He jokes that he's America's worst nightmare and plans to nationalise Bolivia's oil industry and overturn the old social order. As yet another South American country goes left, we profile Bolivia's new President. Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known as Evo, is the President of Bolivia, and has claimed to be the country's first indigenous head of state since the Spanish Conquest over 470 years ago. Morales is the leader of Bolivia's cocalero movement a loose federation of coca leaf-growing campesinos who are resisting the efforts of the United States government to eradicate coca in the province of Chapare in southeastern Bolivia. Morales is also leader of the Movement for Socialism political party (Movimiento al Socialismo, with the Spanish acronym MAS, meaning "more"), which was involved in the recent Gas Wars, along with many other groups, commonly referred to as 'social movements'. In the 2002 presidential election, Morales came in second place, a surprising upset for Bolivia's traditional parties. This made the indigenous activist an instant celebrity throughout the continent. Morales credited his near victory in part to inflammatory comments made against him by then U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Manuel Rocha, saying they helped to "awaken the conscience of the people". Morales was finally elected president during the 2005 election, after several crises due to the gas industry issues over all the known corrupt professional politicians. Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known as Evo, is the President of Bolivia, and has claimed to be the country's first indigenous head of state since the Spanish Conquest over 470 years ago. Morales is the leader of Bolivia's cocalero movement a loose federation of coca leaf-growing campesinos who are resisting the efforts of the United States government to eradicate coca in the province of Chapare in southeastern Bolivia. Morales is also leader of the Movement for Socialism political party (Movimiento al Socialismo, with the Spanish acronym MAS, meaning "more"), which was involved in the recent Gas Wars, along with many other groups, commonly referred to as 'social movements'. In the 2002 presidential election, Morales came in second place, a surprising upset for Bolivia's traditional parties. This made the indigenous activist an instant celebrity throughout the continent. Morales credited his near victory in part to inflammatory comments made against him by then U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Manuel Rocha, saying they helped to "awaken the conscience of the people". Morales was finally elected president during the 2005 election, after several crises due to the gas industry issues over all the known corrupt professional politicians.
Bolivia, republic in central South America, nicknamed the Rooftop of the World because of its high elevation in the Andes Mountains. Bolivia has a landscape of snow-topped mountain peaks and broad, windswept plateaus. To the east of the mountains, vast grassy plains give way to lowland tropical rain forests. The official capital of Bolivia is Sucre; La Paz is the administrative capital and seat of government. At an altitude of about 3,600 m (11,900 ft), La Paz is the highest capital in the world. Lake Titicaca in northern Bolivia is the second largest lake in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world. Native Americans living in this treeless region make canoes out of tule or other bulrushes lashed together. The region around the lake contains architectural remains of early Native American civilizations; some of these remains date to before the Inca civilization.
Near Salar de Uyuni
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. Although Native Americans make up the majority of the country's population, a small Spanish elite has traditionally dominated the political and economic life of the country and held most of the wealth. The minerals of the Andes were long the source of this wealth, but petroleum and natural gas overtook them in the late 1900s. Coca leaves, the source of the drug cocaine, also became an important export in the second half of the 1900s. Most of Bolivia's people live on a plateau between two ranges of the Andes Mountains, which occupy a third of the country. Since the 1950s, however, the sparsely settled, eastern lowland plains have gradually become more heavily populated, in part because of discoveries of significant deposits of oil and natural gas there. In addition, the region's fertile farmland was opened to settlement. Santa Cruz, the region's center of trade and commerce, surpassed La Paz to become Bolivia's largest city in the early 2000s. From the 16th to the early 19th century, Bolivia was a colony of Spain. The country became independent in 1825. In 1952 Bolivia underwent a political revolution that brought far-reaching changes to the country. The leaders of that revolution introduced programs designed to provide greater political, economic, and social opportunities for Native Americans. The government extended the vote to all Native Americans, promoted education in rural villages, and redistributed land, breaking up the large estates established during colonial times and giving small plots of land to Native American farmers. But the reforms failed to solve Bolivia's economic problems. Subsequent regimes have tried to privatize large segments of the economy, and Bolivia's social, political, and economic situation remains unstable.
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