Overview of Land and History 45One-sided Death Toll
At this point it is important to understand that at least 110
protesters have been killed by government forces since this new
round of protest movements began in 2000, and yet protesters
have not attempted to kill a single human being.The heavy tension suddenly subsides when the two next in line
to the presidency step aside and allow Supreme Court president
Eduardo Rodríguez to assume the presidency. Rodríguez
promises early elections and blockades are called off.
The country settles into a campaign mode and middle
class Bolivians grapple with the possibility of voting for one
or two neoliberal candidates from the old order or taking a
chance on Evo Morales.
2005: 18 December
Evo Morales becomes the fi rst Bolivian candidate since
democracy was renewed in the early 1980s to win a
presidential election with a clear majority, over 53 per cent
of the votes.
“I thank all the social movements,” declares Morales.
“Those that struggled to recover our natural resources, those
that fought for our rights, and those that struggled to change
the course of Bolivian history.”
The election results illustrate a geographic-cultural fracture
in Bolivia, with Morales carrying the indigenous highlands
and valleys while former president Tuto Quiroga gained a
majority in Santa Cruz and other lowland regions. Morales’
MAS movement has not won complete control of congress.
In the immediate aftermath of the election, it was too early
to project whether political change could be parlayed into
an economic transformation. The issues that have brought
Mr Morales to power, namely defense of natural resources
such as hydrocarbons and water and the rights of Bolivia’s
indigenous majority, will be part of a contentious period.
Privileged minorities will inevitably attempt to swap political
power in exchange for keeping their economic stranglehold on
the country as intermediaries to multinational corporations.