The Amazonian states of Beni and Pando voted overwhelmingly Sunday for autonomy from the central government. The referendum came a month after voters in the State of Santa Cruz also cast ballots in favour of autonomy. Both states passed autonomy measures by more than 80 percent of the vote. The Bolivian government said the vote was illegal and unconstitutional.

President Evo Morales’ government described the referendums as “unconstitutional” attempts to further divide the country.

The votes reflect the dispute between the central government of President Evo Morales, a Socialist native leader and the country’s first indigenous president, and several states that are rich in oil and gas reserves.   

“It's not a problem of autonomy,” Morales said Sunday. “The problem is that they can't accept that an Indian from the countryside is their president.”

These regions have a more mixed-race population; the largely poor Indians make up the majority and live in the Bolivian’s mountainous area, while the residents of European descent live in the eastern states and oppose the president’s policies and his plans for a new constitution. Leftist Morales opened on August 6, 2006 the Bolivian Constituent Assembly to begin writing a new constitution aimed at giving more power to the indigenous majority.

The rightist opposition tried to obtain more economical and political powers to provide a counterbalance to Morales’ populist government.

“We ask the country and the world to respect our sovereign will to be autonomous,” said Beni Gov. Ernesto Suarez at victory rally in Trinidad, according to the Associated Press. They say the process is “irreversible,” although the Organization of American States and many Latin American governments opposed to the autonomy referendums.