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Who Is Ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales? (source):
Bolivia is currently one of the main hot points in Latin America. The crisis that started with a coup against the country’s President Evo Morales shows signs of escalation as the post-coup government is openly using force against supporters of the ousted president. In this situation, it’s interesting to take a look at the personality of Evo Morales himself and polcies employed by his government.
Political career
Juan Evo Morales Ayma, born on October 26th 1959, in Isallavi, Bolivia served as the Bolivian president from from 2006 until 2019. He is a member of the Aymara indigenous group and was Bolivia’s first Indian president.
His political career started in the 1980s, when he became an active member of the regional coca-growers union, and in 1985 he was elected the group’s general secretary. In 1988, he was elected executive secretary of a federation of various coca-growers unions. This fact is often described by the US and maintream media to claim that Morales somehow supported narco business. However, attempts to compare coca and cocaine are similar to attempts to describe poppy loafs as the source of heroin.
In the mid-1990s, when the Bolivian government was suppressing coca production with assistance from the United States, Morales helped found a national political party, the leftist Movement Toward Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo; MAS), which is also his current party.
IMAGE: Bolivian Presidency/AFP
Morales won a seat in the House of Deputies (the lower house of the Bolivian legislature) in 1997 and was the MAS candidate for president in 2002, but lost to Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada by a small margin.
During his campaign, he called for wide economic and social reforms. One of the topics was the expulsion from Bolivia of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, which was further reinforced by the US Ambassador saying that if Morales were elected, US aid to the country would end.
As the MAS presidential candidate again in 2005, Morales was elected easily, winning 54% of the vote and becoming the country’s first Indian president and the first Bolivian president since 1982 to win a majority of the national vote.
In the 2009 election Morales won 64%, and in 2014 he won 61% of the vote. He has also remained head of the coca growers’ union for 38 years.
He ushered through a new constitution that created a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia’s smaller indigenous groups and recognized the Andean earth deity Pachamama instead of the Roman Catholic Church. The charter also “refounded” Bolivia as a “plurinational” state, allowing self-rule for the nation’s indigenous peoples.
Morales also won the 2019 election with 47.08%, but was ousted as a result of the US-backed coup under pretext of the claim that the Organization of American States (OAS) deemed it impossible to verify the vote.
The OAS said that the elections took place in a “peaceful and orderly manner,” the OAS expressed “its deep concern and surprise at the drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of the preliminary results revealed after the closing of the polls.”
The statement failed to provide any actual evidence or data. Nonetheless, it was widely backed by the US diplomatic and clandestine actions.
The main claim of the OAS is the significant increase in votes for Morales that came in near the end of the count. However, this is a result of the geography of Bolivia. Morales has more support in poor and rural areas where votes often come in later.
“Statistical analysis of election returns and tally sheets from Bolivia’s October 20 elections shows no evidence that irregularities or fraud affected the official result that gave President Evo Morales a first-round victory,” the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) said in a statement de-facto denouncing the OAS claim.
Another important point is that the OAS was created by a U.S. official and anti-socialist leaders from South America in 1948 aiming to disrupt the left-wing influence in the region. Often, the OAS is described as an agent of regime change and provider of the US interests.
Economic situation
Immediately after becoming president, Morales began the process of renationalizing the oil and gas industries. The increased tax revenue allowed Bolivia to vastly increase its public investment and helped boost the country’s foreign reserves.
Since 2006, the country’s economy has grown at a steady 4.9% per year. Real per capita GDP grew by more than 50% over 13 years, twice the rate of growth for the Latin American and Caribbean region, and today Bolivia still boasts the highest growth of per capita GDP in South America.
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Bolivia’s efforts to promote economic growth have been focused on the domestic market, in line with its development strategy. There have been substantial increases in household consumption (4.7 % average yearly growth between 2006 and 2018), gross fixed capital formation (9.2 %) and government expenditure (5.3 %). Exports have also grown, but at a slower pace (averaging 1.9 % annually). In fact, Bolivia has in recent years held investment at very high levels as compared to the past, with investment averaging 21.8% of GDP.
In Bolivia, thanks to Morales’ other policies the benefits of growth were felt by the poorest. Poverty fell from 60% in 2006 to 35% in 2017. Extreme poverty more than halved – from 38% to 15%.
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This was achieved by both massive public investment and redistribution of wealth. Bolivia’s unemployment nearly halved (7.7% to 4.4%) by 2008, and this didn’t change much even after the global financial crisis of 2008.
Moreover, the minimum monthly wage increased threefold. This was also done while keeping inflation at a very low growth rate per year.
The fixed exchange rate combined with relatively low domestic inflation and a consistent rise in minimum wages has improved the purchasing power of the vast majority of Bolivian citizens. Wages are negotiated every year between the government and the unions.
By 2018, the real (inflation-adjusted) minimum wage had more than doubled since 2006, a 140% increase after adjusting for inflation.
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Domestic and foreign policies
The foreign and domestic policy of the Morales government has been for a long time causing a dissatisfaction of the United States.
In 2008, Morales expelled US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, accusing him of conspiring against his government, and suspended the operations of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Bolivia. In 2013, he also ousted the US Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing it of supporting his opposition.
The US has long accused Morales of doing little to counter cocaine production and trafficking because Morales has remained the head of the coca growers’ union and opposed the US attempts to meddle into Bolivia’s domestic policy. However, these claims have been barely backed by any evidence.
On the international stage, Morale’s Bolivia acted as an independed state often resisting the US-led imperalist agenda in Latin America and around the world. Bolivia also was an active member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). The ALBA is based on the idea of the social, political and economic integration of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The name “Bolivarian” refers to the ideology of Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century South American independence leader born in Caracas. The ALBA is associated with socialist and social democratic governments wishing to consolidate regional economic integration and oppose the imperialist agenda. No surprise that the post-coup government immidiately announced that it’s leaving the ALBA.
Morales and his government are widely supported by general population, especially people living in rural areas, as well as small and medium business operating in the country.
At the same time, his opponents, are led by Carlos Mesa (served as the president in 2003-2005 successfully leading the country to an economic collapse) and Jeanine Anez, the opposition senator who has claimed Bolivia’s interim presidency. Anez started her career as a media presenter and director at Totalvision. On the international level, they are actively backed by the United States and international corporations. Inside the country, they rely on large business and people and youth from large cities that do not link their future with Bolivia as the state.
The actions of the post-coup government and an increase of violence by security forces that support it are steadily leading the country to a further conflcit, and in the worst-case snceario to a foreign-instigated ‘civil war’. This could also contribute to the destabilization of the entire region.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
- Bolivia Crisis: 8 Killed, Dozens Injured As Police Open Fire On Evo Morales Supporters
- Bolivia Withdrew From Bolivarian Alliance Day After Organization Condemned Coup
- Bolivian Parliament Elects New Head, Refuses to Acknowledge Self-Proclaimed President Jeanine Anez
Elites OWN EVERYTHING….their Servants only have to dig’m up….
If it’s bad for Russia then it’s good for the world, this is a known fact. Another one of Russia’s puppets in South America is gone, Vanezuela is next.
Iron_Moron
Oh now you Israeli scumbag like to think that what goes on in South America is any of your business. Talk about delusions of grandeur there you unemployable fagot. Get the fuck out of here.
Mike I know you like dick man, go suck one.
That’s all you got you unemployable idiot, now go back to cosplaying as a soldier you little pedophile. Now fuck off from this site solomon kupek.
I will stay here and torture you :) go suck a dick, faggot.
Again your new persona is as fake as toronto tonto was there solomon kupek, well at-least you aren’t pretending to be Canadian. What give it away every time solomon is your pathetic hatred for Russia no matter how many time you change your name, man you Israelis are real rat brains. Anyways torture please, you get your shekels by the post there, that and peddling kiddie porn.
Why are you so dumb? that’s my real profile you low IQ ape. And no one is paying me, I can come and go as I wish, but I decided to stay to teach apes like you that we Israelis don’t give a damn about what you think. Can you enter it into your small brain? you are irrelevant. In the end we still win, and we will win against when the operation starts, wait and see.
So the fact that you replied shows that you need those extra shekels there solomon kupek. You are so transparent you silly little Israeli sewer rat, what operation is that, operation Israeli retarded cosplayers goes on comments to post shit he know nothing about there solomon. Stick to molesting kids like all you Israeli men are in to.
What do you keep going back to molesting kids? seriously, the authorities should find and lock you up, you are dangerous to kids. And when the op I talk about starts, you will see and hear it, little ape.
Its a fact that your kind is obsessed with perversion, just ask your cousin Epstein or Woody Allen, also aren’t you the sick freak who invented circumcision. Yup dirty and perverted to the bone there solomon kupek and you are no different rat boy.
Also what happened to your boyfriend and partner in crime Jacob Wohl, I haven’t seen that shitstain in a while. You two didn’t have marital problem did you, is asking for divorce from you solomon.
Well I don’t know Jacob personally, but I bet he is more of a man than you will ever be. You are just a nobody that can type his useless shit here in SF, because in reality if you told it to Israelis in the face we would have beaten the shit outta you and make you an example. I only comment here to counter low lifes lke you, I have a good job and I get paid well and also serve my country when needed, you have no one in your sad little pathetic life. my sympathies, loser.
More of a man nice that you confirm your relationship with him you little fagot. Oh yeah you child killing Israelis are so frightening, sure I’m just quacking in my boots there cosplayer. What are going to there solomon kupek intimidate me online, threatened me that’s pathetic, how many shekels you got paid for that post.
Begone creature, I’ve spent enough time on you.
But I haven’t solomon, you need a shoulder to cry on because Jacob is leaving you.
The not so iron zion the cosplayer that was once toronto tonto.
Last time I heard from Toronto Tonto is about 2 weeks ago. Some article about Ukraine, and Justin went at him with much fowl language again and again and again. Actually SF posted a screenshot of the “discussion” the next day. I have not seen that before.
Your going to track me down to parts unknown and beat me up right kra maga commando cosplayer. Oh no solomon kupek is coming.
<> is being trolled. LOL
When he added that anti-Russian rant to his post, I knew he smelled of solomon kupeck in another persona. Noticed how toronto tonto disappeared before this joker the iron zion started appearing on this site. I guess he went from cosplaying as a Ukrainian Canadian to cosplaying as an Israeli commando.
Ah yeah whats your job hotshot? I comment to counter fascist, ethnic cleaning advocate , nazi peices of shit like you.
You dont have a well paying job, none of us do. Serving in the IDF is not serving your country but more serving a transnational elite, thats un elected and un accountable.
Is that what you want? Ethnic cleansing is not your anschluss is it? You gotta do better than that man.
The rat types again.
Oh solomon kupek what typing about.
Pathetic persona you got there solomon.
Its painly obvious you and other israelis dont give a damn, as you dont play by the rules like the rest of the other nations are. Chemical weapons convention is a good one.
What shitty excuse do you have for that?
Just a littany of excuses from people like you. Nothing concrete just more bullshit.
So Mr ethnic cleaninsing is ok if we call them terrorists, when will israel follow the rules other countries have to follow?
One last thought, its the russians keeping a lid on arab retaliation against the israeli military, fucking around and doing your little backstabbing act like uss liberty wont work very well with them. I urge caution.
Of course you are against Morales. Because he is indigenous and was doing a good job for the people of Bolivia. So the Zionist pricks staged a coup.
Well the only thing Israelis have contributed to Latin America, is training either paramilitary tortures and death squads or training sicarios, hit-men, and thugs for the drug cartels in places like Colombia.
Yup and the capital of autralia is vienna!!
Says the supreme corruptor of the earth.
Let us hope there is no Civil War, but if there is one let it be now. One should also take a close look at Private Security Firms that are protecting the eites of domestic and foreign financial interest, there bass been both a shifting of such men along with increased recruiting, by many US and other Corporate Groups for duty. The US DEA has but a small core of Government employees but relies heavily upon Contractors to do almost all interdiction actions. They bribe the military top brass for intelligence and while doing so look other way at what the Generals and their also bribed Government profit and abuse. There is no seperation of real duties of DEA and US foreign military as to destabiliztion, in fact in nearby Paraguay there is a very large training and Command Military base for US Seals and other Special Ops who often do most cowboy actions for SEA and also roam about gathering intel. Training of hundreds of S. America’s top military brass their senior enlisted Spec Forces, and Ranger groups and visiting dignatories. Indigenous figures from all over Central and South American populationsnare also trained, sent back ho.e andnclandestinly paid by NOG groups from many nations a Religious organizations and US AFL/CIO labor Union as a money conduit. Morales and his followers biggest mistake was not ever having full control of military and internal police, as it could not immediately purge those organizations top leadership who almost all exclusively came from Elites Familys, andnhead direct connections as part owners in all leading banking and industries along with their familys ownership of Corporate farming. There were very few junior officers from indigenous population and none in Command structure. Takes years to build a new military to train and retrain young officers and build senior NCO military such as was done in Venezuela by Chavistas. The example of Venezuela’s rebuilt military is of import as that loyal military is filled by peoples of lower classes , led by idealistic young Commanding officers but did not exclude a portion of Elites old cultural base, and it is that military that stopped the outside US led domestic and partially disposessed financials from turning Venezuela into what just happened to Bolivia. It is an impossible task for Bolivian indigenous to launch an armed resistance; they have no access to domestic or foreign arms, Unless Venezuela helped and Russia/ China would not let them. The populace as a whole were not armed with but few weapons above a shotgun or old bolt hunting rifle, bullets are expensive and on but barely above living wage sure no plinking or target practice. Could there be a blood bath, yes and it will be done mainly in the cities and blood will be that of the indigenous who the Elites call heathensband savages. The rural and remote indigenous farmers still had hard lives and they will just go on as they have done for centuries, surviving as.best they can. The map does not show the hundreds of thousands of indigenous whose lands and peoples will be destroyed by huge deforestation, open pit mines and polluted waters, When it shows huge area of Lithium there is no mention of how many tons of its raw state need to be processed to get enough pure mineral, Talk of plentitude is a lie to some extent as all rare minerals on open market have to be gauged in value for export by purity and that purity is in lower double digits and needs massive refining. The environmental damages will be massive, and the airborne dust alone will blanket a far larger area than shown on map. Todays mining takes small labor force and unskilled Bolivians will get the lowest pay. Revolt now while still able to stand or die later on knees. wages.
This is a very weird-shaped ‘triangle’
The only reason the U.$. says “Bolivia isn’t going enough to curb the growth of Coca is because the CIA can’t control it. U.$. and CIA want a monopoly on the growth of coca so… Morales must go! This is an old tried and tested playbook. South America should realize that the U.$. intends this for all of South America and is just picking coutries off one by one.