Dec 08 2009
Evo Morales Easily Wins Reelection in Bolivia
The unofficial results of Bolivia’s presidential election on Sunday are in: Incumbent president Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader, comfortably won reelection. There are also indications that Morales’ party, the Movement Toward Socialism has won two-thirds of the seats in Congress. This is significant in that Morales’ administration may now have a much easier time passing laws without as much right wing opposition. Morales’ first term was marked by keeping many of his early campaign promises of empowering the country’s indigenous majority and reserving the riches of Bolivia’s resources for Bolivians. He partially nationalized the vast gas reserves and helped increase state control over other natural resources. Additionally, he raised taxes on foreign companies that brought in a windfall income to fund social programs. Under his first term, a constitutional assembly was convened and the nation’s constitution rewritten. His opposition claims that Morales has scared away international investment and is biased against the non-Indian minority.
GUEST: Ronald Bruce St. John, analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus, author of several books on Peru and and is currently working on a book about Bolivian foreign policy
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