LA PAZ (AFP) — Bolivian President Evo Morales on Saturday urged his supporters to defend his socialist reforms, which have triggered widespread unrest, or to die trying.
Speaking amid a crisis which has seen five rebel provinces reject his authority, Morales told indigenous union leaders his "democratic revolution" redefining land holdings and redistributing national wealth had to be seen through, or they should "die for the country" in the attempt.
"We have always cried 'fatherland or death'. If we don't emerge victorious, we have to die for the country and the Bolivian people," said the leftwing leader who took power as Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006.
Bolivia's deep social and political conflict pits its poor indigenous majority, who mainly live in the Andes mountains in the west, against ethnically mixed low-lying eastern provinces where governors want autonomy and greater control over lucrative gas fields.
A long-running political crisis exploded into street violence this week, leaving at least 17 people dead. Morales has decreed martial law in one of the five rebel provinces where the worst bloodshed occurred. His troops were Saturday fighting armed anti-government protesters there.
Though both sides in the conflict have declared themselves open to dialogue, and negotiations took place with representatives Friday, intransigence has kept pushing away the prospect of a solution through compromise.
Morales said the state governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca who are opposing his bid to rewrite the constitution "are plotting a fascist, racist coup."
"The Indian may fall," he said, referring to himself, "but the Bolivian people will not fall. The people's revolution will not fall. We will defend this process of change no matter what it costs."
Bolivia is South America's poorest nation and its only majority indigenous country.
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