A Victory for Exotic Headgear, Too

27 January 2009

Evo Morales has won his referendum in Bolivia with some 60 per cent of the vote. Under this, it's 17th constitution, Bolivia's 36 native tongues are now all official languages, along with Spanish.

Bolivia's first indigenous president campaigned hard among Aymara, Quechua, Guarani and other indigenous groups for the new constitution, which the Financial Times says "approves a new Congress with guaranteed representation for indigenous minorities and removes Catholicism as the state religion."

So predictably, Catholic Churches Oppose President in Bolivia Referendum, but the U.N. likes it. Cuba likes it. And the Telegraph sadly shakes its august, worried editorial head.

Just last Friday President Morales nationalized the Chaco Petroleum Company, a BP subsidiary, and the new constitution further tightens state control over natural resources. And here's a pesky fact: Half the world's lithium, used to make batteries for the electric cars Detroit is banking on, is in Bolivia, which Time Magazine calls the Saudi Arabia of lithium.

Here are the new constitution's key provisions.

Photo from the Bolivia Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.