One killed, 50 injured in Bolivia clashes

LA PAZ, Jan 12 (Reuters) One person was killed and about 50 were injured in Bolivia during clashes between protesters demanding the resignation of the governor of the Cochabamba region and his supporters, local media reported.

Fighting broke out when supporters of Gov. Manfredo Reyes Villa entered the center of Cochabamba city, which had been occupied since Monday by thousands of protesters wielding sticks and stones and demanding he step down.

Reyes Villa is at odds with Bolivia's leftist government over his plans to call a referendum on regional autonomy. The protests against him are organized by supporters of President Evo Morales.

State-owned television network TV7 said a pro-Morales demonstrator was killed during the clashes. It was not immediately clear how he was killed. Local radio Erbol reported that police were trying to break up the protest with tear gas.

Thousands of Morales supporters gathered in the main square of Cochabamba, 275 miles (440 km) east of La Paz, on Thursday, hours before supporters of Reyes Villa entered the city, also armed with batons and rocks, local media reported.

''I don't have a reason to resign, I demand the will of my voters be respected,'' Reyes Villa, who is one of Bolivia's first elected governors, told ATB television network. Regional leaders were appointed by the president until 2005.

Anti-Reyes Villa protesters had blocked off roads to Cochabamba for three days. Earlier this week, Morales backers set fire to the governor's office, sparking scuffles with the police that injured more than 20 people.

The balance of power between the provinces and the national government has caused conflict in South America's poorest country, where autonomy advocates in wealthier eastern regions staged widespread protests and a hunger strike last month.

The governors of Bolivia's nine regions were elected in December 2005, in the same elections in which Morales became the country's first indigenous head of state.

Six of the nine governors, including Reyes Villa, belong to opposition parties, and most of them have joined together to demand more independence from the central government.

''Autonomy is important. It doesn't mean division, or separatism, or independence. Why are they still concentrating power? The regional governors have been elected, let's give them some power,'' Reyes Villa told reporters yesterday.

In Cochabamba province, where Morales rose to prominence as the leader of the country's largest coca-leaf growers union, sympathy for the Indian leader runs high. Reyes Villa has said the conflict could end quickly if Morales ordered his supporters to stop protesting.

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