Bolivian politics often spill out into street confrontations and sporadic violence, so it is difficult to gauge the importance of the country’s latest lurch towards chaos. Even so, relations between the pro-government, mainly indigenous departments of the west and the mixed race opposition areas of the east do seem to be deteriorating dangerously. A catastrophic break-up of the country is still unlikely but it cannot be completely ruled out.

What makes the new arguments about regional power and autonomy, so different to previous rows is the intensity of opposition in the ”half moon” departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija to the new constitution. That document was railroaded through the constituent assembly by President Evo Morales’ supporters at the beginning of this month, with most opposition assembly representatives unable to gain entrance. Within days of that approval all four departments had dusted off their own autonomy statutes, which propose much more profound decentralisation than would be possible under the new national constitution. In Santa Cruz, for example, the department would – if its own statute becomes law – be entirely responsible for matters relating to land, and would also be able to introduce legislation on its own.