Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Source: Berkeley Daily Planet (US CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Berkeley Daily Planet
Contact:  http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1238
Author: Roger Burbach, Pacific News Service
Note: Roger Burbach is currently traveling in South America. In Chile, the
Spanish edition of his book, The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and
Global Justice, is being released.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/bolivia

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia--The inauguration of Evo Morales as the first
president of Bolivia of indigenous origins marks a watershed in the
history of the Americas. The "caras," whites and mestizos who have
dominated Bolivia for centuries, are being replaced by an Indian who
represents the country's true majority.

But will Morales be able to truly empower Bolivia's Indians to improve
their social and economic lot? In countries like Peru, Ecuador and
Mexico, history is replete with betrayal by national leaders with
Indian blood, as well as by presidents placed in office by Indian movements.

Morales' inauguration, however, appears to mark a dramatic
change.

Morales' presidency is the result of an ongoing massive social
upheaval that has profoundly shaken the country. Bolivia may be a poor
nation, but it has some of the richest popular mobilizations witnessed
in Latin America over the past decade or more.

Evo Morales made his home for many years here in Cochabamba, Bolivia's
third largest city with just under a million inhabitants. On Jan. 19
he had an informal gathering at his humble home before departing for
La Paz to take up residence at the presidential palace. He spoke
emotionally of his sense of loss at leaving Cochabamba, saying, "I
hope to return every month to be in touch." Those present, he said,
"will need to tell me if I am fulfilling my commitment to help the
most needy."

Much has been made of the uprising of the poor communities in Los
Altos on the plateau above La Paz that shook the foundations of
Bolivia's entrenched political system. In October 2003 protesters
descended on the capital to oust President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada,
and then in June 2005, his successor Carlos Mesa. As part of the
accord that installed the head of the Supreme Court as
interim-president, general elections were called for December 2005,
leading to Evo Morales' triumph.

But it is in Cochabamba and the adjacent semi-tropical province of
Chipare that one finds the true roots of the popular struggle that
lifted Evo Morales to the country's presidency. It is here that the
Movement for Socialism, Morales' political party, was founded.

Like many others of Indian origin, Evo migrated to the Chipare as a
young man from the Bolivian highlands as many of the tin mines were
closed and labor unions disbanded in the name of modernizing the
country's mining industry. The growing of coca plants in Chipare
became the primary economic activity of the immigrants. Clearing
unoccupied lands, the new peasants formed a network of local unions,
or syndicates, grouped together in seven federations. In 1989, the
highly personable and self-effacing Morales became president of the
seven federations of coca growers, or "cocaleros."

=46rom the late 1990s onwards, the cocaleros have fought an intense
war against the U.S.-sponsored "coca zero" program in Chipare.
Intended to uproot and destroy all coca plants, the United States
militarized the region, setting up four military bases while training
and advising special Bolivian battalions. According to Pedro Rocha, a
small coca grower interviewed while tending his plants, "nothing was
sacred. Our homes were invaded and even burnt, our belonging were
stolen or tossed into the fields and many of us were beaten and
arrested." Subsistence crops along with coca plants, Rocha said, were
trampled and destroyed.

The cocaleros, led by Morales, organized massive resistance to the
eradication program, reaching out to other national unions and to
international human rights organizations. Roads were blockaded in the
Chipare for more than a month at a time as the local unions rotated
their members, women and men, day and night, to stop all traffic
through the center of the country.

As the war was unfolding in Chipare, the city of Cochabamba erupted
with massive demonstrations in 1999-2000 against Bechtel, the U.S.
corporation that led a consortium of companies that had taken control
of the city's water supply as part of the privatization of public
utilities occurring throughout Bolivia. The citizens won the "water
war," forcing Bechtel out, and doubtlessly helping inspire the people
of Los Altos to move on the very seat of government in La Paz. The
subsequent change in presidents also boomeranged in Chipare, as a
weakened President Mesa was forced to negotiate a truce with the
cocaleros in late 2004, allowing each family to grow one-sixth of a
hectare of coca plants.

The militancy of Cochabamba and Chipare is palatable as Evo Morales
takes over the presidency. As farmer Pedro Rocha declares, "Bolivia's
presidents have all had their special military guards. We will be Evo
Morales' special guards, ready to rise up, making sure that no one
dares to touch him so he can change our country."

Morales in his inaugural address on Sunday, Jan. 22, echoed the
struggles of the people of Chipare and Cochabamba: "We cannot privatize
public needs like water. We are fighting for our water rights, for our
right to plant coca, for control over our national resources." He
added: "we need to end the radicalism of neo-liberalism, not the
radicalism of our unions and our movements."

Paraphrasing Morales discussion of the mission of the Movement for
Socialism that brought him to office, he said: "Socialism does not
come from a small group of leaders; it comes from a fight, from a
communal struggle. Socialism is an original mandate. It means social
justice, the participation of all."

Roger Burbach is currently traveling in South America. In Chile, the
Spanish edition of his book, The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and
Global Justice, is being released.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin