Autonomia Si! . . .

. . .is the slogan being plastered all over Trinidad. Tomorrow is the vote for the Autonomy statute for the Beni department. An overwhelming approval is expected which means it will join Santa Cruz in being the second department to accept the autonomy status as defined by the local government.

This is something that has been in the works, really for about a year. To clarify though, autonomy as defined here is NOT independence, but rather a decentralization of national government, basically which will give more power to the local government and grant it certain freedoms it did not have such as land management, police authority, etc. The Beni will still be part of Bolivia though, and still be subject to the national government on a lot of issues.

Thursday night, the biggest rally in the city took place just a block away from La Palmera from 4pm until midnight. Fireworks and firecrackers were going off all afternoon/evening and there were people speaking during most of that time too.

To me, I've really refrained from voicing my opinion on all of this, mostly since I don't know all of the intricacies and details involved. In general, I do support the idea of autonomy because it makes sense that local people should govern themselves on local issues and national government should tackle the bigger problems that face the entire nation. I think in some ways this may help the situation in Bolivia to settle down by giving the people in the east what they've wanted for the past decade at least: a greater degree of independence to allow for greater economic development. We'll just have to see. . .

Tomorrow we expect a peaceful voting session with little if any conflict, though streets will be closed all day.