Negotiators inch forward in Bolivia

Negotiators hammered out an agreement on issues to be discussed, including the controversial distribution of revenues from natural gas and petroleum. Five provinces aligned against President Evo Morales are calling for a greater share of the energy funds.

"Dialogue is the only path for the nation," said Ruben Costas, governor of the eastern province of Santa Cruz, an opposition stronghold. "We have decided to sign this document to bring back peace."

Mario Cossio, the governor of Tarija province and the opposition point man in talks with the government, signed the document here Tuesday. He voiced hope that Morales would endorse the move toward conciliation.

Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera called the signing of the document "a true sign of the commitment toward peace and tranquillity."

Other points to be discussed in talks scheduled for this week include the return of government buildings occupied in recent violence and the president's contentious plans for a new constitution.

The signing came after the talks appeared to stall because of the arrest of an opposition governor accused of genocide in the killings last week of more than a dozen people. Earlier reports put the figure higher.

The slayings were part of a wave of violence, roadblocks and sabotage in Bolivia that sparked fears of civil conflict overtaking this Andean nation.

The detention Tuesday of Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez of northern Pando state, an opposition bastion, was denounced by government critics as politically motivated.

Fernandez has blamed the central government for provoking the killings. Sparsely populated Pando, along the Amazonian border with Peru and Brazil, is under martial law. But Morales has made it clear that he was not willing to back down on the arrest of the governor, whom authorities accused of orchestrating a "massacre."

Meantime, deteriorating U.S.-Bolivian relations worsened as President Bush declared Tuesday that Bolivia was no longer cooperating in the war on drugs. It was the first time that Bolivia was placed on the U.S. list of non-cooperating countries, along with Venezuela, which has been on the list four years in a row.