by the El Reportero’s news services
Fernando Lugo
The decision by the new President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, to appoint Joseph Stiglitz as his chief economic adviser is another signal that most of South America is moving onto a new economic track.
The obvious parallel was Bolivia’s decision in the late 1980s and early 1990s to rely on Jeffrey Sachs, then a fashionable development economist, to deregulate its economy.
Sachs was a keen proponent of the so-called Washington Consensus, which favored deregulation on a large scale and recommended only minimal state participation in the economy.
Bolivia’s Morales sets date for constitutional vote
President Evo Morales passed a supreme decree on August 28 establishing 7 December as the date for a national referendum on the new constitution.
The announcement represents a major breakthrough in Morales’s two-and-a-half year struggle to get a new constitution approved.
It shows that the government feels sufficiently buoyed by the results of the 10 August recall referendum – in which Morales received an overwhelming 67 percent of the vote, winning in 95 of the country’s 112 provinces – to abandon attempts at dialogue with the opposition prefects who have emerged as the main obstacle to Morales’ reform efforts.
Prefects defy Morales in Bolivia
Evo Morales
Five opposition prefects from Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca announced on August 27 that they would not permit a referendum on the constitution to take place in their departments.
The declaration by the prefects is likely to undermine their position further in their ongoing battle with the government of President Evo Morales.
The decision was announced at a meeting of the opposition prefects’ bloc, Consejo Nacional Democrático, held in Villa Montes, Tarija and followed an ultimatum issued by Morales the previous day that if the prefects continued to defy attempts at dialogue, he would call the referendum on the draft constitution by supreme decree to speed up the process.
Uribe squares up to Supreme Court and Liberals as parapolitical scandal deepens
Relations between Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe and the supreme court took a sharp turn for the worse this week after revelations emerged in the press that two senior presidential advisers had received two emissaries from the top paramilitary leader, Don Berna, in the presidential palace. Uribe defended his advisers on the grounds that the supreme court was “trafficking in false witnesses.” He also took a pot shot at the leader of the opposition Partido Liberal (PL), César Gaviria. Mutual mudslinging ensued. The upshot is that the opposition is refusing to discuss political and judicial reforms which Uribe sent to Congress late on August 26.
Honduras opts for Alba
Traditionally one of the US’ most steadfast allies in Central America, Honduras would appear to be shifting its allegiances after President Manuel Zelaya announced plans to join the Venezuelan-led trade and integration initiative, Alternativa Bolivariana de las Américas (Alba).
Honduras signed up to Petrocaribe, Venezuela’s oil-supply pact in February [RC-08-03]. Zelaya has also upped his anti-US rhetoric, in a manner reminiscent of US bête noire, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The president’s proposal to join Alba has yet to be ratifi ed by Congress and has proved divisive within the country. (Latin News contributed to this report).
