Executive Hunger
DURING his career as a cocaworkers’ leader, Evo Morales took part in hunger strikes on 18 occasions. Then he was elected as Bolivia’s president. So it came as a surprise when just before Easter he unrolled his mattress on the floor of an ornate stateroom in the presidential palace and began a five-day political fast, fortified by chewing coca leaves. This time the object of his gesture was not to change government policy but to implement it.
President Morales won a referendum approving a new constitution inspired by his Movement to Socialism (MAS). This calls for a fresh election on December 6th, in which the president hopes to win a second term. But the opposition, which controls the Senate, was holding up the requisite electoral law, because the government refused to agree to a new electoral register.
The opposition fears that a government programme to give identity cards to Bolivians who lack them was abused to swell the government’s vote in rural areas. When the president of the electoral court said there was no time to organize a new register, the opposition walked out. That prompted President Morales to begin his fast.
Last year, Morales ejected the U.S. ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration officials based in his country over accusations that American diplomats had supported the opposition. He said that while President Obama has promised changed, it has not reached U.S. officials in Bolivia. ”One hundred days have gone by and we in Bolivia have yet to feel any changes,” Morales said, referring to Obama’s length in office. “The policy of conspiracy continues.”
President Morales remains popular, largely due to his support of indigenous Bolivians and his nationalization of the natural-gas industry, which has boosted the government’s finances. He seems assured of a second term.
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