A referendum to approve the autonomy statute of Santa Cruz Department of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

was held on 4 May 2008. The vote resulted from strains between the Prefecture of Santa Cruz and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to ...

. The referendum was declared illegal and unconstitutional by the National Electoral Court. Final results from the referendum showed that 85.6% of participating voters supported autonomy. Abstention rates were 37.9%. Partisans of the

Movement for Socialism The Movement for Socialism–Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples ( es, Movimiento al Socialismo–Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos, abbreviated MAS-IPSP, or simply MAS, punning on ''más'', Spanish for ...

called for a boycott of the vote, and the Guarayo, Guaraní, Chiquitano, Ayoreo, Yuracaré-Moxeño indigenous peoples were urged to reject holding the vote in their territories. Similar referendums were held in

Beni Department Beni (), sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second-largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 sq mi), and it was cre ...

and

Pando Department Pando is a department in Northern Bolivia, with an area of , in the Amazon Rainforest, adjoining the border with Brazil and Perú. Pando has a population 154,355 (2020 census). Its capital is the city of Cobija. The department, which is named a ...

on 1 June 2008 (see 2008 Bolivian autonomy referendums) and in

Tarija Department Tarija () is a department in Bolivia. It is located in south-eastern Bolivia bordering with Argentina to the south and Paraguay to the east. According to the 2012 census, it has a population of 482,196 inhabitants. It has an area of . The city ...

on 22 June 2008 (see 2008 Tarija autonomy referendum).

Response

Ruben Costas, the governor of Santa Cruz, welcomed the result saying ”With the vote the start of a structural reform of transcendental importance in our nation has been consolidated...The ballot boxes have delivered their verdict: the emissaries of evil cannot impose their bitterness and hate". The

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

stated in its annual human rights report that the referendums: "took place even though the National Electoral Court ruled that the prefectures did not have the authority to call for such a vote and that they were infringing the Constitution." A

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

mission to Bolivia from the

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous pe ...

later declared that the Santa Cruz autonomy statute "promotes, allows, strengthens and reproduces practices of

servitude Servitude may refer to: Persons * Conscription * Indentured servitude * Involuntary servitude * Penal servitude * Service * Service-oriented submission * Slavery Property * Equitable servitude, a term of real estate law * Servitude in civil ...

", referring to conditions of debt-servitude and conditions analogous to slavery that are suffered by some indigenous groups in Santa Cruz. Bartolomé Clavero, a Spanish law professor from the Permanent Forum later stated that: "Anyone who has voted for this statute supports servitude."

Legacy

Evo Morales's government eventually reversed its position on autonomy during the 2009 election, granting autonomy to Santa Cruz in 2010 along similar lines to those requested in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz Autonomy Referendum, 2008 2008 elections in South America 2008 in Bolivia 2008 referendums Autonomy referendums Referendums in Bolivia Regionalism (politics) May 2008 events in South America