Read Editorial With D2G – Ep XCII

In Read Editorial With D2G
March 1, 2016

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EPISODE – XCII
TOPIC: Bolivia’s Morales transformation
BLOG: The Hindu
TOPIC: Foreign Policy
GENRE: Opinion

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It may be tempting to decry (publicly denounce) Bolivia’s referendum (a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision) vote on February 21 as being illustrative of a drift towards autocracy (a system of government by one person with absolute power) by popularly elected leaders. The charismatic (charming or fascinating) Evo Morales sought a mandate (an official order or commission to do something) to run for a fourth presidential term in 2019, but it was denied (state that one refuses to admit the truth or existence of) in a close vote. Whatever the moral merit underlying such a judgment, the truth is that in the absence of a constitutionally stipulated (demand or specify (a requirement), typically as part of an agreement) limit on the President’s term in office, unlike in France or in the United States, strong and popular figures tend to seek successive re-election. As regards the countries of Latin America, attempts to get around the constitutional process in this respect cut across the ideological divide.

There is a common thread that runs through the contemporary (living or occurring at the same time) experience of countries as diverse as Venezuela and Colombia. This is the memory of political volatility, U.S.-backed military dictatorships and armed insurgency (a rebellion against authority), and the consequent shadow of institutional instability that often remains well after the installation of directly elected governments. In fact, Mr. Morales’s bid for his current third term was similarly secured through a constitutional sanction, one that eventually culminated (reach a climax or point of highest development) in his record second-best electoral performance.

That said, judging from the public mood of rejection of another electoral contest for the once near-invincible (too powerful to be defeated or overcome), and first indigenous, President, the outcome must seem not inconsiderable a victory for democracy, especially since the persona of Mr. Morales has been almost indistinguishable from his political rhetoric and policy initiatives. The nationalisation of natural resources and utilities matched his anti-imperialist stance. His cash-transfer schemes transformed one of Latin America’s poorest countries into one of the region’s fast-growing economies and in the process halved levels of extreme poverty.

Cumulatively, the political stability and macroeconomic performance of the recent years are a comparison in contrast with the marginalisation of the majority indigenous population during the 1964-1982 military rule and the crippling (paralyze or immobilize) impact of structural adjustment in the years immediately thereafter. But the result in the referendum may have put Bolivia’s evolving democratic ethos (spirit) at a crossroads in so far as it reflects a shift away from the large peasantry that once constituted the support base of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).

A bulk of this segment is today an assertive (having or showing a confident and forceful personality), ambitious and perhaps anxious (worried or concerned) middle class that has seen much of the optimism of the boom in commodity prices and consumer spending evaporate following the slump in the global demand for oil. While there were as many incumbents (the holder of an office or post) in office in the five years preceding President Morales’s ascent to power in 2006, MAS has apparently not thrown up the next line of leadership in the period it has been in office. Moreover, Opposition parties in Bolivia today seem to have coalesced (come together to form one mass or whole) solely on the issue of denying another term for the incumbent President. From now until the end of the Morales era, is a time for introspection (the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes).

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