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Buildings painted by Roberto Mamani which were built under a Bolivian housing programme in La Paz
Buildings painted by Roberto Mamani which were built under a Bolivian housing programme in La Paz. Photograph: Reuters
Buildings painted by Roberto Mamani which were built under a Bolivian housing programme in La Paz. Photograph: Reuters

Morales: ‘It is not the power of Evo, it is the power of the people’

This article is more than 8 years old

As he seeks to change Bolivia’s constitution to allow him to run for a fourth term, Evo Morales ruminates on how his country has changed but still needs his leadership

In between celebrating 10 years in power and campaigning for nine years more, Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, allows himself a moment of pride as he recalls his recent marathon speech to congress.

“It was five hours, 47 minutes without a break – my record. I saw that it was also a record over Fidel Castro,” he says, evidently relishing the comparison with one of his political idols.

The claim – made during an interview with the Observer – is at best partly true. While Morales’s anniversary address clocked in ahead of Castro’s speech to the UN general assembly in 1960, it was still far short of the Cuban strongman’s longest public oration (a seven-hour, 10-minute monologue in 1986).

But more than the accuracy of the detail, what was revealing was the desire to match up to the political stamina of Latin America’s leading leftwing figureheads. Morales is keen to extend his staying power. In a referendum this Sunday, he hopes to win approval for a constitutional revision that could allow him to run for a fourth term and remain in office until 2025.

Morales is keen to match the political staying power of his idols and rivals. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

Although critics condemn this as a sign of creeping authoritarianism, Morales – who has won overwhelming mandates in each of his previous three election victories – argues that continuity is necessary to push forward with a project to redistribute wealth from nationalised oil and gas industries, consolidate indigenous rights and improve the growing prestige of a country that was for a long time one of the poorest and weakest in the region.

It is a contentious claim, but that is nothing new to the former coca grower, who was born in a thatched shack on the Altiplano but is now the longest serving president in his country’s history.

Hero to the indigenous majority Aymara population, outspoken critic of the US, friend to global mining firms and crushing disappointment to environmentalists, Morales was part of a “pink tide” of leftwing leaders who took power in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

He is also hoping to prove one of its greatest survivors. While disease, scandal and recession have taken their toll on allies in Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil, Morales remains extremely popular. But the referendum campaign is proving his toughest battle yet. Amid revelations about his personal life (he has admitted secretly fathering a child with a young lover who is now in an influential position at a Chinese firm with lucrative Bolivian contracts) and allegations of corruption among associates, many voters are clearly uneasy about allowing him to remain too long in power. Recent polls suggest the yes and no camps are neck and neck.

Morales has already benefited from a legal finesse that allowed him to run a third time despite the current limit of two terms. This apparent contradiction was approved by the sympathetic electoral court, which ruled that his first term had started before the enactment of the current constitution.

Speaking in the president’s palace in La Paz, Morales claims his latest move to stay in office is a response to popular pressure. “Before I promised to stop, but now the communities obliged me to modify the constitution,” he says. “I have to respond to the people. It is not the power of the Evo, it is the power of the people.”

According to Morales, continuity of government was the key to national development and resisting interference from the US, Britain and other former imperial nations and capitalist powers.

“That is our experience. Here we never had political stability … There was always coup after coup. In order to dominate us from abroad, they divided us politically so they could take our natural resources.”

People holding at a sign reading ‘Evo assassin’ at a demonstration in El Alto on Wednesday. Six people died when protesters torched a government building in the city. Photograph: Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images

He disputes accusations that extensions of his term in office are a step towards dictatorship. “When we fought for deep democracy – participatory democracy, not only representative democracy – [critics] would say we were guerrillas, terrorists. They even called me the Bin Laden of the Andes,” he said. “It is not just that I want [a revision of the constitution]. The congressional assembly approved it. Now it will be taken to the people. If this isn’t democracy, what is?”

At 56, the president shows no sign of slowing down. His working day starts at 5am, runs until late at night and usually includes one or two trips to the provinces to meet social movements as well as the occasional football game. He says he keeps his batteries charged with naps on planes and helicopters, but sleeps on average only three or four hours.

“This is every day. There is no Saturday or Sunday. No holiday,” he says. “I tell you, this permanent contact with the people allows us not to lose authority.”

Ten years in office have had a mixed effect on Bolivia’s society and environment. The rapid expansion of gas exploitation, mining and soya production between 2006 and 2014 propelled economic growth to an annual average of 5.1% – the highest in South America. Per capita income has tripled, social programmes have expanded and inflation has fallen along with poverty and inequality.

But the spread of extractive industries has dismayed conservationists. New mines, operated by US, Canadian, European and increasingly Chinese firms, are opening up from high on the Altiplano down to the Amazon basin.

Morales is unapologetic. Critics of his environmental record are, he suggests, part of a western plot to slow Bolivia’s economic development and its redistribution of wealth through the nationalisation of resources.

“Some NGOs and foundations – not all – want us not to do anything, not to build roads, not to build hydro dams and not to profit from natural resources. Where do these organisations come from? They are financed by the capitalist system – from Europe and North American countries. They also try to make us the carers of the forests. That is their policy. But when the transnational companies were exploiting our forests, these NGOs were not here.”

Similarly, Morales is dismissive about the country’s nature reserves, claiming protected areas were created on the orders of the US. Last year, he opened up national parks to oil and gas companies, and promised to push ahead with plans to build a highway through the Tipnis national park and a hydroelectric dam at the Madidi national park – the latest disappointment for those who hoped Bolivia’s first indigenous president would champion Pachamama (Mother Earth).

Morales admits exploitation of resources “evidently causes some problems in some regions”, but says it is a necessary step towards reducing poverty and reaching a level where the economy can diversify into cleaner, higher-value sectors. Unlike in the past, he claims, most of the financial gains from resource exploitation are staying in the country and being shared by the population.

It is matter of pride. “Bolivia is very important now. After being in last position in social, political and economic fields, this country is a model now,” he says. “So I say countries that want to support this are welcome, even Britain if it is interested.”

Whether patriotism and the feelgood effect of the resource boom will be enough to persuade voters that the boy from the Altiplano should get a fourth crack at the presidency will not be known until Sunday. But regardless of the result, Morales is likely to face tougher times as falling Chinese demand pushes down global commodity prices and corruption allegations mount.

The president says he is aware of the coming challenges. This may be why he spent so long extolling the gains of the past 10 years that at least one soldier in his honour guard fainted from the heat while waiting for his speech to finish.

No matter, the longest-serving president in Bolivia’s history appears determined to show he has the stamina to go on and on. All he needs now is the mandate.

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