Balkanising Bolivia?

In his blog, anthropologist Paulo Granjo discusses the referendum in Bolivia's richest province Santa Cruz for more independence from the central government: "It is very unpleasant to be a large landowner from one of the country's best families and then to wake up one day and find an Indian has been elected president simply because we did not kill as many indigenous people as our neighbours did." Granjo has the following to say on Evo Morales' election and socialist policies: "Things got even worse when the guy won the elections with an absolute majority and attacked civilised customs and the power of money. And even worse when he wanted to distribute national wealth among the population. It is time to call for autonomy, or even independence, and fast. With the support of other countries, of course. ... When Germany incited Slovenia to declare its independence a few years ago, it added fuel to the fire in the Balkans and started one of the most barbaric civil wars in Europe in the last century. How will things be in Bolivia? Or, like in Ruanda a few years ago and now in Darfur, will skin colour make everything less important?"

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