Bolivians strike for share of natural gas profits

LA PAZ, Bolivia (CNN) -- Five of Bolivia's nine states staged a civic strike Tuesday, protesting against President Evo Morales and demanding a larger share of the country's natural gas revenues.

Officials in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija -- states in the wealthy, eastern lowland known as the "Media Luna," or half-moon -- and Chuquisaca, also in the eastern part of the country, instructed residents not to leave their homes until the end of the one-day strike, Bolivian newspaper El Diario reported.

The five departments contain much of the Andean country's natural gas deposits, and their leaders are asking for natural gas revenue that Morales has earmarked to increase funding for pension plans, the five regions said in a statement on the strike posted on Santa Cruz's Web site.

They said they were "sorry that the inflexibility of the government forced the prefectures to take this type of resolution."

Confrontations between government supporters and pro-autonomy groups in a Santa Cruz neighborhood appeared to be the day's most violent. Police fired tear gas three times at demonstrators.

In the other four departments where the strike was being observed, there were no disturbances.

The 24-hour strike was called by civil committees of the departments to demand that the government give back the money it has collected by taxing hydrocarbons in order to fund the pension plan.

The president of Santa Cruz's civic committee, Branco Marincovick, said the tax is constraining regional development.

The government condemned acts of violence during the day and said that the strike was limited.

The strike comes nine days after Morales garnered more than 67 percent of votes in a recall referendum, which he had proposed in May to break a power struggle long simmering between him and the conservative leadership in the Media Luna states.

Despite the solid show of support for Morales, the vote also endorsed the leaders in Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and Tarija, making it impossible to reach a solution to the stalemate.

Morales, a former labor organizer and the country's first indigenous president, was elected in 2005 on promises to reform Bolivia's constitution for the benefit of its indigenous majority.

But his proposals have been hampered by his rivals in the Media Luna states. Since taking office, all four have pushed for greater autonomy, saying the individual departments have the right to control their own affairs, including increased access to gas revenues.

In speaking about the revenues earmarked for increased pensions, Morales emphasized that it was for the good of the people, a refrain he often uses.

"Some authorities believe that this money is theirs, and it is not so, this silver is of the people and should benefit the people," the president said last year, shortly after he announced the measure.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonpartisan think-tank, said Morales' overwhelming victory at the polls strengthens his hand at achieving his goal of redistributing wealth.

Less than one percent of landowners in Bolivia own two-thirds of the country's farmland, he said in an article published in The Nation magazine.

"Bolivia is South America's poorest country, with 60 percent of the population living below the poverty line, and 38 percent in extreme poverty," he said. "The voters have overwhelmingly decided that they want their government to do something about that. This should be possible, even if it means redistributing some of the country's most important natural resources."

CNN's Gloria Carrasco contributed to this report.

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