_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________Bolivia_______________
Bishops seek peaceful transition
Effort to defuse political crisis
The vice president of the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Jesus Juárez Páragga of El Alto, has announced that the episcopate is calling all political and social leaders to sign an agreement designed to secure a democratic transition in 2002.
Bolivia, the country with the weakest democratic tradition in South America, has been rocked by a series of strikes and violent demonstrations which have practically paralyzed the country. In order to prevent a crisis that could jeopardize the longest democratic period in Bolivian history, the bishops’ conference has called all sectors to sign a national agreement that would bring a social and political truce.
“We are proposing an agreement among political leaders, workers’ unions, and civil organizations around some basic, urgent changes,” said Bishop Juárez. “We need to make dramatic changes in Bolivian society; changes such as electoral reform, the fight against corruption, and the reform of several institutions,” he said. The bishop said, “Bolivia is being eaten out by corruption, violence, and hopelessness, so the reform needs a dramatic moral turn.”