IMAGE: Bolivian Presidency/AFP
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.
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.
PERFECTA DESCRIPCION DEL COMPAÑERO EVO MORALES AYMA Y SUS LOGROS. TAMBIEN MUY ACERTADA SU DESCRIPCION DE LA SOCIEDAD BOLIVIANA. LAMENTABLEMENTE USA Y LAS MINORIAS TRAIDORAS DE SUS PUEBLOS SIGEN DOMINANDO EL CONTINENTE Y DE ESTA MISMA MANERA EN EL RESTO DEL MUNDO. SOLAMENTE CON UNA TIMIDA RESISTENCIA DE RUSIA Y CHINA A QUIENES USA PROVOCA Y HUMILLA UNA Y OTRA VES. SI LO HACE CON ESTOS DOS GIGANTES NUCLEARES, QUE ES LO QUE NO PUEDE HACER Y HACE EN CENTRO Y SUD AMERICA Y EN EL RESTO DEL MUNDO.
El problema de Evo es no haber construido una milicia armada al margen de los militares y policias q siempre en latinoamerica han estado al lado de los intereses de la oligarquía, la iglesia y el comando Sur de USA!….los intereses ya lo sabemos…privatizar y entregar los recursos ( Litio) a multinacionales de USA y los dolares a la Oligarquía!…el pueblo queda al margen y su actividad se basará en economia de supervivencia!
Amuzant, dar am inteles aproape totul, caci vorbesc limba Romana. LOL Here is the article, which can add some light over the situation: https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/13/bolivian-coup-plotters-school-of-the-americas-fbi-police-programs/
The sole reason for knowing something about Morales and Bolivia is that this man, did everything right. Some sett backs are more due to sactions the elite fighting back of course they dont like to loose their cash cows, etc from the state or loose their monopoly, etc than anything else, inflation is the west is due more to to whats knows as anual level of investemnt reveues aka requried return, than anything else, and that is also what is the main cause behind the so called privatisation scam, in nations where they do that to everything, like Chile etc to Norway, when they privatise welfare, health care etc the facts/bottomline remain the same, they demand return of their so called investements, witch they also whine about when they claim they have to cutt down the payments they intitaly had agreed upon and was implemented before the privatisation was kicked in, and this cuts and the rising inflation in food etc to power suply, due to more inflatory issues hidden of course is what we define as hidden austeritys, rising prices of power to feed the revenues of the investores, otherwise windmills would never have been an viable option at all, its just not good enough, and lives because of subsedising thry plundering the people, period.
I also fully agrees with the way He nationalised the Bolivian resources, and the future prospects of further the advantages of having this resources, in Bolivia its lighium among others, in Norway we have power and fish, etc etc, and in this so called AGW hysterical times, where I am scorned for driving an old diesel, most of the fish, like fish sticks etc, is going from Norway in contaniers all the way to Aisa to be handled and made to various products and then shipped back, an 2 week round trip with highe sea going vessels whom shoots out more shit that the enitre Norwegian car park can do, in an year, and thats due to ONE ship, and lord knows how big the traffic is, like the buring of gass on sea platforms witch the AGW scammers claimed was the reason our earth is going to hell next saturday and wanted them electrifyed from land witch of course is subsedised by is and our rising cost of power, and instead of having the gass witch they used to generate power, they send that gass to europa and its burned down there, and presto, to the AGW scammers it was an victory, to me, its just shows how deeply and thruoutly we are been f…., nothing changed but for Norway the mantra is we are doing it better to getting rid of the CO2, yeah but ask them whatabout Europa, they just starts to scream at you and acuse us for been uh….. deniars, yeah, the shoah must go on, its nothing but an political invented scam, and I am amazed that people actually belve this shit, cap and trade, yeah, cold enoug windmills dont even work, and that makes our power bills even higher, since we have to pay for the coal power coming from europa due to tax on CO2. Hehe, dunka dunka.
The sad thing is, this costs, and the never the less rising costs/”inflation” of privatising is due to the demand of return, nothing else, and I hope you do understand what I write because that is where most of us stand to day, with our hats in our hands infront of king Sholom, and hope they sprinkle something back, while the Gov whom is usually rotten to their core, and belive me, I live in Norway, the right/left paradigm means jack shit, there is no difference what so ever, and the second thing is, why economy is slowing down, is due to the same basics, we have lesser and lesser cash to use other then to feed the legalised corps plundering of the people. ANd its going to be worse, much worse and I cant see anything right now reversing this because of what happened in Bolivia wtich as done in the open, they didnt hide it, because they own the MSM and our scumbags we call polticians.
Again, I cutt it short, where I could take up more points regarding what I define as hidden autreitys like the explosive growth in housing/renting etc, etc, etc, to the insane injecting of monetary heroin to an dying cadavre called the Banking Ind. complext like the lasters coming from an convit of scamming….. sorry I meant the ECB very own shithead Lagrosecluster f….. since people have an entention span of witch my brass farts can dwarf, its sad but thrue, to then claim this is comunism or whatever, is for me just an show of ignorance, that some few can suck us dry, is what capitalism, no its not, never have been or never will be, both of this extrems, comunism and turbo-capitalism is due to the merge of corpRats and Politcal conmen, like trumpstein etc to our own in Norway. Few men/women runs it all, and the rest they simply dont give an f…. about when they get the marked and can extract wealth of the reasons of control and monopoly thru corruption. For me, as an old time unionist, militant even, Morales is one of the few remarkable men/human that have shown the world that indeed its possible, no matter where, no matter with what, you just need the will to do it, and people, must be educated, I cant underline that enough, education, education education. E. Morales is an f….. hero, like Gaddafy, and few others, they shame the rest, as mental migets and spineless creeps. May the lord have mercy up them both. Shining lights in an otherwise darkening world.
peace
This article is written, between the lines, with a favorable Morales bias, so it will not be diseminated by any of “worlds officialy recognized media outlets”, which is a shame but “truth” is always the casualty of war and politics. I know writer was correct, because in main the stats written of are available from many of the” officialy recognized” , UN, trade.magazines, worlds shipping and air transport records, FOREX exchange market , but not enough sources were included to back the truth of charts and statements. If one looks at national currency flows the outflow into foreign financials before Morales compared to after are startling. The hard to swallow truth is that many of small nations have small groups that own both the physical and access to resources, and they guard them by any means. The group gets lazy after being wealthy for ages and actually do very little effort on own means and hire outside nation investors and managers to run what is in fact a Oligarch Corporate State. The educational systems and those within it are completely dependent upon The State and Oligarchs donations, because it is usually they and bureaucrats who get to attend the institution. Lazy even there, as future leaders may attend some years but the wealthiest ones attend US and European elite colleges. They are not engineering , (Aeronautical or building and infrastructure, mining , electrical, or even agricultural), they major in Finance and International Economics, the arts, and, forget about the Sciences. So whom are their classmates and social strata contacts during those years in foreign lands. While wealthy in own rights the students are exposed to real wealth outside of homeland, and it is through those contactsnthat are hired the developmers that manage their financial and political holdings. Lithium, and any resource extraction , are no longer pick and shovel, horse and plow, banking needs telecommunications, TV needs it as well, industries need to have access to modern production techniques, almost none of which can be found from within. Note: PC data entry does not mean one is PC literate. How many years does it take to educate an engineer 5, maybe 6, 5 schooling 1 on job, but that is higher education, an education that the youth of poor have never had access of education to reach entry level. I chose Lithium production as example because of Bolivia under Morales wanted to keep its production and control of extraction within the hands of Bolivian people, a fine idea but Lithium is a rich mans product, and they want to get it as cheaply as possible. Cheap shovel, pick, truck and equipment operators need no high rate of literacy and as for marketing who does. The equipment needed is owned and built outside the nation and todays equipment in extraction industries needs engineers to build and maintain. Mining is worlds most destructive to environment, it is just our latter day robber barons cut and run industry and profits need to come in quickly. Shop keepers and small size farmers need little education, and semi skilled is no more than trainable minds, not educated . Mines heavily automated and its personnel at top are foreign educated, make and take their money back home, after paying off wealthy oligarchs, political leaders and military that makes sure there is no labor unrest. Chavez had more years of influence in Venezuea than Morales in Bolivia and even there the numbers of indigenous students could not be educated or trained in fields so necessary for healthy economy up to levels outside of that nation. Sorry but clerks are no more than low paid bureaucrats who contribute little in adding to economy, hirelings of Autocrats, government and they who run it can only take from productive means of people at large Not saying the poor or indigenous are mentally defecient, they mostly survived by own wits and in that respect surpass abilities of those who rule overthem, no it is that they either never before modern age last 60 years needed more and higher skill levels, and that they who ruled denied them access to such. White Eurocentrics have always owned the Americas, and the fate of the indigenous has never been of concern to them, only that which they and they alone can gain.
Morales is not an American puppet, and he is not greedy enough to take the 15 million dollar bribe the US offer to all foreigners who sell out to them.
The US publicly offer bribes and threats to all who are not criminal minded like themselves.
Evo Morales – a man of honor and dignity. Devoted his life to serve his people – for real.