Evo Morales arrests rival and hopes for pact

By Eduardo Garcia

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian troops on Tuesday arrested an opposition governor blamed for 15 deaths during days of political violence that shook the country as President Evo Morales and his opponents tried to negotiate a way out of the crisis.

Leopoldo Fernandez, the rightist governor of Pando province in Bolivia's far north, was detained by troops in the city of Cobija and bundled onto a plane to La Paz, where Morales supporters waited with banners reading "Fernandez, murderer."

The leftist government accuses Fernandez of ordering a massacre of pro-Morales peasants last Thursday, in which officials say 15 people died. Previously the government had given a higher number.

An impoverished, unstable country with large natural gas reserves, Bolivia is split between supporters of Morales' socialist reforms and a minority who say he is trying to turn the country into another Cuba.

"We hope by the end of the day to have agreed on the points that have been discussed up until now," Morales told a news conference at the presidential palace. "This agreement can serve as a foundation to keep talking."

Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president who was confirmed by a landslide in an August recall election.

Mario Cossio, the governor of natural gas-rich Tarija province who represents a clutch of rightist opposition governors, left talks at the government palace without speaking to reporters.

Before Fernandez's arrest, Cossio said he expected to sign an accord with Morales, setting out the points for formal negotiations. It was not immediately clear how the arrest would affect talks.