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Interview with Evo Morales - Bolivian Coca Farmers Fed. Leaderhydrarchist writes: This interview was originally published at The Commoner. "Interview with Evo Morales by Yvonne Zimmermanm, La Paz 7.7.02
Evo Morales Ayma, 43 years old, is president of the coca farmers' federation in Chapare and he's a symbol of the struggle against neoliberal politics in Bolivia. In the past four years he was president of the political party MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) in parliament, and in the most recent elections on the 30th June, according to the last counting he received more than 21 These elections will mark a profound change in Bolivia. For the first time ever indigenous peoples and anti-neoliberal movements will be represented in parliament as a significant force. Until now, in that country split between the modern and rich Bolivia of whites and the poor Bolivia of indigenous people, the latter have basically been excluded from politics. According to Morales, they're now not only going to stop, but reverse neoliberal politics that have ruled the country for 17 years. yz: For the first time ever social and indigenous movements are getting into parliament as a decisive force. Evo Morales, how did this success come about? Evo Morales: The indigenous peoples we have created our own political instrument facing the fact that richess and land are being concentrated in the hands of a few, and the majority of the people live in poverty. In the elections corrupt politicians used to use us, bought our votes with money, gifts and promises. This has changed now: The political parties of millionairs can't buy people's conscience any longer. Of course, this has encouraged us a lot, but it's also made us nervous. If we become the second political force [they have since], we might get into government. This is frightening us a little bit, too, to be honest. We're nervous because we didn't expect to become second. We expected about fifteen deputies, but now we have twenty-five, and there might be two more until the counting finishes. On top we've got eight senators. In these elections some anti-systemic thinking has shown itself. The Bolivians are the victims of the neoliberal model, and consciously supported our political project which is totally against this model. yz: A few days before the elections US embassador Manuel Rocha intervened. He threatened with the end of US support in case you become president, and with this he basically said: Don't vote for Evo. How did this warning influence the elections? Evo Morales: One or nearly two months ago the US embassy made an inquiry, and according to this our political party was the second force. Of course this caused the ambassador a headache, even more so as our support was still growing. Because of that Rocha intervened, he wanted to reduce our votes. It's possible that in some places our support got reduced, in others, however, it grew. What's clear is that there was a lot of reaction to the US intervention. Some upper middle class voters might have been frightened, at the same time lots of young people said: Evo is young and anti-imperialist. With Evo we'll fight for our independence and for our freedom. yz: At the beginning of the year there were confrontations between coca farmers and security forces. The farmers protested with road blockades against the government's plan to destroy all coca plants. The government ordered the militarisation of the Chapare area, there was a wave of repression against the farmers and against yourself (Evo was thrown out of parliament and accused of murdering policemen!). Did these events influence the results of the elections? Evo Morales: Social struggle has been criminalised by governments all along. It's in this context that Evo become enemy number one of the neoliberal system and the US embassy. The latter has a blacklist of leaders of social movements which it sees as dangerous for their politics, and on this list I'm on the very top. In January of this year the five big political parties decided under pressure of the US embassy to take Evo Morales out of parliament. One Saturday all except one leader of the coca farmers' union were arrested. With that they wanted to finish off the coca farmers' union and put me in prison. After a big number of mobilisations we got out of this conflict with new strength. Thanks to the strength of the Quechuas, Aymaras and the coca leaf. It's not least because of this that we triumphed in the elections. yz: The coca farmers' movement became one of the strongest social movements in Bolivia in the past years. What's the reason to move into parliament now? Evo Morales: We know that we must struggle outside parliament. But political parties have been using us in the elections, and after winning thanks to our votes they've punished us. That's why the question came up: Why can't we have our own actors and vote for ourselves? Why don't we decide ourselves instead of giving others the power to decide for us on our destiny? We decided to get back the power and the land, for the Quechuas, Aymaras and Guaranís, together with the workers. And now the enemy is shivering. At the same time there's the certainty that our movement can't be stopped. With or without Evo Morales, it's going to go on and it'll grow. Of course, there's a big risk, too: There's the persecution like at the beginning of the year. Imagine! We're attacking the transnational corporations, neoliberal politics, and there's some big interests there. That's why we're preparing ourselves, we've built up committees to defend our sovereignty, to defend our people's struggle. We're now nearly the second biggest force in parliament. Eight senators, twenty-five deputies. There's only 1948 votes missing to be second, and with that there will be the chance to get into government instead of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. |
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