The Return of Latin America's Left March 22, 2005, Tuesday By ÁLVARO VARGAS LLOSA (NYT); Editorial Desk Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 23, Column 1, 903 words DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 903 WORDS -THE left is in power in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. With this month's inauguration of Tabaré Vázquez as president of Uruguay, this trend will likely continue. The year 2006 could bring a similar leftward shift in Mexico and Peru, while in Bolivia the Socialist opposition... To read the rest of this archive article, upgrade to TimesSelect or purchase as a single article. No Left Turn December 27, 2005, Tuesday By ÁLVARO VARGAS LLOSA (NYT); Editorial Desk Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 23, Column 1, 915 words DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 915 WORDS -IN 1781, an Aymara Indian, Tupac Katari, led an uprising against Spanish rule in Bolivia and lay siege to La Paz. He was captured and killed by having his limbs tied to four horses that pulled in opposite directions. Before dying, he prophesied, ''I will come back as millions.''... To read the rest of this archive article, upgrade to TimesSelect or purchase as a single article. January 22, 2006 Bolivia's Leader Solidifies Region's Leftward Tilt By JUAN FORERO and LARRY ROHTER http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/international/americas/22bolivia.html?n=top%2fnews%2finter national%2fcountries%20and%20territories%2fbolivia TIWANAKU, Bolivia, Jan. 21 - When Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and former head of the Bolivian coca growers union, is sworn in as president on Sunday, it may be the hardest turn yet in South America's persistent left-leaning tilt, with the potential for big reverberations far beyond the borders of this landlocked Andean nation. While mostly vague on details, and recently moderating his tone, Mr. Morales promises to transform Bolivia and "end the colonial and neoliberal model," as he put it on Saturday in an elaborate ceremony at the sacred ruins of this pre-incan civilization.
He has said he would "depenalize" cultivation of coca, the prime ingredient for cocaine, which Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and more than two decades trying to eradicate. He pledges to inject the state in Bolivia's oil and natural gas industry, troubling the multinational energy companies that first flocked here in the late 1990's, even though Mr. Morales recently said he would not expropriate foreign holdings. He has disparaged American-backed free trade policies, and seems certain to stand as the southernmost outpost of a new anti-american nexus with Cuba and Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chávez, has become among the Bush administration's most ardent critics. Any and all of those steps in a country where coca tracts and rich energy holdings give it a strategic importance far outweighing its tiny population could unsettle Washington and the region. Bolivia's gas reserves, the continent's second-largest, help power South America's largest economies. Brazil has plowed $1.5 billion into energy investments in Bolivia and worries about rising drug and crime problems in its urban slums if Bolivia's coca crop is not controlled. Mr. Morales is at least the seventh Latin American leader to take power since 2000 from the left, a varied crop that ranges from Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador to Venezuela, with strong leftist contenders surging in Peru and Mexico, both of which will also hold elections this year. His success is also the most prominent example of Latin America's recent democratic revolutions. Throughout the region, the indigenous and the poor, increasingly mobilized by frustration with Washington-backed economic prescriptions, have used the ballot box to put in place a group of leaders more representative of their interests for the first time in nearly five centuries. With the exception of Mr. Chávez, who is bankrolled by Venezuela's oil wealth, most of the continent's other left-leaning leaders, like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, have pursued pragmatic policies once faced with the real task of governing. In recent weeks, Mr. Morales has toned down some of his more strident language and struck a more accommodating note with American officials. But in Bolivia's case, political analysts here say, it is far harder to know exactly how Mr. Morales might rule. Mr. Morales, a former congressman, is untested as an executive and known less as a pragmatist than as a fiery orator and protest leader. Several of his associates, including Vice President-elect Álvaro García and Carlos Villegas, who will oversee economic planning, are leftist academics with no experience in government.
"There could be realism and pragmatism in their policies, or they could allow ideology to guide them," said Roberto Laserna, a political analyst with San Simón University in Cochabamba, the city where Mr. Morales makes his home. "But we do not have a way to gauge their management experience." What is clear is that Mr. Morales's compelling storybook rise to power has brought this isolated country of nine million people the kind of international attention it has rarely received. A former llama herder who saw four siblings die in childhood, Mr. Morales won Bolivia's Dec. 18 election in a landslide not seen since the country's return to democracy in 1982. The first Indian elected president in a country where most people are indigenous, Mr. Morales, dressed notably casually in an open-collar shirt and sweater, embarked on a 10- day world victory tour. He met this month with the President Jacques Chirac of France, President Hu Jintao of China and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez of Spain. On Saturday, in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of Aymara and Quechua Indians at this archaeological site some 14,000 feet above sea level, Mr. Morales donned the replica of a 1,000-year-old tunic similar to those once used by Tiwanaku's wise men, was purified in an ancient ritual and accepted the symbolic leadership of the myriad indigenous groups of the Andes. "We are not alone," Mr. Morales told the crowd. "The world is with us. We are in a time of triumph, a time of change." On Sunday, for his official state inauguration, he expected about a dozen foreign leaders, far more than have ever attended a Bolivian inauguration. Part of that solidarity stems from his role as representative of a new Latin American pole in global politics, as the region coalesces as a counterpoint to unpopular United States policies. More and more Latin American countries are taking exception to Washington's economic prescriptions and those of the International Monetary Fund. Some are strengthening ties with China, which is investing heavily in the region. Many have refused to go along with Bush administration demands to exempt Americans from criminal prosecutions at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. No South American countries have sent soldiers to support the war in Iraq. And anti-american criticism has become political sport, as opinion surveys give President Bush the lowest standing in Latin America of any American president in the region's history. As varied as the region is, no other part of the world has seen as uniform a shift in its political landscape. Mr. Morales, however, has already had to find middle ground between the explosive populist talk that helped propel him to power and a pragmatic path that will help Bolivia's tiny $9.5 billion economy grow, said Nancy Birdsall, president of the Washington-based
Center for Global Development, which studies economic issues affecting developing countries. In a 2002 interview, Mr. Morales told The New York Times that the solution to Bolivia's economic troubles was "communal socialism," having peasant communes run mineral and metals mines and agriculture. Mr. Morales, while railing at globalization, now says that trade agreements can work, if fair to both sides, and that foreign investment is needed. Since calling Mr. Bush a "terrorist" in December, he has sounded a more conciliatory tone. He noted this week that he, too, had been the target of harsh barbs from American officials. "Everything here is pardoned," Mr. Morales said. "We are in new times. Let us start talking, not in a dialogue of submission, but to find solutions." Among those who will advise Mr. Morales is Juan Ramón Quintana, a moderate academic who has worked extensively with international organizations and governments. "There is still the perception of Evo Morales as a radical leader," he said in an interview. "But Evo Morales is undergoing an important transformation. We all believe that he can become a statesman." The United States, too, has been more accommodating. Thomas Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, recently told reporters that Washington wanted dialogue with Mr. Morales and to continue "positive relations" between the two countries. On Saturday night, he and the American ambassador, David Greenlee, met with Mr. Morales to lay the groundwork for future discussions. "We want the Bolivian people to succeed, and for the Bolivian people to succeed, this government has to succeed," Mr. Shannon told reporters after the meeting. "It's a democratically elected government, and we hope that we're going to be in a position to work with them." Still, if the Bush administration decides that Mr. Morales is pursuing policies that run counter to American interests, either in trade or on drug policy, aid could be frozen or cut - and the United States is this country's largest donor. It has provided $655 million from 2000 to 2004, two-thirds of it for development, and is considering a Bolivian request for $600 million to build roads. Solidarity aside, for Bolivia's neighbors, too, Mr. Morales's ascension creates new challenges as well that are hardly mitigated by the fact that most are led by nominally leftist governments. The main concern is assuring access to Bolivia's vast natural gas reserves. More than any other country, Brazil has vital economic interests to protect. About half the natural gas consumed in Brazil comes from Bolivia, one third of Bolivia's exports go
to Brazil, and Brazilian companies are the largest group of investors in Bolivia, led by the state-dominated oil company Petrobras. So Brazil has watched with concern as Bolivia has become increasingly unstable in recent years. President da Silva's government has been careful not to arouse Bolivian nationalism, reacting calmly to Mr. Morales's statements that he is seeking "partners, not bosses" in developing its gas reserves. When Mr. Morales visited Brazil this month, Mr. da Silva invited Bolivia to become a full member of Mercosur, the South American trade union that Brazil dominates. Membership, some analysts in the region say, could constrain any Bolivian temptation toward radicalism. "We have the advantage, in that we are not run by a Brazilian Bush but a president whose origins, like those of Morales, are in the labor movement and who wants to avoid excessively dramatic conflicts," said Helio Jaguaribe, a leading Brazilian foreign policy analyst. The stakes are high for Argentina, too. Until now, Bolivian governments have provided it with gas at below market prices. Mr. Morales said during a visit to Buenos Aires this week that he planned to end that arrangement, a step that is likely to add inflationary pressures. But Bolivia's most prickly relations will be with Chile, even with the election last week of the Socialist Michelle Bachelet as president. Chile's victory in a 19th-century war that cost Bolivia its coastline continues to bedevil the relationship. Mr. Morales has even criticized Chile's capitalism and close relations with the United States, and anti-chilean sentiment remains rampant here. "The United States wants to convert Chile into the Israel of Latin America," Mr. Morales charged in a newspaper interview that has been widely quoted in Chile. The two countries have not had full diplomatic relations since the 1970's, and Mr. Morales led a campaign against a pipeline that would have sent Bolivian gas to Mexico and the United States via a Chilean port. Still, Mr. Morales has invited Chile's departing president, Ricardo Lagos, to the inauguration, the first Chilean leader to visit Bolivia for such an occasion in decades. Ms. Bachelet has said she favors greater integration between Chile and its poorer neighbors. Indeed, Mr. Morales begins his term with good will - and wariness - all around. Venezuela has pledged diesel fuel and energy cooperation, while Spain has offered debt relief, according to Bolivian officials. Other countries have pledged stronger ties. Mr. Morales, while welcoming trade with countries as far away as Belgium and South Africa, has been besieged by requests from countries with investments here to ensure that Bolivia maintains a healthy environment for foreign companies.
Mr. Morales has tiptoed around them so far. But there is little doubt he will also give more authority to the state, remaking some ministries and creating others. "The state needs to be the central actor to plan economic development," he explained. Juan Forero reported from Tiwanaku for this article, and Larry Rohter from Buenos Aires. January 23, 2006 Bolivia Indians Hail the Swearing In of One of Their Own as President By JUAN FORERO http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/international/americas/23bolivia.html?n=top%2fnews%2finter national%2fcountries%20and%20territories%2fbolivia LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 22 - Evo Morales, a Socialist protest leader and steadfast critic of American policies in the region, was sworn in Sunday as president of Bolivia, the first Indian to hold the position in this landlocked country whose indigenous majority had long felt oppressed and cut off from political power. With tears welling in his eyes, his left fist raised and his right hand over his heart, Mr. Morales, 46, an Aymara Indian, took the oath of office as the leaders of 11 countries, American diplomats and the crown prince of Spain watched from the gallery of the country's ornate 19th-century Congress. The son of a shepherd who grew up in an adobe home in the frigid highlands, Mr. Morales was dressed true to his anti-establishment roots, in a wool jacket featuring white pre-hispanic motifs on the lapels and an open-neck shirt, but no tie. Outside, tens of thousands of people celebrated, many of them Aymara and Quechua Indians, tin and silver miners, coca farmers and leftists from around the world. They blew cow horns, danced to brass bands and waved the seven-colored wipala flag of the Andean Indian nation. By evening, Mr. Morales and his vice president, Álvaro García, a former guerrilla leader who spent five years in jail for rebellion, had joined them. "This is a historic day," said Gregorio Mamani, 43, like Mr. Morales an Aymara. "I am so happy that after so many years, we have an indigenous president, one we can be proud of before the whole world." In the Congress, Mr. Morales asked for a moment of silence for Inca martyrs, for the Argentine guerrilla Che Guevara, who died in a failed effort to start a revolution here in 1967, and "the millions of humans who have fallen in all of Latin America." In a rambling, passionate speech that mixed Spanish and Aymara, Mr. Morales did not veer from the populist themes that enthralled his followers and gave him a landslide win in the election on Dec. 18.
He criticized "neoliberal reforms," the American-backed free-market prescriptions that are now being tested throughout the continent, for failing to pull Bolivians out of poverty. He lamented that there were no high-ranking Indians in the army, and he railed against the corruption of past governments. Mr. Morales promised to "change our history" and give voice to the downtrodden. "I want to say to you, my Indian brothers concentrated here in Bolivia, that the 500-year campaign of resistance has not been in vain," Mr. Morales said moments after being sworn in. "This democratic, cultural fight is part of the fight of our ancestors, it is the continuity of the fight of Tupac Katari, it is a continuity of the fight of Che Guevara." But while Mr. Morales is clearly among the more anti-establishment in a crop of leftist leaders who have recently swept to power in Latin America, he has tempered his tone since his victory and has spoken of the need for Bolivia to trade and build ties with other countries. "I have learned that the president of a government has to do good business deals for his country," Mr. Morales said Sunday. Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Morales enters the presidency with overwhelming good will from inside Bolivia and beyond. The economy is solid, having grown at 4 percent in 2005, the best measure in years. The International Monetary Fund in December wrote off the country's $231 million debt, while the deficit has shrunk significantly, thanks to higher tax revenues and spending constraints. Political analysts say the sound economic picture, coupled with the mandate that propelled Mr. Morales to power, should give his government time to maneuver. Still, he has to keep in mind supporters in the crowd like Gregorio Machicado Quispe, 48, who said, "We expect a complete change." "The government needs to favor the poor, suffering classes," he said. "We have to control the wealth here in Bolivia." Gustavo Torrico Landa, 46, a congressman from Mr. Morales's Movement Toward Socialism Party, said: "The government has to show that it has begun to function But it's not like Evo on the 22nd becomes president and this becomes Switzerland on the 24th." Indeed, Bolivian officials close to Mr. Morales, including his top economic adviser, Carlos Villegas, said in interviews that the government was carefully considering what economic path to take. That means determining everything from how to attend to poor farmers, a priority for Mr. Morales, to how much foreign aid to receive from the United States and other countries, which officials say cannot come with tough conditions.
Mr. Morales and other officials have also said trade is important, but have not decided what kind of agreements should be signed. In the meantime, Bolivia plans to ask Washington for an extension on a preferential trade deal that ends in December, Mr. Villegas said. "The only path for Bolivia is to open itself to the world, but under better conditions than in the past," said Juan Ramón Quintana, another adviser to the president. The policies that will be most closely watched, especially by multinational oil companies like Petrobras of Brazil and Repsol of Spain, will be in Bolivia's huge natural gas industry. Mr. Morales plans greater control, increasing taxes on the companies, but on Sunday he also said his government needed help from energy experts in formulating a policy. Mr. Morales's history as leader of the country's coca farmers, and his campaign pledge to become a "nightmare" for the United States, has worried American officials concerned that his presidency could lead to instability and increased drug trafficking. On Sunday, he praised one of his closest allies, Fidel Castro of Cuba, and he warned that the United States could not use the fight against drugs "as an excuse" to "dominate and submit other peoples." Yet, in his speech after the swearing in, he also welcomed Thomas Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, who was at the inauguration. Mr. Morales had a cordial meeting on Saturday night with Mr. Shannon and David Greenlee, the American ambassador, which will probably lead to more talks. "We have international support," Mr. Morales said. "There is international solidarity." Bolivia leader forms socialist, indigenous cabinet Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:08 PM ET http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticlesearch.aspx?storyid=221098+23-jan-2006+rtrs&srch=bolivia By Mary Milliken LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, turned to fellow socialists, Indians, grass-roots activists and women to form his Cabinet on Monday and ordered them to root out corruption and adopt a new leftist economic model. The 12 men and four women were sworn in by Morales, some pledging allegiance with a raised left fist, others with a hand on their heart, and a few with both gestures. This was Morales' first official act after his inauguration on Sunday. "I want zero corruption, zero bureaucracy, no more 'come back tomorrow'. People are tired of this," said Morales, wearing the striped sweater that has come to symbolize his informal style. Morales excluded the technocrats that have traditionally served in the governments of the ruling elite, preferring instead to choose ministers close to grassroots movements. He chose an Aymara Indian intellectual as his foreign minister, a grass-roots leader to be in charge of water and an energy
analyst and journalist to over see the hydrocarbonindustry. "You must comply with the people's mandate, to democratically change the neo-liberal economic model and resolve structural and social problems," Morales said. Morales and his Movement to Socialism party won 54 percent of the vote in the December 18 election, the biggest margin of victory since Bolivia's return to democracy in 1982. REJECTION OF US MARKET POLICIES Like other leftist leaders in Latin America, he capitalized on voters' rejection of U.S.-backed free-market policies and privatization that flourished in the 1990s but did little to reduce poverty. Bolivia is South America's poorest country with around two-thirds of the population, mostly from the Indian majority, living below the poverty line. The new foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, is an Aymara Indian intellectual, while new mining minister, Walter Villarroel, comes from a mining cooperative and wore his hard hat at the ceremony. Abel Mamani, a leader from the combative city of El Alto, will be in charge of water after he organized protests against the French water company Suez for poor service. For the all-important Hydrocarbons Ministry, which will oversee an increase in state control over Bolivia's vast natural gas fields, Morales chose energy analyst and journalist Andres Soliz Rada. Soliz Rada has traditionally defended the right of the 9.4 million Bolivians to have access to natural gas before embarking on major export plans. He will have the difficult job of renegotiating contracts with foreign oil companies, including Spain's Repsol and Brazil's Petrobras, that have invested $3.5 billion in Bolivia. Morales has said he wants to nationalize the gas industry -- a demand of the poor indigenous majority --but not expropriate the companies' assets. (Additional reporting by Carlos Quiroga) Reuters 2006. US Under Fire as Chavez Hosts World Social Forum By REUTERS Published: January 24, 2006 CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of international activists gathered in Caracas on Tuesday for the World Social Forum to protest U.S. imperialism and debate topics from fair trade to indigenous rights.
The event bills itself as nonpartisan. But much attention will focus on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-styled socialist revolutionary, who has become a regional standard-bearer for left-wing, anti-u.s. movements since allying himself with Cuba. The sixth world forum, an event that began in Porto Alegre in Brazil, registered more than 67,000 participants and starts with a march against imperialism that will likely focus on U.S. President George W. Bush and the U.S.-led Iraq war. ``This is a process that can bring change for everyone,'' said Colombian Lucy Martinez, who belongs to a solidarity group with Cuba. ``It's great that it is here in Venezuela because Chavez, like Fidel Castro, is an example for everyone.'' Ecuadorean Indians in traditional shawls sat among piles of their luggage while Brazilian students checked out street stalls offering Che Guevara T-shirts and bracelets, watches and posters printed with Chavez's image. Lines of participants waiting to register snaked inside a Caracas theater complex and others set up a campsite in a nearby public park. Many traveled by road from neighboring Brazil and Colombia. At least four Brazilian students were killed and 11 injured when their bus crashed in Peru in route to Caracas. The forum began as an alternative to the gathering of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, but it is now a broad movement where activists campaign and discuss topics as varied as gay rights, debt forgiveness and anti-globalization. Two similar events have been organized for Mali and Pakistan. ``BUSH TERRORIST'' At the start of the Caracas forum, Cuba's National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon held an ``open court'' to accuse Bush of protecting a Cuban-born former CIA operative wanted by Havana and Caracas for the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976. ``We all know Mr Bush is a terrorist, `` Alarcon said. ``But I want to indulge him, up to a certain point, he is not guilty. He learned to be a terrorist from the crib, he carries it in his blood.'' A U.S. judge last year ruled Luis Posada Carriles, who is also blamed for bomb attacks on Havana hotels, could not be extradited to Venezuela.
The forum took place just days after Bolivia's Evo Morales became the latest leftwing president to assume power in South America on a wave of regional rejection of U.S.-backed free-market economic policies. Venezuela's Chavez has branded Bush ``Mr. Danger'' and says he is bringing socialism to the world's No. 5 oil exporter to better the lives of the poor. Chavez, who often claims inspiration from South American liberation hero Simon Bolivar, says he has sought out trade and energy deals with South American neighbors to counter Washington's damaging influence in the region. U.S. officials dismiss Chavez's accusations that they are plotting his overthrow. They say the tough-talking, retired army paratrooper is working with Cuba as a destabilizing force in other South American countries. Levitsky, Steven "The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism" Journal of Democracy - Volume 13, Number 2, April 2002, pp. 51-65 The Johns Hopkins University Press Abstract: In recent years,new types of nondemocratic government have come to the fore, notably competitive authoritarianism. Such regimes, though not democratic, feature arenas of contestation in which opposition forces can challenge, and even oust, authoritarian incumbents. Possible search terms: regional rejection of U.S.-backed free-market economic policies competitive authoritarianism anti-american nexus (no luck with this one)