MAS INSIGHT INTO CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LA PAZ 002171

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2016
TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL BL
SUBJECT: MAS INSIGHT INTO CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY


Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Krishna Urs for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Raul Prada, a MAS insider and Constituent
Assembly representative, confirmed President Morales' plans
for an all-powerful Assembly which would seek to remove all
traces of colonialism from Bolivian society. Prada said
procedural issues for the Assembly remain pending but he
expected representatives to agree on a two-thirds vote on
high profile issues and a simple majority on others.
Morales' plan to have social sectors "oversee" the Assembly,
Prada said, will strengthen Bolivia's participative
democracy. His leftist discourse, which includes legitimate
goals such as ending racial discrimination and ethnic
inequality, was philosophical and largely unsupported by
concrete details for how the MAS will achieve its goals.
Worryingly, it appears that President Morales is positioning
the syndical interests to impose his communitarian vision of
a syndicalist central-committee-like structure upon the
Bolivian state, using MAS intellectuals like Prada to attempt
to justify this potentially undemocratic revolution. End
summary.


2. (C) POLOFF met with Raul Prada, a MAS insider and
Constituent Assembly representative, August 10 to hear
Prada's views of MAS goals for the new constitution. Prada,
a former sociology professor, is a close associate of Vice
President Alvaro Garcia Linera. He described the MAS as
having three main divisions--an intellectual-indigenous wing
(of which Prada and Garcia Linera are part),an
political-electoral wing (led by Morales),and a sindicalist
wing (cocaleros and other labor unions).


3. (C) Prada confirmed President Morales' plans for an
all-powerful Assembly, which he said would seek to remove all
traces of colonialism from Bolivian society. According to
Prada, the current state powers perpetuate colonial influence
and marginalize the indigenous; the Assembly must therefore
build a new more inclusive state. While he spoke of sweeping
reforms to right the wrongs of the past, he was not able (nor
perhaps completely willing) to clearly articulate how the MAS
plans to achieve these goals. He did, however, mention
eliminating Bolivia's nine departments in favor of smaller
divisions based on geography or indigenous communities.
Prada said the Assembly would correct economic disparity and
blamed business leaders and large landowners for having a
disproportionate share of Bolivia's wealth and land.
According to Prada, the opposition, which has resisted an
Assembly to "refound" Bolivia, is beginning to understand the
importance of an Assembly with unlimited powers.


4. (C) Prada said procedural issues for the Assembly remain
pending but he expected representatives to agree on a
two-thirds vote on high profile issues and a simple majority
on others. He said the MAS wanted a simple majority vote on
all matters, but that both the MAS and the opposition would
have to compromise. MAS delegates will meet August 12-13 to
reach consensus on rules for the Assembly. Then, the
Assembly will vote on its rules of debate as its first order
of business August 15. Regarding the Assembly's structure,
Prada believed the commissions would be organized by topic
(e.g., land reform, autonomy, etc.). He noted that land
reform would be the most controversial and complicated issue
for the Assembly.


5. (C) Morales' plan to have social sectors "oversee" the
Assembly, Prada said, will strengthen Bolivia's
"participative democracy" (borrowing this Venezuelan term).
He said the social sectors, working out of what press reports
indicate will be government-funded offices in Sucre, will
have better access to information surrounding the Assembly
and will be able to ensure that the Assembly considers their
proposals. At least five organizations are planning to send
representatives.


6. (C) Comment: There is little doubt about Prada's strong
leftist leanings and he is arguably one of the MAS' most

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articulate philosophers. His discourse, which includes
legitimate goals such as ending racial discrimination and
ethnic inequality, was philosophical and largely unsupported
by concrete details for how the MAS will achieve its goals.
It is striking that even one of the MAS' key theoreticians is
unable to clearly articulate the party's vision for the
Constituent Assembly. This very failing merely underscores
the MAS dilemma in seeking common ground as a movement
comprising intellectuals, pragmatic politicians, and powerful
syndical interests. Worryingly, it appears that President
Morales is positioning the syndical interests to impose his
communitarian vision of a syndicalist central-committee-like
structure upon the Bolivian state. Clearly, MAS
intellectuals like Prada are fully engaged in seeking to
justify this potentially undemocratic revolution. End
comment.
GREENLEE