Challenges in Bolivia
By Tanya Kerssen
Bolivian president Evo Morales and his political party,
the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), won a resounding
victory in the presidential elections this past Sunday,
December 6. The nearest challengers, Manfred Reyes
Villa and his running mate Leopoldo Fernandez--whose
current address is a La Paz prison, where he stands
accused of ordering the murder of pro-government
peasants --represent an old political and economic order
that has used sedition and violence in an effort to
obstruct and destabilize the Morales government.
The old order and the new are locked in a struggle for
the future of Bolivia. "The social movements are
critical for presidents to be able to create a new
alternative," declared Bolivian Foreign Minister David
Choquehuanca in the tropical city of Cochabamba in
October at a summit of leftist Latin American
presidents, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and
Ecuador's Rafael Correa. At the parallel Social
Movements Summit comprised of 700 delegates from 40
countries, Isaac Avalos, leader of the Bolivian
Peasants Federation promised to help "bury the
opposition" in the election.
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