Can Bolivia's constitution stop the right?
Sarah Hines assesses the impact of the referendum that ratified Bolivia's new constitution.

MORE THAN 62 percent of Bolivians voted January 25 to ratify a new constitution that promises to re-found the country in the interests of Bolivia's indigenous majority. That evening, President Evo Morales Ayma, an Aymara Indian and the nation's first indigenous president, declared, "The colonial state ends here. Internal colonialism and external colonialism end here. Sisters and brothers, neoliberalism ends here too."

The successful passage of the new constitution marks a victory for President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president, and another setback for Bolivia's right-wing opposition.

The new charter grants the state greater control over the country's natural resources, establishes water as a basic right, and guarantees indigenous and women representation in Congress. In addition to making all of Bolivia's 36 native languages official alongside Spanish, the constitution grants indigenous groups rights to administer their own resources, levy taxes and allocate funds, make their own laws and carry out community justice as long as national laws are not violated.

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