Evo Morales said...

"Something that struck with me forever in my thoughts and in my consciousness happened in Senda Bayer..in 1981: a coca farmer was savagely assassinated by the military of the Garcia Meza government when they were drunk and beating him savagely because he didn't want to declare himself guilty trafficking.. "

You say...

11 comments to date. The most recent comments:

joseph from Denver (October 23, 2011)
I am impressed by Evo's speech at the UN he not only mastered the spanish language, but also he displayed an impossive intellect. However,He has a enormous task ahead that is the integration of 4 million indians into the main stream of civilized nations of the world. He will do just fine, I like his international views, and his appreciation for the Palestinian suffering. Keep it up President Morales. "Viva Bolivia Libre y prosper."

zsolt sass from Arlington (September 30, 2011)
Dear beloved bolivias leader Evo Morales concered all hearts,souls of everybody in bolivia and all of latin america.Liberator DON EVO embraced the spirits of all bolivian by liberating bolivia,Don Evo has written HISTORY ,he was and is the LIBERATOR that the bolivian were waiting for the past 500yerrs. Long live DON EVO, and BOLIVIA,LIBERTA, comrade,freedomfighter,Zsolt Sass

BeerneDumpnug from (August 13, 2011)
Leer el mundo blog, bastante bueno

Marianela Rodo from Santa Cruz Bolivia (April 5, 2011)
HE DID IT, HE DID IT... At last a Bolivian president sued Chile ! He´s as brave as his ancestors were. He comes from a very, very old race which never was defeated, the Aymaras. And to the person who critizes his teeth, I think this person needs glasses because Evo has perfect white teeth and they´re natural

THIS GUY from BOLIVIA (January 31, 2011)
HE'S LOOK CRAZY AND NEED'S HIS TEETH BRUSHED

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Moral Morales and the Coca Leaf!

Evo Morales is the 80th president of Bolivia. He is the first indigenous president in 470 years.

Morales was born Juan Evo Morales Aima in the countryside of Bolivia in Isallavi. His parents Dionisio Morales Choque and Maria Mamani are both of the Andes ethnic culture, Aymara. Isallavi is near Lake Poopo, the second largest sweet water reserve in South America.

Morales was raised in a small adobe house with a straw roof. He is one of seven children, three now living. His other siblings died as toddlers due to impoverished living conditions. Morales is proud of his indigenous ethnicity.

At the age of six, Morales started agricultural work. He and his family worked the sugar cane harvest of Argentina. He worked throughout his childhood but made time to attend school and play soccer. He went to secondary school in his hometown and was captain of his community soccer team. His high school years were spent at a school in the nearby city, Oruro, where Morales worked as a brick layer and a baker while attending school. He was also a trumpet player and was able to play for the Royal Imperial Band. He studied until the eleventh grade when he left to fulfill his mandatory military service.

After his military service, Morales returned to the country to farm. However, the El Nino natural disaster of 1980 destroyed his family's farm and those of the community; wiping out 50% of the livestock and ending 70% of agricultural production. He and his family then moved to Cochabamba, the third largest city of Bolivia where Morales prospered as a coca and produce farmer.

In 1981, Morales began his political career as secretary of sports for the rural village of San Francisco in Cochabamba. In 1985 he was elevated to general secretary and in 1988 to executive secretary of the Tropics Federation. It was also in 1988 that the Bolivian government, under pressure from Washington, D.C., approved a law that made growing coca illegal and required immediate substitution of the crop. The anti-drug politicians in the U.S. do not distinguish between coca and cocaine.

By 1996 Morales was president of the Coordinating Committee of the Six Federations of the Tropics of Cochabamba.

Morales supported the growing of coca as a right of the citizens. Opposed by the existing government, in 1989 Morales was severely beaten and left for dead in the countryside.

While imprisoned for his politics, a substantial number of coca farmers in protest walked 373 miles from Cochabamba to the capital city, La Paz. Government officials in La Paz were overwhelmed by the number and so negotiations between the opposing groups began. Shortly after an accord was reached, the farmers returned home where they were violently harassed by militia and an assassination attempt was made on Morales.

News of the peaceful protest spread internationally and Morales was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 and 1996. With international support, Morales travelled overseas to campaign for the legitimacy of coca production.

In 1995 farmers around the country, supporters, and indigenous people formally organized as the Assembly for the Sovereignty of the Common People (ASP) and the Political Tool for the Sovereignty of the Common People (IPSP). Despite being denied as an official electoral party, members of the ASP and IPSP were voted into a number of public offices under the party name United Left (IU).

In the 1997 elections, the IU won 4 seats in parliament, Morales having won a seat with 70% of the vote.

In 1999, the unofficial IPSP political party united with the established national political party Movement Towards Socialism (MAS). Morales was elected president of the new party. Meanwhile an opposed government faction to Morales and the MAS party reinstituted the campaign against coca production with military aid. Many in the regions Morales represented were violently taken off their land and some were assassinated.

Morales denounced the use of military for the conflict and was soon relieved of his seat in parliament by then president, Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramirez and 104 representatives from other parties.

In 2002, Morales formally objected before the law to the parliament's violation of his right to defend himself and to parliamentary immunity. That same year, under the endorsement of the MAS party, Morales entered the 2002 Bolivian elections. At this time, U.S. Ambassador Manuel Rocha attempted to persuade Bolivians against election of Morales. Morales did not win the presidency but he won his seat back in parliament with 81.3% of the vote.

In February 2003 a battle in La Paz broke out between MAS demonstrators and police and soldiers. Hundreds were wounded and 33 dead. In October 2003 twenty-eight more MAS demonstrators were killed in protest of oil exploitation plans of the Bolivian government. Two weeks after the massacre, then president Sanchez de Lozada left his palace and expatriated to the U.S. Then vice president Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert took over as head of state.

In December of 2004, amid mass social and political chaos and the looming threat of a U.S. sponsored coup d'etat municipal elections were held. MAS became the dominating political party of the country.

In December of 2005, Morales won the presidency with 53.7% of the vote. He supports the nationalization of gas and coca, which is now termed as hydrocarbons. He supports the protection of natural resources and indigenous rights to control the nations land and development.

Morales is not married and is without children.