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Bolivians set to elect left-wing leader
Evo Morales, an indigenous leader and candidate of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), is favored to win Bolivia’s presidential elections on Dec. 18.
His party and a coalition of popular forces are calling for the nationalization of natural resources and formation of a constituent assembly to consider indigenous rights and land reform. Landless peasants, coca farmers, the urban poor and indigenous people have built a movement that opposes foreign intervention and transnational corporations.
Eighty percent of Bolivia’s population is indigenous, and Bolivia possesses large natural gas reserves.
On Nov. 4, Morales joined Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before 40,000 people attending a “Counter Summit” in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where the Summit of the Americas was taking place. President Bush departed that session at a loss, specifically over the failed prospects of so-called free trade for the hemisphere. Bolivia, with Morales as president, would be joining a growing coalition of South American nations, led by the left, that is resisting U.S. hegemony.
British writer John Pilger, reporting from South America, set the stage: “In 2000, open rebellion burst upon the white business oligarchs [in Bolivia]. ... There was never anything like it, because it came from the majority Indian population.”
Five years ago, hundreds of thousands of protesters forced the Bechtel Company to give up on privatizing drinking water supplies in Bolivia. In October 2003, reacting to a prospective sell-off of natural gas rights to U.S. corporations, mass demonstrations sent President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada into exile, but not before his troops killed over 70 demonstrators.
In 2004, a law was passed that strengthened the government’s role in the oil and gas industry and taxed hydrocarbon production at 50 percent of revenues. Slow implementation provoked demonstrations that peaked in May and June 2005, forcing President Carlos Mesa to resign. An interim president called for the new elections.
The parties opposing Morales derive support from Europeanized middle- and upper-class sectors. They are strong particularly in Bolivia’s eastern province of Santa Cruz, where significant natural gas reserves are located. The region is home to a well-organized movement for provincial autonomy and to the Radical National Socialist Union of Bolivia, a fascist group. Several transnational corporations are headquartered there also.
Read More
http://pww.org/article/articleview/8179/1/296/
Eighty percent of Bolivia’s population is indigenous, and Bolivia possesses large natural gas reserves.
On Nov. 4, Morales joined Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before 40,000 people attending a “Counter Summit” in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where the Summit of the Americas was taking place. President Bush departed that session at a loss, specifically over the failed prospects of so-called free trade for the hemisphere. Bolivia, with Morales as president, would be joining a growing coalition of South American nations, led by the left, that is resisting U.S. hegemony.
British writer John Pilger, reporting from South America, set the stage: “In 2000, open rebellion burst upon the white business oligarchs [in Bolivia]. ... There was never anything like it, because it came from the majority Indian population.”
Five years ago, hundreds of thousands of protesters forced the Bechtel Company to give up on privatizing drinking water supplies in Bolivia. In October 2003, reacting to a prospective sell-off of natural gas rights to U.S. corporations, mass demonstrations sent President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada into exile, but not before his troops killed over 70 demonstrators.
In 2004, a law was passed that strengthened the government’s role in the oil and gas industry and taxed hydrocarbon production at 50 percent of revenues. Slow implementation provoked demonstrations that peaked in May and June 2005, forcing President Carlos Mesa to resign. An interim president called for the new elections.
The parties opposing Morales derive support from Europeanized middle- and upper-class sectors. They are strong particularly in Bolivia’s eastern province of Santa Cruz, where significant natural gas reserves are located. The region is home to a well-organized movement for provincial autonomy and to the Radical National Socialist Union of Bolivia, a fascist group. Several transnational corporations are headquartered there also.
Read More
http://pww.org/article/articleview/8179/1/296/
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