Bolivia’s first Indigenous president

Morales sworn in as 300,000 celebrate

By Deirdre Griswold

Right after taking the oath of office Jan. 22 as Bolivia’s new president, Evo Morales, his fist raised, called for a moment of silence—for the Incas who died resisting the Spanish conquest, for the unionists, peasant leaders and Indigenous who have died fighting neoliberal governments in Latin America, and for Che Guevara.

Evo Morales waving to crowd, Jan. 22.

It was a poignant moment that showed how far Bolivia has come since that somber day in 1967 when the “heroic guerrilla,” as Che is known in Cuba, was murdered by the U.S. CIA after being handed over by Bolivian soldiers.

Morales, an Aymara and the first Boli vian president in decades to have received an outright majority of the vote, won with massive support from the Indi genous people, who make up the bulk of the population but have until now been ruled by descendants of the Spanish colonizers.

As he was being sworn in, an estimated 300,000 people celebrated on the streets of La Paz. Most wore the traditional clothing of Indigenous nations, as did Morales himself.

‘Politics is for serving the people’

Prensa Latina, the Cuban press agency, described Morales’ inauguration speech:

“Morales said that the people have taken power through their resistance and consciousness, enriched through more than 500 years of struggle, in order to do away with injustice, inequality, discrimination and oppression, and to live with respect for multicultural diversity and in unity and peace.

“‘We want to change Bolivia,’ he affirmed. ‘After 180 years as a republic, we have a country that has known only the plunder of its natural resources, a dependent state that has been de-capitalized in spite of its enormous natural wealth.’

“Politics, he emphasized, is for serving the people and not for living off it, and that means attending to economic and social problems. It is impossible to continue having basic services such as water privatized, he said.

“Morales also noted that his government’s goals are to provide universal social security for the elderly and to eliminate the concentration of land ownership, unemployment, illiteracy and the majority of the population’s lack of access to health services. In Bolivia, he emphasized, the neoliberal model is not an option.”

Bolivia has only 9 million people, but many Latin American presidents attended, including Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Ricardo Lagos of Chile (outgoing), Néstor Kirchner of Argentina, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Martín Torrijos of Panama, Nicanor Duarte of Paraguay and Alejandro Toledo of Peru. Carlos Lage, vice president of Cuba’s Council of State, was invited to stand at Morales’ side during the swearing-in. Uruguayan leftist intellectual Eduardo Galeano also had a place of honor.

Prince Philip of Spain also came, showing Spain’s continuing interest in its former colony.

Rich land, impoverished people

The Bolivian people are the poorest in South America, but their country is rich in natural gas and minerals. It has been exploited for its tin, silver and gold for generations. The Bolivian miners are legendary for their militant struggles for a better life. In recent decades, as the mines introduced new technology, many were laid off and turned to farming in the lower, warmer eastern regions of the country known as the Chapare.

Coca leaves have been grown and sold for centuries in Bolivia for their medicinal and stimulant properties. An article by Alma Guillermoprieto in the New Yorker magazine of March 16, 1992, described how the Coca-Cola Co. bought large quantities of the coca leaf in Bolivia to flavor its soft drinks.

The U.S. government, however, embarked on a coca eradication program in the 1990s as part of its “war on drugs.” The U.S. media increasingly charge Morales, who was leader of the coca farmers’ union, with supporting “narco-trafficking.” In fact, Morales opposes the processing of coca into cocaine, but stands up for the right of the farmers to grow coca plants.

Roger Burbach of New America Media, reporting from Bolivia on Jan. 23, described the struggles that brought Morales to power:

“[T]he United States militarized the region, setting up four military bases while training and advising special Bolivian battalions. According to Pedro Rocha, a small coca grower interviewed while tending his plants, ‘nothing was sacred. Our homes were invaded and even burnt, our belongings were stolen or tossed into the fields and many of us were beaten and arrested.’ Subsistence crops along with coca plants, Rocha said, were trampled and destroyed.

“The cocaleros, led by Morales, organized massive resistance to the eradication program, reaching out to other national unions and to international human rights organizations. Roads were blockaded in the Chapare for more than a month at a time as the local unions rotated their members, women and men, day and night, to stop all traffic through the center of the country.

“As the war was unfolding in Chapare, the city of Cochabamba [Morales’ home] erupted with massive demonstrations in 1999-2000 against Bechtel, the U.S. corporation that led a consortium of companies that had taken control of the city’s water supply as part of the privatization of public utilities occurring throughout Bolivia. The citizens won the ‘water war,’ forcing Bechtel out, and doubtlessly helping inspire the people of Los Altos to move on the very seat of government in La Paz. The subsequent change in presidents also boomeranged in Chapare, as a weakened President [Carlos] Mesa was forced to negotiate a truce with the cocaleros in late 2004, allowing each family to grow one-sixth of a hectare of coca plants.

“The militancy of Cochabamba and Cha pare is palatable as Evo Morales takes over the presidency. As farmer Pedro Rocha declares, ‘Bolivia’s presidents have all had their special military guards. We will be Evo Morales’ special guards, ready to rise up, making sure that no one dares to touch him so he can change our country.’”

Purge of military high command

During his inauguration speech, Morales had deplored the fact that not one of Bolivia’s top officers was Indigenous. One of his first acts after being sworn in was to remove the heads of the military services, as well as of the police, and replace them with lower-ranking officers. Those removed did not all go quietly. The Associated Press reported there were “shouts and scuffles” among the generals as the new appointments were announced on Jan. 24 and that several were “detained by palace security guards.”

Morales vowed to fight corruption in the armed forces. This corruption is linked directly to Washington. In December, fearing a left-wing victory in the upcoming election, the generals had removed 28 shoulder-held missiles, which Bolivia had purchased from China, and sent them to the U.S., where they were reportedly destroyed. Such missiles could be used against a possible air attack. The new government has launched an investigation of how this happened.

The AP wrote that “The change of [military] command came a day after Morales formed a leftist and largely Indian government, naming a Marxist known for his criticism of gas and oil companies as energy minister and filling his Cabinet with union activists, intellectuals and social leaders.”

The U.S. has been dangling a possible $600 million aid package in front of Bolivia, but John Danilovich, who heads the quasi-governmental corporation now in charge of making decisions on U.S. foreign aid, told the right-wing American Enterprise Institute on Jan. 23, “We will consider the situation in Bolivia very, very carefully. ... The evolution of policy in Bolivia under President Morales remains to be seen.” (Washington Times, Jan. 25)

There is no question that the U.S. imperialists are hostile to any changes that would shift Bolivia’s wealth into the hands of the people and away from control by the transnational corporations. But they also need to conceal their real motives—hence the “war on drugs” charade. And they are worried that if they move too brutally, it could boomerang throughout the whole region.

Right after the election, Morales visited Cuba and China, among other countries, and discussed economic cooperation and development. He invited China to participate in the development of Bolivian natural gas, which has the potential of bringing great prosperity to the people but is presently in private hands.

Venezuela will also help Bolivia with the nationalization of its oil and gas resources. Chávez and Morales signed eight cooperation agreements right after the inauguration. “Given this strategic line you have designed, Evo, with a view to nationalize strategic and energy resources, you can count on my whole administration, especially the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and the new (state oil giant) Pdvsa for cooperation in this sense,” Chávez said. (eluniversal.com)

Morales will have to watch his back as he mobilizes the people to change the Bolivian economy. It took Cuba two and a half years after its revolution to nationalize the lands and properties the U.S. had used to suck out the wealth of that country. President Chávez of oil-rich Venezuela has only recently talked of socialism as the goal of the revolution there, after having proven his popularity in nearly a dozen elections and referendums.

But the Bolivian movement for real social change has going for it the combative energy of the masses of people, who have mobilized and fought again and again in recent years, as well as the revulsion against U.S. neoliberal policies that is sweeping Latin America.

---