Three members of the Committee on External Relations and National Defense (CRE) – senators Cristovam Buarque (PDT-DF), Marcelo Crivella (PRB-RJ) and Pedro Simon (PMDB-RS) – will analyze, on the coming weeks, Bolivia’s political situation. The group was created by senator Heráclito Fortes (DEM-PI), the committee’s president, after Cristovam warning about the risk of a secession war in the neighbor country.

Cristovam stated that political movements on the South of Bolivia, where there are great natural gas reserves, have been threatening to declare the region’s independence if the future Constitution, currently in debate, does not accept their claims for autonomy. According to the senator, there are rumors in the region that 15 thousand armed men would be ready to face the Bolivian central government.

- Brazil must worry about that. If there is a conflict, Venezuela might intervene in the North, in favor of the central government, and the United States in the South – Cristovam warned.

Cristovam suggested that a group of senators visited Bolivia to get information on both sides regarding that country’s situation. The suggestion was immediately accepted by CRE’s president, who nominated Crivella and Simon to accompany Cristovam. Before they go to Bolivia, however, the senators must talk to Celso Amorim, minister of External Relations, Simon suggested..

In Cristovam’s opinion, a possible burst of an internal conflict in Bolivia could reach other countries in the region, causing a process so-called “balkanization” – in reference to conflicts which occurred in the 90’s in Southern Europe, after the end of former Yugoslavia. According to him, the South of Peru might show solidarity to the North of Bolivia due to ethnical similarities of the populations who live in both regions.