![]() 1.3 General Secretary of the Cocalero Union: 1984–1994.1.1 Childhood, education, and military service: 1959–1978. ![]() ![]() Critics point to democratic backsliding during his tenure, argue that his policies sometimes failed to reflect his environmentalist and indigenous rights rhetoric, and claim that his defence of coca contributed to illegal cocaine production. Morales' supporters laud him as a champion of indigenous rights, anti-imperialism, and environmentalism, and he was credited with overseeing significant economic growth and poverty reduction as well as increased investment in schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. After this temporary exile, he returned following the election of President Luis Arce. Following the disputed 2019 election and the ensuing unrest, Morales agreed to calls for his resignation. Re-elected in 20, he oversaw Bolivia's admission to the Bank of the South and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, although his popularity was dented by attempts to abolish presidential term limits. His administration opposed the autonomist demands of Bolivia's eastern provinces, won a 2008 recall referendum, and instituted a new constitution that established Bolivia as a plurinational state. Scaling back United States influence in the country, he built relationships with leftist governments in the Latin American pink tide, especially Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and Fidel Castro's Cuba, and signed Bolivia into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. Vocally criticizing neoliberalism, Morales' government moved Bolivia towards a mixed economy, reduced its dependence on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and oversaw strong economic growth. Once elected president in 2005, Morales increased taxation on the hydrocarbon industry to bolster social spending and emphasized projects to combat illiteracy, poverty, and racial and gender discrimination. In 2002, he was expelled from Congress for encouraging anti-government protesters, although he came second in that year's presidential election. He gained increased visibility through the Cochabamba Water War and gas conflict. Coupled with populist rhetoric, he campaigned on issues affecting indigenous and poor communities, advocating land reform and more equal redistribution of money from Bolivian gas extraction. Morales entered electoral politics in 1995, was elected to Congress in 1997, and became leader of MAS in 1998. His involvement in anti-government direct action protests resulted in multiple arrests. In that capacity, he campaigned against joint U.S.-Bolivian attempts to eradicate coca as part of the War on Drugs, denouncing these as an imperialist violation of indigenous Andean culture. Growing coca and becoming a trade unionist, he rose to prominence in the campesino ("rural laborers") union. Ideologically a socialist, he has led the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party since 1998.īorn to an Aymara family of subsistence farmers in Isallawi, Orinoca Canton, Morales undertook a basic education and mandatory military service before moving to the Chapare Province in 1978. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come from its indigenous population, his administration focused on the implementation of leftist- Progressive policies, improving the legal rights and social and economic conditions of Bolivia's long marginalized indigenous majority and combating the political influence of the United States and resource-extracting multinational corporations. Juan Evo Morales Ayma ( Spanish pronunciation: born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th President of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |