the new socialist pres. candidate in Bolivia

[Rawthentic]

have you guys heard of the new socialist presidential candidate of Bolivia, Evo Morales? He is a member of the Movement Towards Socialism Party. This new wave has swept the country. He is considered to be a social democrat, but time will define him. The core of his campaign is for the coca-leaf farmers, who plant the ingredient in cocaine. He is enraged by the fact that people call him a narc because of this. He emphasizes that the coca leafs are not drugs. Washington has labeled him as a terrorist, murderer, criminal, etc, as you would obviously imagine.
He has no intentions of created a Castro type government, but a new a type of socialism I presume. Che Guevara is the patron saint of this movement, with his image virtually in every corner of every major city in Bolivia.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Morales is a reformist misleader.. See Bolivia: A Revolution Betrayed, Again (http://freepeoplesmovement.org/fp13e.html)

And there's no gulf between "Castro type" and "Che type"...

[Rawthentic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20 2005, 08:46 PM
Morales is a reformist misleader.. See Bolivia: A Revolution Betrayed, Again (http://freepeoplesmovement.org/fp13e.html)

And there's no gulf between "Castro type" and "Che type"...
thanks man, once again i have a bad case of misinformation. i did get the article from the ny times though.

[chebol]

CDL, do you have to trot out that little mischaracterisation of an article every time Bolivia comes up? It's a simplistic take on the issue (as I have said before). It ignores the deep and long-standing divisions on the left in Bolivia, particularly in regards to the COB and other unions, and the role of the military (and the very real threat of a military coup)

I have no illusions that Morales will voluntarily jump to the left- unfortunately, he needs to be pushed- but the crisis in the bolivian state cannot be replaced by a revolutionary party. There simply is none- yet. The unions are weak, the left is divided, and the military (particularly the high command) are feeling very edgy. If Morales is elected, and especially if he moves to the left, there is the chance of a coup in the new year. If he isn't, it is likely that the massive discontent will continue to build. If it destabilises the government enough, the army may act. (See the articles below).

Either way, the left in Bolivia needs more unity- and this is beginning to form around the Morales campaign. The old fault lines still exist, however, and they existed when Mesa was forced out. How you can characterise that situation as the "betrayal" of a 'revolution' defeats me. There was a massive outpouring of anger and frustration (and a lot of it was targeted at Morales, unitl he shifted left on the issue of nationalisation), but it was no 'pre-revolutionary situation', at least not in the sense it needed to be.

Amid accusations of negotiations between the COB and the army for a "left nationalist coup" if Morales were to take power at this time, Jaime Solares, leader of the COB, the main union federation in Bolivia, was found wandering around, looking for the protest. He couldn't find it, nor the COB. Nevertheless, whilst not actually mobilising any real forces, Solares still reserves the right to sit back from an ultra-left position and brand Morales a "traitor". Go figure.

Here are some other articles that give a bit of background, from a few different perspectives.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/648/648p14.htm
http://mondediplo.com/2005/11/08bolivia
http://www.redbolivia.com/noticias/News%20...glish/6003.html (http://www.redbolivia.com/noticias/News%20in%20English/6003.html)
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1606
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1582
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/647/647p18.htm
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7...7D)&language=EN (http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BEC8E7941-0C1A-4492-8F2C-8FAC711CCDAA%7D)&language=EN)

[Stonewall]

I hope he's elected.