Brief History of Bolivia
Bolivia, a large landlocked country equal in size to California and Texas, gained its independence from Spain in 1825 and was named after the famous independence fighter Simon Bolivar. Before Spanish rule, the country was a part of the ancient Incan empire and today, Indians make up two thirds of the country. With the existence of a large indigenous group forced to live under the rule of their colonizers, a stratified society was created of the impoverished Indians and the light skinned Europeans.
After independence, the country was plagued with internal strife and Bolivia lost large amounts of their territory to neighboring nations. With the aid of U.S. military advisors, the Bolivian army smashed the guerilla movement led by Che Guevera in 1967 and for years a string of military coups and countercoups existed in Bolivia. The military eventually returned the government to civilian rule in 1982 with Hernan Siles Zuazo as president. At this point in time, Bolivia had the lowest per capita income in South America.
In 1993, the free market advocate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was elected president and he was succeeded by democrat Hugo Banzer. Banzer made significant progress in Bolivia, working to wipe out illicit coca production and end drug trafficking. However, the eradication of coca plunged many Bolivian farmers into poverty and social unrest was widespread. Despite the fact that Bolivia has South America’s second largest natural gas reserve and a significant amount of oil, the country has remained one of the poorest on the continent. Though the leaders in the country have tried to institute economic reforms and create more jobs, little improvement has been made. Currently, Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, is working to improve the lives of the nation’s poor majority.
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Current Leader
“The worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that the national states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated.”
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, won the presidency by the widest margin of any leader since civilian rule began in 1982. The proudly leaning left activist promised to change the traditional political class and give more power to Bolivia’s poor majority. Though some of his policies have been considered quite radical, it is clear that he is working to create economic stability in Bolivia.
He carried out two of his three major initiatives in 2006 when he nationalized Bolivia’s energy industry and formed an assembly to rewrite the constitution. It is his hope that nationalizing the energy industry will double the country’s annual revenues and that by changing the constitution there will be more rights for indigenous Bolivians. Morales third major initiative, to legalize the growing of coca, which many Bolivians see as an important part of their culture, has been quite controversial.
In July, Morales announced that he plans to nationalize the country’s railways, which have been run by investors from Chile and the United States for the past ten years. Thus, he is clearly limiting foreign investment and his close ties with leftist governments in Venezuela and Cuba concern the United States. Within the country, Bolivians are divided over Morales and his political philosophies. There are some people who feel that he is dangerous and that internationally isolating the country will lead to more poverty and there are others who believe that his socialist based policies are the answer for Bolivia.
Some of his actions or policies
·Nationalized oil and gas companies- allocated money to the people
·Will not eradicate cultivation of coca because of its medicinal purposes {However, cocaine trafficking is being fought}
·Wants to undo economic and social inequities of the past
· To expropriate unproductive land, which performs no social or economic function, and give it to those without land.
His political philosophy
"The most important thing is to create public well-being, to combat poverty and take care of our natural resources. To form a government is to form a family that will work together to eliminate poverty. In this project the state has to be a central actor, generating development, housing, sports and so on.
The state has to be the motor: We will nationalize the forests and the petroleum and natural gas reserves. In several cases the management of the companies has been disastrous. To develop the country, we have to get rid of the colonial and neoliberal model. We want to tax the transnationals in a fair way, and redistribute the money to the small- and medium-size enterprises, where the job opportunities and ideas are. To get this on its way, we want to create a development bank. The properties of big land owners will have to be redistributed; we’ll respect the productive land, but the unproductive land must be handed out to landless peasants—this will start a true process of economic redistribution. We also want to industrialize and give people more access to technology."
Information from
Useful links
“Bolivia’s President Speaks”
Check out this video to get an idea of who Evo Morales is.
“A Radical Gives Bolivia Some Stability”
This New York Times article reflects the economic stability which has occurred in Bolivia, South America’s poorest country.
Listen to or read some of this interview with Bolivian President Evo Morales on Latin America, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Role of the Indigenous People of Bolivia
Evo Morales Has Plans for Bolivia
This interview gives a good overview of what Morales' plans for action were and sheds light onto his political philosophy.
Bolivia Timeline
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