Federico Fuentes
After 500 years of domination and colonialism, more than 50 years since the introduction of universal suffrage and five years of intense social struggle, the indigenous majority of Bolivia have, for the first time, elected one of their own as president — the coca grower leader and head of Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) Evo Morales.
Morales won 53.7% of the vote, making him the first president in decades to gain over 50% and not have to be ratified by a majority in parliament. This was a clear indication of the rejection of 20 years of neoliberal rule and the search for an alternative by the majority of South America's poorest country.
The size of the vote, which surprised even Morales' own party, is all the more remarkable given the intensity of the unanimous opposition of the mainstream press to Morales' candidacy, and the evidence of fraud in some districts. In addition, more than 800,000 voters discovered on election day that they had been removed from the electoral roll, the majority within areas where MAS has strong support.
MAS won 72 of the 130 deputies, 12 of 27 senators and three of the nine prefects (department governors), which were elected for the first time. However the significance of this victory cannot only be measured in votes. More importantly, it represents a new stage in the cycle of revolutionary struggle in Bolivia, which opened in 2000 with the "water war" in Cochabamba against privatisation, along with the Aymara rebellion in the altiplano and the cocalero (coca growers) resistance in the Chapare region that same year. Since those battles, two presidents have been forced to resign — in October 2003 and in June last year — as continuous waves of protest have demanded greater control by the Bolivian people over their natural resources, particularly gas, and the decolonialisation of the racist Bolivian state.
There have been two fundamental issues at the core of the new wave of struggle. The first is the destiny of Bolivia's gas reserves, the second largest in South America. Calls to nationalise the gas have grown among the poor majority, as a way out of poverty for the country. The second call has been for an end to the racist colonialist state and for the country to be refounded through a new constituent assembly. This assembly would rewrite the constitution and for the first time actively incorporate the indigenous majority into the country. Both of the issues were central planks of MAS's election campaign.
As long-time Peruvian activist Hugo Blanco pointed out in an article published on January 4 at Rebelion.org, "the new president is not the result of a simple 'democratic election' like the many that frequently occur in our countries, it is an important step in the path of the organized Bolivian people in their struggle to take power into their own hands".
MAS grew out of this struggle and has developed, particularly through Morales as its key political figure, to reach the national arena. Originating predominantly from the cocalero movement, known as the Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples in the mid-1990s, MAS in essence acted as a political arm of cocalero trade unions as well as other campesino (peasant) organisations, with Morales as its key spokesperson.
Through the struggle against the US-imposed coca eradication program, the cocaleros took the step of attempting to intervene into the political arena to further their struggle. Unable to get electoral registration, they borrowed the name of the former MAS, winning four national deputies and a majority of local councils in the Chapare region. In 2002, Morales came a close second in the presidential elections, propelling himself and the indigenous movement to the centre of national politics.
Through consistent alliance building, the accumulation of social forces, and importantly the inclusion of more national demands — beyond the immediate economic concerns of the cocalero movement — MAS has built on the back of continued mobilisations, enabling it to win such a huge majority.
However as Morales himself has pointed out, winning the election was the easy bit. Governing will now be the real challenge. On the right-hand side will be US imperialism, the right-wing controlled senate, and the six right-wing prefects, mainly based in the wealthy east, the site of a growing secessionist movement driven by fear of an indigenous parliament. On Morales' left will be the radicalised social movements, which have already begun to put forward their demands on the government, in many cases representing sectoral interests. Within MAS there will also be the struggle of competing conservative and radical forces to determine the direction that a MAS government should take.
However, perhaps Morales' biggest challenge will be to turn this electoral victory into an opportunity to construct a new national project for Bolivia's move away from neoliberalism. Central to this will be the issue of the nationalisation of gas, the redistribution via the state of the country's wealth towards the poor majority, and resisting attempts to divide the country by right-wing secessionist movements, backed financially and possibly militarily by the US.
That close to six out of every 10 Bolivians have placed their hopes in a MAS government gives Morales some breathing space, and puts the right on the defensive. The moves by Morales, including the agreements signed with Cuba and Venezuela, statements made about the nationalisation of gas, and Morales' moves to overturn Law 21060 — which many regard as the legal enshrining of neoliberalism in Bolivia — have already led to further growth in his support, indicated by new polls.
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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