Evo Morales to stand for Bolivian presidency

[IndianaGreen]

Havana. July 11, 2005

Evo Morales to stand for Bolivian presidency

CAMPESINO leader Evo Morales has confirmed that he is to stand for the presidency of Bolivia in the forthcoming general elections this December, after receiving the support of the main trade unions representing the country’s coca producers, reported EFE.

His candidature required the formal approval of the sector’s union assembly which met last Saturday at its headquarters in the tropical region of Chapare, in the central province of Cochabamba.

"Now we can say I’m a candidate for the presidency," said Morales, adding that the coca leaders had reached "a consensus in order to go to the elections to win and change the neoliberal model, and not to lose."

The leader of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) was defeated in the elections in 2002 by candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who resigned from the presidency in October 2003 following a wave of protests against police attacks that left 60 people dead.

http://granmai.cubaweb.com/ingles/2005/julio/lun11/29evo.html

[justinsb]

1. Thanks, I don't know much about Morales though

Do you have a backgrounder? How does he compare to Chavez in Venezuela?

[IndianaGreen]

3. BOLIVIA: Who is Evo Morales?

BOLIVIA: Who is Evo Morales?
BY ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ



In April 2000, Aguas de Tanari, a large multinational corporation, was due to take over the privatised water works in Cochabamba. Water prices were to increase and laws were passed to make it illegal to catch and use rain water. Water would be out of the reach of the majority of residents, 65% of whom live below the poverty line. Mass demonstrations erupted, roads were blocked and running battles where fought with the police and the army until the government gave in. The sell-off was defeated.

Evo Morales, of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), was one of the leaders of this battle. Morales has also led the peasants' struggle against the US-sponsored forced eradication of coca and is a prominent leader of the indigenous Quechua people. Morales won a surprise second place in the June 30 presidential election.

Long before coca was used to make cocaine, the indigenous people of the Andean region, the Aymara and Quechua, chewed coca leaves as a dietary supplement. The consumption of coca leaves and tea is part of daily life for Bolivia's peasants, miners and workers. The US-led “Plan Dignidad” (dignity plan), which seeks to reduce coca production to zero, is seen by them as an attack on the peasant's livelihoods and the indigenous people's way of life.

This US-financed plan involves US military advisers on the ground ordering Bolivian soldiers to attack, kill and displace peasants with US-made weapons. This has led to resistance among the peasants, with several self-defence groups being formed. In 2001, for the first time since coca eradication began, more police and soldiers were killed than peasants.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/501/501p16b.htm

[justinsb]

4. Thanks again.

If there is an equivilant of handsoffvenezuela or VHeadline please let me know so I can keep up. I don't see alot of news from Bolivia.

[bemildred]

2. If at first you don't succeed, try try again ...

IIRC he was within a point or two last time.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Excellent

Another Latin American progressive leftist president to frost the neoconservatives.

¡Viva Evo!

[WhiteTara]

6. Wouldn't that be great if

he won? The block of humanist leaders in So American is good to see.
:kick: