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Evo Morales

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Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known as Evo (IPA: [ˈeβ̞o]), is the President of Bolivia, and has claimed to be the country's first indigenous head of state since the Spanish Conquest over 450 years ago.

Morales is the leader of Bolivia's cocalero movement – a loose federation of coca leaf-growing campesinos who are resisting the efforts of the United States government to eradicate coca in the province of Chapare in southeastern Bolivia. Morales is also leader of the Movement for Socialism political party (Movimiento al Socialismo, with the Spanish acronym MAS, meaning "more"), which was involved in the recent Gas Wars, along with many other groups, commonly referred to as 'social movements'.

In the 2002 presidential election, Morales came in second place, a surprising upset for Bolivia's traditional parties. This made the indigenous activist an instant celebrity throughout the continent. Morales credited his near victory in part to inflammatory comments made against him by then U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Manuel Rocha, saying they helped to "awaken the conscience of the people". Morales was finally elected president during the 2005 election, after several crises due to the gas industry issues.

Contents

The 2002 elections

In January 2002, Morales was removed from his seat in Congress, ostensibly because of a charge of terrorism related to anti-eradication riots in Sacaba that month in which four coca farmers, three military soldiers and a police officer were killed. The U.S. was accused of being behind his expulsion.
Evo Morales (right) with José Bové, France, 2002, during culturAmérica.
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Evo Morales (right) with José Bové, France, 2002, during culturAmérica.

Morales nonetheless declared his candidacy for the following presidential and congressional elections, to be held on June 27. In March, the eviction of Morales from Congress was declared unconstitutional, but he did not reclaim his congressional seat until the new Congress was sworn in on August 4. MAS had a meager share of only 4% in the polls, but it used its scant resources to mount an imaginative campaign, which attracted a great deal of attention. The party dispensed with the traditional campaign tactics and used mass give-aways of t-shirts, baseball caps, calendars, and other political "confetti" and used television advertisement and posters. One controversial TV spot portrayed an indigenous maid exhorting the masses to vote their conscience and not as their bosses ordered. MAS returned a small grant from the state (less than US$200,000) which is provided to every political party in order to run an unrestricted campaign.

Capitalizing on resentment of the U.S. presence in general and U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, in particular, MAS circulated a poster that appeared in cities around the country, with an enormous photo of Morales in the middle. Above, in enormous letters: "Bolivians: You Decide. Who's in Charge? Rocha or the Voice of the People." The poster had a huge impact and hundreds of thousands more had to be printed than had been planned on.

None of the mainstream parties' candidates wanted to debate Morales, dismissing MAS as a "minor party". In June, Morales told the media that he wasn't interested in a public discussion with them either: "The one who I want to debate is Ambassador Rocha — I prefer to argue with the owner of the circus, not the clowns."

Several days before the election, in a speech he gave in the presence of the outgoing president, Jorge Quiroga, Rocha said "I want to remind the Bolivian electorate that if you elect those who want Bolivia to become a major cocaine exporter again, this will endanger the future of U.S. assistance to Bolivia."[link] Undaunted, the voters, particularly in the heavily indigenous departments of the Altiplano, nonetheless cast their ballots for MAS in droves, giving it a share of 20.94%, only a couple of points behind that of the winning party. Afterwards, Morales credited the U.S. ambassador for the success of MAS: "Every statement [Rocha] made against us helped us to grow and awaken the conscience of the people." [link]

Owing to his refusal to compromise, Morales and MAS were excluded from the coalition which ultimately determined who would become president (it was Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada); MAS, led by Morales, therefore entered Congress as a strong opposition party.

Morales saw little in the Bolivian government; viewing it as too easily corrupted from within and manipulated from without by foreign interests. For him, Bolivia's impoverished campesinos need above all autonomy, equal opportunity, and access to the land.

When the Bolivian Workers' Confederation (COB) and MP Felipe Quispe, leader of the Indigenous Pachakuti Movement (MIP), called an indefinite general strike on September 29, 2003, in response to the killing of seven protestors by the armed forces during the Bolivian Gas War, Morales and MAS allegedly declined to participate, preferring to concentrate on gaining power in the 2004 regional elections. However, Morales was involved in organizing the continuing protests in the capital in June 2005, which forced the resignation of Carlos Mesa.

The 2005 elections

As a result of growing discontent and popular unrest, and the resignation under pressure of President Carlos Mesa Gisbert, Congress and President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé decided to move up the 2007 elections to December 2005. Both popular uprisings had Morales' leadership as a key factor. At a gathering of farmers celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of MAS in March 2005, Morales declared, "MAS is ready to rule Bolivia", having "consolidated its position as the [prime] political force in the country". He also said, "the problem is not winning the elections anymore but knowing how to rule the country." [link]

Preliminary polls placed Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism in an uncomfortable three-way tie with center and right wing forces and urban majority leaders Jorge Quiroga, from the party PODEMOS, and Samuel Doria Medina, with only a few points' difference. By August 21, Morales had chosen his running mate for the presidential elections, a left-wing ideologist, sociologist, mathematician, and political analyst Alvaro García Linera, who fought alongside of Felipe Quispe as part of the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK).

By December 4, Morales had moved ahead in the polls to around 32% of the vote. Quiroga hovered around 27% with Samuel Doria Medina coming in at less than 15%. All of the parties promised national solidarity, nationalization (in some form) of the hydrocarbons, and wealth for the people.

On December 14, the Wall Street Journal reported, "Most polls give the 46-year-old Mr. Morales a lead of about 34% to 29% over his nearest rival, conservative former President Jorge Quiroga." Over 100,000 election judges were sworn in as the country prepared for the elections on December 18.

Exit polls were published almost as soon as voting closed, with Morales expected to win 42-45% of the vote and Qurioga 33-37%. Quiroga conceded defeat within a few hours.

By December 22, the official count was at 53.899% of the vote, with 98.697% of the ballots tallied, and no congressional vote was necessary to determine the winner.

Politics

Morales has articulated the driving force behind MAS in the following terms:

"The worst enemy of humanity is capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that the national states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated."
He has also stated:
"… the ideological principles of the organization, anti-imperialist and contrary to neoliberalism, are clear and firm but its members have yet to turn them into a programmatic reality." [link]
Morales has argued for the establishment of a constituent assembly to transform the country. He also proposes the creation of a new hydrocarbon law to guarantee at least 50 percent of revenue to Bolivia, although MAS has also shown interest in complete nationalization of the gas and oil industries. Morales has taken a middle ground: supporting the nationalization of natural gas companies, but supporting foreign cooperation in the industry.

Morales has referred to the U.S.-driven Free Trade Area of the Americas as "an agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas", and has supported the stated desire of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to form an "Axis of Good" between Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela, in contrast to the "Axis of Evil" comprising Washington and its allies [link].

Morales has also expressed his admiration of Guatemalan indigenous activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.

In March 2006, president Evo Morales announced in Santa Cruz an increase in the minimum wage of 50%. As it is currently set at 440 bolivianos (45 euros), it would then increase to 660 bolivianos (67 euros). Morales had earlier stated that it should be increased by 100% . However, 6 out of 10 workers are part of the informal economy, thus limiting the impact of this increase .

Nationalization of natural gas industry

In 2005, following popular protests and president Gonzalo Sánchez "Goni" de Lozada's resignation, Congress passed an energy law that added a 32 percent tax on production to an already-existing 18 percent royalty. It also required that companies renegotiate their contracts with the state.

As of May 1, 2006, president Evo Morales signed a decree stating that all natural gas reserves were to be nationalized: "the state recovers ownership, possession and total and absolute control" of hydrocarbons (Bolivia has the second largest resources of natural gas in South America - 48.7 trillion cubic feet-, after Venezuela). He thus realized his electoral promises made during the various Gas Wars, declaring that "We are not a government of mere promises: we follow through on what we propose and what the people demand". The announcement was timed to coincide with Labor Day on May 1st. Ordering the military and engineers of YPFB, the state firm, to occupy and secure energy installations, he gave foreign companies a six month "transition period" to re-negotiate contracts, or face expulsion. Nevertheless, president Morales stated that the nationalization would not take the form of expropriations or confiscations. Vice President Álvaro García said in La Paz's main plaza that the government's energy-related revenue will jump to $780 million next year, expanding nearly sixfold from 2002. Among the 53 installations affected by the measure are those of Brazil's Petrobras, one of Bolivia's largest investors, which controls 14% of the country's gas reserves . Brazil's Energy Minister, Silas Rondeau, reacted by considering the move as "unfriendly" and contrary to previous understandings between his country and Bolivia. () Petrobras, Spain's Repsol YPF, UK gas and oil producer BG Group Plc and France's Total are the main gas companies present in the country. According to Reuters, "Bolivia's actions echo what Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a Morales ally, did in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter with forced contract migrations and retroactive tax hikes – conditions that oil majors largely agreed to accept." YPFB will pay foreign companies for their services, offering about 50 percent of the value of production, although the decree indicated that companies at the country's two largest gas fields would get just 18 percent.

Coca

Long before coca was used to make cocaine, the indigenous people of the Andean region, the Aymara and Quechua, chewed coca leaves as a dietary supplement and the leaves are considered sacred by them. Today the legal consumption of coca leaves, including mate de coca, is part of daily life for Bolivia's peasants, miners and workers, and is legally and freely available for sale. Noted celebreties who have drunk coca tea include the late Pope John Paul II, and Princess Anne. The US-led "Plan Dignidad" (dignity plan), which seeks to reduce coca production to zero, is seen by them as an attack on the peasant's livelihoods and the indigenous people's way of life.

Morales' approach to the coca issue is that the cocaine problem should be solved on the consumption side, not by eradicating the coca plantations and by sending more military into the coca-growing regions, an act which brought criticism from NGOs such as Human Rights Watch . Along with the gas issue, the promise to push back the U.S. policy of "zero coca", that is, the forced eradication of coca crops, was central to Morales's presidential campaign.

There is much disagreement between Morales's administration and the United States regarding anti-drug laws and cooperation between the countries, but officials from both countries have expressed a desire to work against drug trafficking, with Sean McCormack from the U.S. State Department reinforcing the support of Bolivian anti-drug policy, and Morales stating "there will be zero cocaine, zero drug trafficking, but not zero coca", as in his opinion zero coca would mean zero Quechuas and zero Aymaras.

Foreign policy

World tour

Morales and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
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Morales and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

From December 29, 2005, Evo Morales undertook an international tour described by Latin American media as exceptional [link]. For two weeks, Morales visited several countries in search of political and economic support for his agenda for the transformation of Bolivia. This tour is said to have constituted a break with decades of tradition in which the first international destination visited by a president-elect in Bolivia was the United States.

Timeline of Morales World tour

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Inauguration

Evo Morales' presidential ceremony
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Evo Morales' presidential ceremony

On January 21, 2006 Morales attended an indigenous spiritual ceremony at the pre-Colombian archaeological site and modern spiritual center of Tiwanaku where he was crowned as Apu Mallku or Supreme Leader of the Aymara, the indigenous group to which Morales belongs, and received gifts from many groups representing indigenous peoples from various parts of Latin America and the world. Morales claims this is the first time since the days of Tupac Amaru that a native American has held sovereign power in Bolivia. The ceremony was attended by the Slovenian president, Janez Drnovšek [link].

On January 22 he officially received power in a ceremony in La Paz attended by multiple heads of state, including Argentine President Néstor Kirchner and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. [link] Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, whose country has had a history of diplomatic conflict with Bolivia (See: War of the Pacific), was also present and met with the dignitary in private. Morales described his presidency as marking a new era, and that the 500 years of colonialism were now at an end.

Style

Evo Morales shining shoes
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Evo Morales shining shoes

His behavior contrasts with the usual manners of dignitaries in Latin America. For example, in January 28, 2006 he cut his salary by 57% to $1,875 a month [link]. He is single and prior to the election, he shared a flat with other MAS officers. Consequently, his sister fulfills the roles of First Lady.

He also aroused much interest in his choice of dress after being pictured often in his striped sweater with world leaders during his world tour. There was speculation that he would wear it to the official inauguration, where he actually dressed in a white shirt without tie (itself unheard of in Latin America in modern times for a head of state at their own inauguration) and a black jacket that was not a part of a conventional suit. The sweater (actually an alpaca-wool chompa, the root of the English word jumper) has since become a symbol of him and is selling all across Bolivia [link].

References

See also

External links

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