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Spring Hill, Florida, Tuesday, May 6, 2008:    Socialist Party USA
presidential candidate Brian Moore e-mailed and faxed several
communications today to Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ambassador
Mario Guzman at the Bolivian Embassy in Washington, DC offering to act
as an intermediary between Morales' national government and the
leaders of the autonomy movement in the rebelling province of Santa
Cruz.



Moore is empathetic to what he considers a fellow socialist, President
Evo Morales, and the Indian leader's goals for helping the indigenous
populations of Bolivia.  Moore worked for almost three years in the
U.S. Peace Corps as a volunteer in the poverty-ridden slums of Peru
and Panama from 1969 to 1972.  The presidential candidate also lived
for two years in the heart of the city and province of Santa Cruz,
Bolivia, working side-by-side with the Croatian-descendant Bolivian
businessmen there and socializing with their families extensively in
1987 and 1988.



During his stay, Moore also toured the impoverished Potosi area and
mines visiting with ethnic Aymara and Quechua descendant groups in the
highlands, and also toured the lowlands and jungles of the Santa Cruz
and Beni provinces populated by the Guarayo and Chiquitano Indians of
Bolivia.



Moore also sent copies of his communiqu=E9 today to the business leaders
via the local newspapers in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, offering a similar
role on their behalf since he is known to some of them.  Moore is
familiar with Bolivia's diverse cultures and persons, and believes
that both sides can emerge from this critical situation achieving some
of their respective goals, while avoiding violence and reinforcing
President Morales and his administration.



Moore supports President Morales recent nationalization of four energy
companies (petroleum & gas) and the country's largest
telecommunications company, but he does not see why the local
provincial government of Santa Cruz cannot reap an increased share of
its natural resources.



Moore is highly critical of misleading information being released in
the United States, by a competing American Party for Socialism and
Liberation (PSL), and its U.S. presidential candidate, Gloria La Riva,
a competitor of Moore.  The SL party put out a news release on Sunday,
May 4th, labeling the Santa Cruz dissidents as "ultra-right-wing,
racists forces and secessionists," who are taking "subversive actions
[by their] oligarchic groups" who are involved in a conspiracy to
overthrow the government of Morales.



Moore contends that the referendum movement in Santa Cruz is supported
by all economic levels of its citizens; plus, the division is not
based on race, but on ethnic and tribal origins---similar to what was
seen in Bosnia and is now occurring in Iraq.  Socialist presidential
candidate Moore states that the "Cruceno" white businessmen are
leading the charge, but are also supported by the brown Guarayos and
Chiquitanos indigenous groups who are of color and rural origin as
well.  Moore acknowledges that the referendum does discriminate
against the Aymaras and Quechuas, the two largest ethnic groups, from
the highlands, many of whom now live in Santa Cruz, and Moore says
this "should be corrected."



Moore also acknowledged that the vote was illegal, and "probably
unconstitutional."   However, the New York Times said the statute was
"expected to be approved, but its legitimacy was weakened" because a
significant numbers of citizens did not vote, supporting President
Morales call to stay home.  Several other provisions, such as allowing
the provincial governor of Santa Cruz to sign international treaties
or "take control" of the state's natural  gas reserves "is far-fetched
and difficult to fathom," said Moore.



However,  candidate Moore said "the substance of some of the Santa
Cruz dissidents' key provisions have merit," such as electing its own
provincial legislature, creating a local police force and raising new
taxes for public works.  Even forming a new union or professional
association locally have to be approved by the central government in
the far-away capital, La Paz,  Moore indicated.  "These centralized
federal government conditions Socialists do not support," Moore
claimed.  Socialism advocates that "citizens should control their own
local communities and make decisions from the bottom up," and not be
dependent on a controlling national government, "similar to the power
of corporations in the United States who now control our lives,"
stated Moore.



According to a May 5th article on Bolivian autonomy in the New York
Times, President Morales was elected into a "strong centralized
[governmental] structure, built upon by previous authoritarian
governments [possibly even right-wing] which still permeate  the
country's  politics."



Moore also challenges the Socialists radicals who believe this is an
effort to overthrow President Morales.  Mount Saint Mary's University
Political Science Professor Miguel  Centellas, in Emitsburg, Maryland,
was quoted by Voice of America News, that  the autonomy movement was
not directed at President Evo Morales, but has been "brewing for
generations," which Moore said he personally witnessed firsthand in
the 1980's in Santa Cruz.



If anything, Moore says he agrees with  Professor Raul Madrid of the
University of Texas at Austin who says that Mr. Morales is also
"feeling  pressure from leftist leaders calling for him to make even
broader reforms."  Professor Madrid further said that certain sectors
of the population want him to "move much more radically" than he has
done so far, and he is "reluctant to do that."  It is the leftists who
are "getting frustrated with him" stated Madrid.   Moore blames
statements by the Socialism and Liberation Party as contributing to
undermining Morales, not supporting him!"