December 12, 2006. Copyright 2006, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Evo Morales determined to champion BoliviaÕs poor
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, December 12, Graphic News:  Once upon a time Bolivia was a small Andean nation about which little was known in the outside world. That was before a former coca farmer began to challenge inequality that kept the majority in poverty, reclaim its natural resources for the people and stand up to Washington. President Evo Morales has put his country firmly on the map.

But he wonÕt stop there. In November 2006 around 3,000 campesinos marched on La Paz to demand the passage of his radical bill to redistribute 77,000 square miles of land to the mainly indigenous poor. It was another sign that Morales, the leader of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), will settle for nothing less than a bottom-up restructuring of a society long dominated by its tiny urban elite.

The land bill is the latest victory in an agenda that has exacerbated deep divisions in Bolivia. Although popular support forced Senate politicians to cave on this occasion, with each new success -- in May Morales issued a decree nationalising gas reserves -- opposition to the president in some sectors is growing. A general strike has been planned to protest against government control of an assembly redrawing the constitution.

In a league of national leaders who have risen from humble beginnings, Morales would surely come top. He was born on October 26, 1959, to illiterate parents in Oruro on the Altiplano east of the Chilean border. As a youth, he worked as a llama herder, and as an indigenous Aymara Indian, Morales says he encountered racism at school.

After serving as sports secretary in the coca union in central Chapare, in 1992 Morales became president of the regionÕs coca-growersÕ unions and a key figure in the fight against United States-led plans to eradicate production of the crop, which is a main ingredient in cocaine. He was thrown out of a previous government after being accused of involvement in the killings of three police in clashes with coca farmers.

After a public uprising spared him a jail sentence, Morales was a surprise runner-up in 2002 elections. He led protests demanding the nationalisation of energy resources that led to the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in October 2003, and it was his stance on gas that propelled him to victory over Carlos Mesa in December 2005.

Immediately, Morales halved his own salary, and in March he raised the minimum wage by 50 percent. To the indigenous majority, he is a favourite son with a chance to wipe out 500 years of colonialism. To others, heÕs a headstrong cocalero whose policies risk alienating powerful multinationals, as well as angering the United States.

Few issues rile Washington as much as coca. Morales argues that the crop is a vital part of BoliviaÕs heritage without which countless coca growers would starve. The United States says national production of the leaf far exceeds what is needed for natural use. For refusing to cut production, Morales has been called a drug trafficker.

Nor is Washington much impressed by his statements emphasising his ideological sympathy with VenezuelaÕs Hugo Chavez and CubaÕs Fidel Castro, with whom he has said he forms an ÒAxis of GoodÓ. Critics even point to his informal appearance -- Morales is often seen in public wearing a traditional striped jumper.

Whatever his style, few doubt that Morales is anything but a leader driven by a wish to improve the lot of his people. His problem might be that these tend not to remain in power for long.
/ENDS