Evo Morales has accepted his victory, addressing a large crowd outside the governmental palace.
On Sunday night, President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro
Garcia Linera along with ministers as well as union and social movement
leaders, addressed the crowd – large despite a ban on public transport
in effect until midnight – from the balcony of the governmental palace.
Morales thanked the crowd for their support, saying, “We continue to grow, we have looked over the preliminary results and we have grown in all states, and in 8 states we won elections.”
“There is a deep feeling, not just in Bolivia, but in the Americas, of freedom, of a triumph of the anti-imperialists,” he added as the crowd chanted “Homeland yes, colonialism no.”
“In a democratic way, it has been ratified that Bolivia isn´t a half moon, but a full moon,” Morales said referring to attempts by opposition groups to have the wealthy Santa Cruz region of the country separate in 2008.
“60% have voted for nationalisation, over privatisation,” he said, adding, “It’s important to always debate, to listen, to make new proposals, to always be thinking about the larger persespective, and the smaller… now we are attacked through the media, on the media, its important to communicate well.” Both today and yesterday’s,the Twitter account of Bolivia TV was hacked, with false announcement suggesting that Morales had been assassinated.
Morales talked about the importance of basic services, of guaranteeing that Bolivia be an “energy center” of Latin America.
He also announced that his party won also the vote in “most countries, in Argentina, in Brazil”. Bolivians are able to vote in general elections outside of the country.
Morales also gave a nod to his regional allies, saying “we’re not alone, this triumph is dedicated to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez”.
“Only a people that is organized .. the social sectors, the workers… is how we will free ourselves, democratically,” he concluded.
President Evo Morales: A Timeline
A look at some of the major events during the past nine-years since Evo Morales was first elected president by Bolivians.2005: December 2005: Evo Morales was elected president of Bolivia with 53.7 percent of the vote. His historic victory made him Bolivia’s first indigenous president in a country where nearly 60 percent of the population is indigenous, making it the country with the highest percentage of Indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere. During his first presidential campaign, Morales promised to promote nationalization, industrialization and anti-neoliberal economic policies.
2006: May 2006: Morales announced the Presidential Decree 28701 aimed at nationalizing Bolivia’s domestic Hydrocarbon reserves, and allowing the Bolivian government to retain between 80 and 90 percent of gas rents. Since 2005, Bolivia has increased state revenues from Bolivia’s hydrocarbon sector by 285 percent. Last year alone, the state collected close to US$2.1 billion from hydrocarbon revenues and estimates that it will again increase state hydrocarbon revenues by 10.6 percent in 2014.
April 2006: Bolivia Joins ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), a regional bloc that aims to foster integration and co-operation among Latin America and Caribbean countries. Since joining the group, Bolivia has become an important and active member in the regional integration organization.
July 2006: Bolivia holds elections for members of the Constituent Assembly in which the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) officials obtained 51 percent of the vote, translating into 137 seats out of 255 assembly members
August 2006: The official inauguration of the Constituent assembly takes place in Sucre.
September 2006: Morales spoke for the first time before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He promised to never yield to U.S. pressure to criminalize coca production. During his speech he held up a coca leaf even though it is banned in the United States, marking the beginning of his campaign to restore the dignity of the coca leaf.
September 2006: President Morales launched the Bolivia Cambia Evo Cumple program which has carried out over 5,000 small scale infrastructure projects including the construction of medical clinics, schools and gymnasiums.
2007: January 2007: President Morales required that any U.S. citizen wanting to visit Bolivia, must obtain a compulsory visa, as a way of enforcing reciprocity with a similar measure adopted by the George W. Bush Administration.
August 2007: Morales announces the creation of EMAPA, the state run food agency, as part of a national plan to promote food security. EMAPA lends financial, technical and material assistance to small farmers and consumers. In addition, it seeks to guarantee that Bolivian families have access to affordable and high quality food. As a result, according to FAO, Bolivia saw a rapid decline of hunger by 7.4 percent during 2009-11 and 2012-14.
August 2007: The Bolivian government denounced USAID projects dedicated to “restoring democracy” due to the budget proposal of US$120 million in bilateral or “tied” AID. The budget proposal allowed for 30 percent of the aid to be managed by the Bolivian government however with the stipulation that the aid money had to be administered through U.S. approved NGO’s. The remaining 70 percent was to be entirely controlled by the USAID agency.
2008 April 2008: Right-wing opposition from the Media Luna provinces (the Bolivian districts of Santa Cruz, Beni, Tarija, and Pando) rally for autonomy.
May 2008: A referendum organized in Santa Cruz without legal legitimacy from the central government produced a vote of 85 per cent in support of autonomy.
August 2008: Voters were asked whether they were ‘in agreement with the continuation of the changes enacted by President Evo Morales and Vice-President Alvaro García Linera. The results were a largely in favor of Morales, who received a 67 percent ‘yes’ vote.
September 2008: The opposition parties begin to instigate widespread revolts throughout the eastern provinces. .
September 10 2008: President Morales orders U.S ambassador to Bolivia Phillip Goldberg to leave the country following intelligence indicating that he had supported opposition politicians in southeastern Bolivia whom had tried to undermine the government’s political legitimacy.
September 11 2008: Anti-government protesters carried out a series of riots, protests and killings in an attempt de-stabilize the democratically elected government of Bolivia. The most severe incident occurred on September 11 in which armed opposition group’s massacred 11 unarmed government supporters.
September 2008: Peace Corps Bolivia was withdrawn and the programs “temporarily suspended” due to deteriorating political relationships between the United States and Bolivia.
November 2008: Bolivian president Morales announced an indefinite suspension of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operations in Bolivia after accusing some DEA agents of espionage.
2009
January 2009: Bolivia held a national referendum vote on the new constitution. Over 61 percent of the population voted in favor. Among other issues, it recognizes the traditional uses of the coca leaf for the first time in Bolivian history. The country’s government then successfully petitioned the United Nations for a reservation that legally permits coca growing and its licit uses within its borders. To this day, the Morales administration supports the policy of ‘social control’ to manage coca cultivation, by enforcing a cap of 1,600 square meters per family. Despite the new law, coca cultivation in Bolivia fell nine percent in 2013 and 26 percent in the past three years, according to a U.N. report.
The other important changes, which integrated proposals from indigenous as well as non-indigenous social movements, are:
• Defines hydrocarbons, mining and other natural resources, including water as a fundamental right for life and will not be subject to privatization.
• The state will play an important role in the exploitation and regulations of natural resources and the regulation.
• Gives Bolivian investment priority over foreign investment.
• Includes the notion of living well.
• Outlines a new model for economic development
• The recognition of Bolivia as a pluri-ethnic state.
• The presidential term was extended from four to five years.
April 2009: The Bolivian national assembly approves a new electoral law, after a complex series of negotiations and a hunger strike by President Morales. The electoral law allowed him to run for re-election, and also guarantees that indigenous peoples will be reserved seven seats within the new Pluri-national Legislative Assembly.
April 2009: Morales called on the General Assembly of the United Nations to develop a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
December 2009: President Morales is re-elected with 64.3 percent of the vote. In the 2009 elections, Morales vowed to deepen the social economic policies that had been implemented in his first term.
2010: April 2010: The Morales government played a central role in strengthening the global climate justice movement by hosting the World’s People Summit on Climate Change, in Bolivia, in April 2010.
June 2010: He approves new law on Pluri-national Electoral Authorities which established La Paz as the center of the new electoral power. In addition, the legislation allows Morales to appoint one of the seven members of the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE). The remaining appointments are made by congress. The law stipulates that of the TSE officials, at least three must be women, with the minimum of two indigenous representatives.
July 2010: The Pluri-national legislature approved a new legal framework on autonomy, the fifth legislation necessary for the full implementation of the new constitution. The law strengthens the government decentralization process, establishing four different levels of local government: departmental, regional, municipal and indigenous.
2011: July 2011: Bolivia’s senate approved a new telecommunications law regulating audio-visual media. Under the law, revenue towards audio-visual frequencies will be divided into: 33 percent for the State; 33 percent for the private sector; 17 percent for social organizations; and 17 percent for indigenous and peasant organizations.
December 2011: Morales bowed to popular pressure and repealed a decree passed on 26 December which would have cut the generous state fuel subsidies, raising prices by as much as 83 percent. Gasoline then cost US$0.54 per liter, and of diesel, US$0.53. The decree was aimed to reduce government spending on subsidies which cost some US$380 million a year. The government-imposed subsidies also largely benefited illegal smugglers and foreign buyers in neighboring Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which Morales estimated it cost the government US$150 million per year.
2012:
May 2012: Evo Morales approves a measure to increase the real minimum wage by 17.2 percent. According to International Labor Organization (ILO) reports, the last two years Bolivia has achieved the highest increase in real minimum wage than any other Latin American country.
December 2012: The MAS government of President Morales claims victory following the recent completion of the prior consultation (consulta) on a proposed road through an indigenous territory (Tioc) and national park, Isiboro Secure (Tipnis). Morales’ claims that the project – one of his most contentious since taking office for a second time in 2010 – received 80 percent support. The results revealed 55 of the 69 communities backed the road; three opposed it; and 11 boycotted the process.
2013: May 2013: Morales expels USAID from the country for alleged political interference in peasant unions and other social organizations. As a result of President Morales’ decisions to expel the U.S. Ambassador, DEA, and USAID, U.S. assistance to Bolivia fell from $99.7 million in FY2008 to $5.2 million in FY2013 and to zero in FY2014.
July 2013: Several European countries closed their airspace to Morales’ presidential aircraft, accusing him of harboring NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden. The allegations were proven false, and Latin American leaders condemned the action, calling it a form of neo-colonial intimidation.
December 2013: A Chinese rocket launched Bolivia’s first telecommunications satellite into space. According to the Bolivian Space Agency, the country seeks to generate nearly US$20 million per year from services provided by its Tupac Katari satellite, which began offering commercial services in April. 2014: February 2014: Bolivia installed its first lithium pilot plant, with a production capacity of 1,000 batteries per day. The Bolivian government has pledged to invest US$900 million.
May 2014: Bolivia established the first phase of a cable car system connecting the capital La Paz with neighboring El Alto city. In July Bolivia will invest US$450 million to expand its cable car system, improving connectivity between La Paz and El Alto cities.
September 12: Bolivia inaugurated an oil refinery in the central province of Cochabamba that will help the Andean nation decrease its diesel imports. The new refinery is projected to process 12,500 barrels of crude per month, which will enable Bolivia to save US$198 million annually on diesel imports.
October 12: Morales is re-elected president in the first round of the Bolivian general elections.
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