Bolivian President Evo Morales Wednesday summoned the opposition governors for dialogue over the country's political crisis.
He also requested churches to dispatch representatives to attend the meeting as observers.
According to information reaching here from La Paz, administrative capital of Bolivia, Morales said, "I want to see the governors this noon to start the dialogue ... I'll send letters to start the dialogue today, as they want."
Morales made the call during the signing of a contract between the state-owned energy firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) and the British Shell Gas to exploit hydrocarbons in the country.
Morales had sent letters to the governors for a meeting in the central city of Cochabamba 16:00 local time (2100 GMT). He also called for the presence of representatives from the Catholic, Methodist and Evangelic churches at the meeting as observers.
According to Morales, the Catholic Church led by Cardinal Julio Terrazas has been supporting the opposition governors. Terrazas "gives himself to the opposition governors," Morales said.
Morales said he signed the document for a dialogue with the opposition as early as Tuesday morning and he had urged Mario Cossio, governor of the southern province of Tarija and coordinator of the opposition Democratic National Council (Conalde), to share the document's content with his counterparts, so they would also sign it.
According to Morales, the opposition governors made a "media show" when signing the document without the presence of central government representatives.
On Monday, a Union of South American Nations (Unasure) emergency meeting in Santiago, Chile, decided to support Morales's government and called for dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the political crisis in Bolivia.
Opposition governors from the provinces of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni, Pando and Chuquisaca are against Morales's government. Recent violent protests in the country have killed at least 30 peasants in the northern province of Pando, whose governor Leopoldo Fernandez was arrested on charges of genocide.
Many public facilities, highways, roads and airports were occupied and burned in the protesting regions. Radical groups have also attacked a gas mine, suspending gas supply to Argentina and Brazil.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article