Eleven Years of the Process of Change in Evo Morales Bolivia
by Stansfield Smith / January 11th, 2018
Evo Morales will soon have been the president of Bolivia for 12 years, heralding the ascent of the indigenous social movements to governmental power. This ended the apartheid system against the indigenous that existed for 500 years in Bolivia. Morales won in 2005 with 53.7% of the vote, followed by re-elections in 2009 with 64.2% and 2014 with 61.3%.
The country has made great strides in economic development, national sovereignty, womens and Original Peoples rights, respect for Mother Earth, raising the peoples standard of living, level of education, and health care.
His presidency, which has brought an era of relative social peace and economic growth, has been the longest in Bolivias history. Since 1825, Bolivia has had 83 presidents with 37, almost half, by means of coup detat.
Previous presidents typically lacked social legitimacy, representing a political system that excluded participation of the indigenous peoples, plagued by social and economic inequality, subjugated to foreign interests, and complicit with the looting of natural resources. By 2002, after years of neoliberal regimes serving foreign mostly U.S. corporations, the proportion of the rural population living in extreme poverty had risen to 75%.
More:
https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/01/eleven-years-of-the-process-of-change-in-evo-morales-bolivia/