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Bolivia‘s Turbulence and International Reactions
November 10, 2019 marks the end of Evo Morales’ government in Bolivia after weeks of right-wing violence and opposition riots.
Evo Morales was the first indigenous leader to be elected in Bolivia, after winning the 2005 general election with an overwhelming majority of support, reaching 53.74% of the popular vote.
Since then, Bolivia has undergone massive reforms, especially pertaining to supporting the working class and indigenous people. In the span of ten years, from 2006 to 2016, the poverty rate was cut in half, going from 38.2% to just 16.8 percent, as reported by teleSUR.
In 2017, Bolivia’s Minister of Rural Development and Land exclaimed that “Bolivia produces more than 95 percent of its own food for internal consumption” and that “importation only accounted for 4 percent of total food”, as per Cesar Cocarico’s remarks. In this regard, Bolivia has primarily been considered a country that can rely on its own production, rather than rely on foreign aid programs and imports.
As a result, Morales declared the country’s independence from international economic institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
