the state's key natural gas revenues to keep up with its booming population.

Its powerful business class also hopes to shelter vast soy plantations and cattle ranches from Morales' plan to redistribute land to the poor.

Morales, the country's first indigenous president, argues that he needs a strong central government to spread Santa Cruz's wealth to the rest of Bolivia, South America's poorest country.