BY TIM HALL
CATHOLIC leaders in Bolivia have claimed that the Latin American nation is heading for more of the turmoil and bloodshed that have afflicted it in the past.
One hundred days since Bolivia elected its first indigenous leader, bishops said the Leftist government is risking making the same mistakes that have caused "death and pain" in past generations.
The Church specifically attacked President Evo Morales. the indigenous President who brought hope to the poor of the county when he was elected three months ago.
Cardinal Julio Terraces said that Morales was beginning to exhibit "the use of force, the pressures and lack of respect for human rights" that have categorised past regimes.
Cardinal Terraces said: "The same ways that in the past have produced death and pain are being practised."
The warning, from Church leaders who are hugely influential in South America's poorest country, comes amid growing social unrest.
Last week protests designed to pressure the Government into nationalising the country's airports were forcibly ended by police and troops.
Morales, who led many such protests when he was a coca fanner campaigning for social change, was accused of being heavy-handed in his treatment of protesters.