Residents of Bolivia’s wealthiest state on Monday welcomed a landslide vote for greater autonomy as a historic shift, even as the Andean nation’s long-standing political battles remained unresolved.
Sunday’s referendum on greater independence from Bolivia’s central government seemed at times more like a hometown pep rally than a contested ballot. It was organized by Santa Cruz’s pro-autonomy state government, monitored by few international observers and boycotted by supporters of Bolivian President Evo Morales. And what self-rule may eventually look like remains far from clear.
“Obviously, it’s very important on a symbolic level. But that’s the only level where Bolivia’s political fight is currently taking place,” said Fernando Molina, editor of the Bolivian newsweekly Pulso. “To convert [the autonomy declaration] to reality will be a big stretch.”
The referendum’s result — early returns show that more than 80 percent of Santa Cruz voters embraced the autonomy measure — has bolstered Bolivia’s decentralization movement. The nation is bitterly divided between a pro-indigenous central government with a socialist vision and a handful of wealthier states where mixed-race governments back pro-market policies.
Three eastern states neighboring Santa Cruz will hold similar autonomy votes next month, and two others are considering a similar move.
Morales has called for negotiations with the states to save the draft constitution. But pro-autonomy groups refused to recognize its framework.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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