From bad to worse in Bolivia

Things in Bolivia are getting worse, with anti-government rioting in the state of Pando killing as many as 18 people. President Evo Morales had government troops arrest the governor of Pando, Leopoldo Fernandez, and charge him with genocide in the death of the protestors.

Morales' attempts at land reform and spreading Bolivia's natural gas revenues with the country's poorest citizens have caused deep splits within the country. The governors of several of the countries richest states - the ones where the natural gas reserves are located - are bitterly opposed to Morales' plans. Meanwhile the country's poorest citizens - often indigenous people like Morales, who could become landowners under his plan - are threatening violence if the land reforms aren't allowed to go forward.

And in a sign of the United States diminishing influence in a region once considered America's back yard, the leaders of several other South American nations excluded the US from crisis talks in Chile aimed at finding a resolution to the Bolivian crisis.