The Country of Evo Morales Surprises the World Tuesday, October 28, 2014
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ADVERTISEMENT This advertising supplement is produced by Haddock & Associates and did not involve the reporting or editing staff of The New York Times ADVERTISEMENT Vice President García Linera Extensive telecoms strategy Bolivia combines national The sky’s the limit for Bolivia’s Unique cultural identity spurs discusses the “Golden Decade” furthers national goals integration with development national airline BoA tourism sector development Page 2 Page 2 Page 3 Page 3 Page 4 See this report at www.haddockassociates.co.uk Bolivia The country of Evo Morales surprises the world Tuesday, October 28, 2014 hen Evo Morales was a pre- was a radical move that thrilled Bolivians teen, he went on a school and horrified international investors. trip to Lake Titicaca. On In a complete reversal of their former Wtheir return, his teacher agreements, foreign companies in the decided to make an unplanned stop at hydrocarbon sector were ordered to pay the presidential palace in La Paz. The 82% of their profits to the Bolivian gov- students were made to wait days in ernment, retaining 18% for themselves. the capital’s Murillo Square until then Bolivia has South America’s second larg- president and military dictator Hugo est gas reserves; nationalization meant Banzer agreed to see them. The young that government revenues topped $1.3 Morales was not impressed. billion that same year (in 2002, Bolivia “When I am president,” he declared to had received just $173 million). That year all of his classmates within earshot, “I was the first in time in 30 years that the will be much more accessible.” Bolivian government had a fiscal surplus, Widely regarded as “the people’s presi- which it has since maintained. dent” in Bolivia, Evo Morales has been “I was very radical at first. I used to true to his word. The first indigenous say that all the foreign companies had to president in the country, he has champi- go. But I was told that this was not going oned the cause of the poor and marginal- to happen, and that even in Cuba, there ized, though his supporters today include were investors. So we had to decide what Bolivians from across the social strata. percentage the companies should have. I Indeed, his popularity after nine years of commissioned a study to see if the com- presidency continues to rise. panies would be profitable with just 18%. Mr. Morales was first elected with It concluded that yes, the companies 53.7% of the vote in 2005, the widest would still be profitable with 18%, so that election margin since democracy was re- was what we decided,” says the presi- stored in 1982. In 2009, he won again in dent. “We didn’t initially expect national- a landslide victory, landing 64.2% of the ization to free us economically so quickly. vote (he also managed to get a new con- Nobody foresaw that.” stitution passed in a referendum vote that year). In October 2014, thanks to a recent The new Bolivia ruling by the Constitutional Court, he ran Evo Morales’ leftist rhetoric abroad has of- again and won with over 60% of Bolivians ten bordered on the radical, an impression voting him in for a third term. that his nationalization policies and state- A lifelong activist and union leader, Mr. centered economic approach at home Morales has been jailed, beaten and been have deepened. Yet in economic affairs, the victim of numerous instances of politi- Mr. Morales has proven himself to be very cal violence and racial discrimination. The fiscally conservative, baffling international future leader was particularly marked analysts struggling to label his model. by an event in 1981 in which a Bolivian Bolivia under the Morales admin- farmer and coca grower was accused of istration has experienced a period of cocaine trafficking by soldiers, then sub- prosperity and calm. The nation’s GDP sequently beaten and burned alive. has doubled, public debt is well below “It was at the time of García Meza’s regional averages and Bolivia’s interna- dictatorship. I could not understand it THE NEW SYSTEM of governance and resource management that tional reserves have grown sevenfold to because I thought that the president was more than $15 billion, or 50% of GDP. the father of all Bolivians. How could a Evo Morales has introduced to Bolivia has won him growing support among The economy grew by 6.8% in 2013, and father throw fuel on a son and burn him? voters and international observers alike growth of 6% is expected this year. From then on, I started to participate in Mr. Morales’ economic policies, some- the union and protest movements,” he times referred to as Evonomics, have fo- says. “And little by little we progressed. ians are of indigenous descent). dition, he launched the 2008 Renta Dig- gap between Bolivia’s top 10% richest cused on creating a mixed economy, one We consolidated our position as a union The new president introduced referen- nidad initiative that gave $344 per month and 10% poorest citizens had been re- in which foreign companies and foreign leader, and we gained a lot of credibility dums and citizen-led legislative initiatives to low-income citizens over 60 years old, duced by 60 times. His second cabinet investment are welcome. Heavy public in- from the national growth of our social in an effort to make Bolivia’s represen- as well as the 2009 Bono Juana Azurduy was 50% female. vestment in transport and telecommuni- movements. We reached congress, and tative democracy more direct. Over half program to provide health care for unin- “When I became president, I thought cations is expected to bring new economic from there it was a natural progression to of his deputies were comprised of rep- sured mothers of children under age one. first of the fact that I was the first union rewards in the near future as the country the presidency.” resentatives from social organizations, He also doubled the minimum wage. leader to be elected. Then I thought that pushes forward with its industrialization indigenous communities, blue-collar The president launched a campaign I had to run the country well. If I did badly program. Most importantly, Bolivia, which Policy of inclusion workers, farmers, neighborhood groups that had eradicated illiteracy in the coun- as a leader, Bolivians would never elect was the second-poorest nation in Latin Not surprisingly, the fight against and labor. By 2010, Bolivians had the right try by 2009. He carried out agrarian re- another union leader again. America after Haiti before 2006, is now one both poverty and racism were central to choose their Supreme Court judges. form, distributing land to communities of the region’s fastest-growing. themes of President Morales’ first term. Mr. Morales expanded social welfare, rather than individuals. And then he gave Supreme Decree 2870 “What have we done? It’s simple,” He passed a law against racism and dis- introducing the 2006 Bono Juancito Pinto them free tractors. Much of President Morales’ social concludes the president. “Politically, the crimination. He required all civil servants program, which provided a monthly sti- As a result, since 2006, more than 2.5 achievements were possible as a result of re-founding of Bolivia; economically, na- to learn one of Bolivia’s three indigenous pend for each child in poorer families million Bolivians have escaped from one of his first acts as president, the na- tionalization; and socially, the redistribu- languages – Quechua, Aymara, or Guar- who attended school (since then, school extreme and moderate poverty. By tionalization of Bolivia’s hydrocarbon sec- tion of wealth. That is the summary of our aní – within two years (over 60% of Boliv- attendance has increased fivefold). In ad- 2009, heading into his second term, the tor. Passed on May 1, 2006, Decree 2870 country’s model.” Cultural uniqueness used constructively to regenerate Bolivian-U.S. ties Bolivia reaches back into its rich indigenous culture in formulating and applying concepts of harmony to its international relationships THE DRIVING philosophy behind the it remains a major aim of the govern- cation and exchanges between different Since then, the U.S. had been repre- external relations policy of Bolivia is ment today. Within the Andean indig- groups of people sharing this common sented in La Paz by a chargé d’affaires. deeply rooted within the country’s in- enous philosophy there are no words philosophy. Bolivia has always wished to rebuild ternal history, particularly in the expe- for “rich” and “poor”, and instead there Bolivia is therefore returning to its relations with the U.S. but on a differ- rience of its indigenous peoples over is the concept of qamiri, a person who ancient indigenous roots in seeking ent and balanced basis, one of mutual the last five centuries. lives well, a full life, a person who is now to replace the disharmony of five respect. An agreement was reached in This is not the paradox that it might at independent and who is free to live the centuries by a different way of relating 2011 to re-open full diplomatic rela- first appear to be. After being colonized life he or she chooses. to others, both among Bolivians and tions, which was followed by a specific by Spain for three centuries, the coun- Mr. Choquehuanca points out that this in its external relations. An essential mutual respect agreement, the only try’s Aymara people then remained concept does not oppose material de- element in the country’s international one Bolivia has felt the need to sign politically, institutionally and economi- velopment or democratic government, relations is the expectation of mutual with any country.