These two things can’t possibly be related, can they?
In 2005, Morales, an Aymara India rode discontent with foreign-backed coca eradication programs into the presidency. For more than a decade he made a name for himself as the unyielding and insurgent leader of the coca-growers union. His defiant, leftist rhetoric electrified Bolivia’s long-marginalized indigenous majority. Morales spoke of nationalizing industries, empowering labourers, and forcibly redistributing land held by wealthy elites.
For some, he became a champion of the oppressed. For others, a dangerous demagogue threatening free markets and private property.
The socialist policies he implemented are credited by supporters with fueling economic growth and lifting many Bolivians out of poverty. His Movement for Socialism (MAS by its Spanish initials) party has dominated elections for two decades, giving him a 14-year-run as president.
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
Let’s see…. for 20 years a socialist party has been in control. They implemented socialist policies and drove their once-flying economy into recession. And now civil unrest is manifesting as a coup.
Are you watching, America? We’ve seen this story play out the same way dozens of times. Yes, it can happen here. It already is.