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GUEST: Ben Dangl, author of “The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia” published this year by AK Press, live from Cochabamba

At least four people have died in violent confrontations in Sucre, Bolivia, where the framework for a new constitution was approved on Saturday. Although each article has yet to be included, if approved, the new constitution will radically alter the future of Bolivia’s political system. Once the final changes are proposed, voters will determine if a new constitution will be set in place through a referendum. President Evo Morales, an indigenous Aymara and former coca union leader, has long advocated for a constitutional assembly. The majority of delegates to the Assembly belong to Morales’ Party, MAS or Movement Toward Socialism, and have gathered in Sucre to hammer out the new constitution. After a months-long impasse, the framework was finally approved this weekend – although nearly all of the opposition delegates are boycotting the meeting. Meanwhile, opposition protesters have clashed with police; throwing rocks, dynamite and Molotov cocktails in a last-ditch attempt to stop the assembly from carrying out its work, which is due by December 14.