Bolivia split over new multicultural constitution

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia's new draft constitution aims to revive the power of its indigenous people after centuries of subjugation, but critics say it would hurt other ethnic groups and wreak logistical havoc.

South America's poorest country is split over the proposed charter, approved by allies of leftist President Evo Morales last month during an opposition boycott.

Supporters say the reforms make progress on religious freedoms, the fight against corruption and gender equality, with guarantees that more women will run for Congress and have cabinet jobs.

But critics oppose Morales' attempt to create a communal justice system and a complex web of regional and indigenous autonomies. They also balk at a requirement that all public officials speak at least two languages -- Spanish and one of 36 indigenous tongues.

"This constitution proposes the creation of two Bolivias: one for indigenous people and another for non-indigenous people, with separate and parallel judicial systems and languages," said Victor Hugo Cardenas, who served as the country's first Indian vice president in the 1990s. "Only the indigenous people are first-class citizens."

Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president, a former coca farmer who says the new constitution will "decolonize" the country some 500 years after the Spanish conquest.

A European-descended elite has traditionally ruled here, and indigenous people only got the right to vote in the 1950s.

Divisions over the charter seemed destined to plunge Bolivia into a new cycle of political instability with powerful governors of opposition provinces demanding greater autonomy.

The rhetoric cooled after Morales agreed this month to meet with the governors to try to forge an accord, but it is not clear how much he is prepared to change the proposed reforms.

Opposition leaders insist the draft constitution was approved illegally, and call it discriminatory.

"This is completely anti-democratic," Carlos Alarcon, a former deputy justice minister, told local radio. "Only about 30 percent of Bolivians speak two of the languages deemed official under this draft constitution."

Two nationwide referendums would be needed for the constitution to go into effect, one on an article related to land holdings and another on the document as a whole.

'HANDFUL OF GUYS'

Roman Loayza, who heads the ruling Movement to Socialism party's block in a special assembly charged with drawing up the constitution, says the proposed charter is much more inclusive than the current one, which was written by a "handful of guys" of Spanish descent.

"This is the constitutional text of the Bolivians, based on their cultural identity, their ideology, their natural resources and lands," Loayza said, adding that indigenous and other groups had been demanding a new constitution for years.

One of the hottest debates centers on the idea of autonomy. Four of the country's nine provinces, located in the eastern lowlands, declared greater independence from the central government in December.

The new charter grants some degree of autonomy to the provinces, but it also establishes autonomy for municipalities, geographical regions and indigenous groups.

Some analysts say this could lead to a logistical nightmare, although Loayza said municipal and provincial boundaries would be respected.

Talks between the government and the rebel provinces to meld provincial autonomy declarations with the draft constitution have made little progress so far.

Another sticking point is the incorporation of indigenous communal justice into the judicial system on equal footing.

Communal justice is decided collectively and can include whipping. Some people have also tried to justify lynchings under the system, although Morales says that is a distortion.

In the proposed constitution, communal justice decisions could not be appealed and indigenous authorities would comprise half the members of the country's top constitutional court.

While some question the feasibility of such a multilayered system, others say it has been too long in coming.

"This government has done more for us Aymara farmers in two years than was done in our republic's 180 year history," said Samuel Guarayo, a 42-year-old coffee farmer. (Editing by Kieran Murray)