He came to office vowing to be a standard bearer for the dispossessed of one of South America’s poorest nations.
“The people are finally in power,” Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, declared after his 2005 election victory.
However, nearly six years on, much of that hope has turned to recrimination as one-time supporters question Morales’ true commitment and fears grow that social and environmental issues are taking a back seat to economic growth.
Photo: EPA
This week, more than 1,000 protesters are expected to arrive in Bolivia’s administrative capital, La Paz, to rally against plans for a controversial Amazon road through indigenous lands and to voice concern that Morales, an Aymara Indian, is turning his back on the indigenous cause.
“Although Evo is of indigenous descent and was a peasant, he has not been willing to [meet us on] the march despite the fact we have been marching for more than 50 days,” said Rodolfo Lopez, one of the protest’s leaders.
The march to La Paz began on Aug. 15, with protesters hoping to highlight a 296km road through Bolivia’s Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS).
“Nobody is against progress,” Lopez said. “As indigenous people, we are clear about that, but I think that as indigenous people we need to defend the natural resources that are benefiting not only the indigenous people, but everyone in the world.”
Last month, Morales announced a suspension of construction after police clashed with protesters.
“It seems a contradiction that an indigenous president rejects the rights of indigenous peoples and that a president who talks across the world in defense of Mother Earth is now pushing for the construction of a road that will harm the environment,” said Franklin Pareja, a political scientist from the University of San Andres in La Paz.
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