Rubén Costas Aguilera
Who is Rubén Costas Aguilera?
He is the president of the Comité pro Santa Cruz in Bolivia.
Why watch him?
Costas announced on 21 January that Santa Cruz will declare itself autonomous on 28 January. The region intends to set up its own provisional government and hold elections to choose a new government to succeed it. The move could lead to the break up of the country. Already the gas-rich department of Tarija is threatening to follow Santa Cruz's lead. Santa Cruz, located on the rich agricultural land in the south east of the country, is the most prosperous area of the country. Costas and his colleagues claim that although only 25% of the population lives in Santa Cruz department, it provides 50% of the country's tax revenues. In fact in 2002, the last year with figures available, Santa Cruz provided 40% of the country's tax take. There are also racial overtones to Santa Cruz's desire for autonomy: Santa Cruz is much less Indian than the rest of the country. The Comité dismiss the allegation that it is racist by saying that the whole country is 80% mestizo. The Comité's website, however, claims that the white band in the Santa Cruz flag symbolises the
hidalguía (Spanish nobleness) of the local people.
Born: Unknown
Place of Birth: Santa Cruz
Educated: Unknown
Public Life
Costas was elected president of the Comité in 2003. Before becoming president of the Comité, Costas was, he says "a simple director of an agribusiness." In an interview with the sympathetic Cruceño newspaper,
El Deber, Costas said that he would never be part of central government. Costas is careful to hide details about his personal life and to push the Comité and particularly its values. The Comité traces itself back to 1951, but has only become prominent since the fall of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003. It was significant that the pro-US Goni flew to exile in the US via Santa Cruz.
The Cruceños are increasingly fed up with the poorer people from the highlands getting much more out of the federal government than they put in. They point out that only 21 of the country's 130 deputies are elected by Cruceños. Conveniently, they forget that the mineral wealth of the highlands provided the bulk of the country's income until gas and agribusinesses took off about 20 years ago. Significantly, the first time that the green and white flag of the Santa Cruz department was flown was in 1980, though the Comité claims that it derives from a flag designed in 1864. In 1985, the local assembly agreed to adopt the coat of arms for the city of Santa Cruz as the emblem for the whole department.
Now, besides the flag and the coat of arms, the area also has its own national anthem. The Comité has clear political and economic ambitions. It wants the president of Bolivia to be elected directly: currently the final decision is made by congress. Economically, Santa Cruz sees itself as the pivot between the Andean region and the Mercosur.
Timeline
2003: Elected president of the Comité. His term is due to expire in February, when the Comité is due to hold elections. Some critics say that the intellectual power behind his throne is Germán Antelo, the Comité's first vice-president.
Strengths
Costas and the Comité are tapping into a huge well of secessionist feeling. Even though there have been up to four Cruceños in President Carlos Mesa's
cabinet, the area is much more united behind the Comité than Tarija: the only significant dissidents in Santa Cruz are the Indian and peasant groups, represented by the Coordinadora de Pueblos Etnicos de Santa Cruz.
Weaknesses
The Comité's critics claim that it is semi-fascist. One minister claimed that the Comité was skilled in doublespeak but incapable of genuine debate. The Comité is widely seen as pro-business. Some political scientists say that the Comité's influence has risen as the role of conventional parties has declined. It was significant that the Comité banged heads together after the recent municipal elections in Santa Cruz, though it did not run a candidate itself.
Prospects
Bolivian politics are in a frantic state. The interim president, Carlos Mesa, has moral authority but almost no political clout. He has been unable to get the hydrocarbons law through congress, to the relief of the Cruceños and disgust of the highlanders. Later this year Mesa wants to call a constituent assembly to reform the constitution. The big issue is who will set the agenda for the constituent assembly and thus shape the new constitution. Arguably, Costas and the Comité want to have no part of this process and would prefer to create a new country of over 2.1m people.