Weekend Edition
May 10 / 11, 2008
Defending Bolivia
Morales and the Red Ponchos
By PATRICK IRELAN
~snip~
Since his election in 2005, President Morales has begun implementing a plan that he thinks will improve the lives of the poor while ensuring the well-being of everyone. In 2006, he nationalized Bolivia’s oil and natural gas reserves. This amounted, for the most part, to negotiating a larger financial return to the country from various foreign oil companies. Although some members of the oligarchy predicted doom, the opposite occurred. The portion of oil and gas revenue in Bolivia’s GDP grew from 5 percent in 2004 to 13.3 percent in 2006. (New York Times, September 18, 2007)
Suddenly, President Morales’s political party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), became a great success story. Investors began putting up new apartment buildings in the capital city of La Paz. Someone erected a new Cineplex. The members of the president’s cabinet argued about whether to spend some of the country’s $4 billion in foreign currency reserves. (They decided to hold on to it for the present. These socialists are so conservative.)
Simultaneously, the state’s social programs went into overdrive. Teachers from Cuba arrived to teach the poor people how to read and write. Cuban doctors arrived to heal their ailments. New construction created new jobs. And the nation began planning to redistribute unused farmland to the indigenous majority. To fund additional social programs, the government recently announced plans to nationalize four more energy companies and Entel, Bolivia’s major telecommunications company.
And all this has taken place peacefully, lawfully, and democratically. No one has evicted the rich from their mansions or ordered them to hand over their expensive toys. Who could complain about all this peace and love? No one, of course, but the North American empire. Who else?
On December 14, 2007, the Washington Post led the frightened reactionaries out of the starting gate. In one of its hysterical editorials, the Post shrieked that Morales wanted to make himself “president-for-life.” Both he and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador were planning “constitutional coups.” And Morales, with his “radical proposals,” was about to start a civil war.
There’s nothing like peaceful change to bring on a mountain of criticism. The Post and the Bolivian oligarchy didn’t like Morales’s brand of success. The oligarchy didn’t want to help the poor. It wanted to continue helping itself. And George Bush wanted to help them continue to let the good times roll.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/irelan05102008.html 
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