The Bolivian Crisis

This article was written by Veer Anand

Day by day we inch closer to election day, but other countries have their election issues. Bolivia, a small obscure country in South America, saw another socialist party victory. 

To some Americans, the idea of another socialist country in the world is looked down upon. But Bolivia’s Evo Morales is their first indigenous president. He ran on a campaign for representation for the indigenous people of Bolivia, environmentalism, worker’s rights, and socialism. He and his administration have greatly helped Bolivia. They have raised literacy rated, challenged banks and corporations, and built infrastructure typically for indigenous communities, leading to repeated election victories.

Despite creating this much progress, Morales has raised controversies. His socialist tendencies antagonized the wealthy and created a divide between the general population and the wealthy.  The second contention is he rigged the elections.

His election was controversial because he began his first term under a previous constitution. His argument for a fourth term is that the new constitution ratification resets his terms, making his fourth term lega. White Bolivians and the elite accused him of cheating and resulted in a coup/popular uprising. His largest supporters, the trade unions and government officials, turned on him in favor of his resignation. 

The current interim president is Jeanine Anez, a religious conservative with American support. She has gone on record saying that the indigenous population of Bolivia are devilish, that the country should be run on the bible. She also claims that her one goal as interim president was to hold elections, but Morales’ influence is still great as there are countrywide protests against Anez. She is not opposed to using violence to restore order to the country and is slowly reversing what has been done during Morales’ administration.

The socialist party did win the presidential election in addition to a majority in both legislative houses. After Anez completes Morales term, the socialists have power in government and can continue the will of Morales.