Once in power, some people just can’t let go.
Bolivia’s leftwing president Evo Morales is a prime example.
Last February, he tried to bulldoze a constitutional amendment through Congress allowing himself to run for a fourth consecutive term in 2019.
He lost.
But that has not dampened his determination to keep on ruling.
Rather than accept his defeat graciously, Morales immediately began to point fingers at the United States (the favorite punching bag of most Latin American leftists) and the media for having thwarted his rightful victory.
Morales claimed that the press (manipulated by the United States) had “tricked” the Bolivian public into voting against him by spreading misinformation.
He has threatened to imprison the journalists responsible for negative coverage of his administration for intentionally undermining Bolivian democracy with a “strategy of conspiracy, manipulation and lies.”
He has also said that he will consider holding a second referendum for the amendment prior to the elections. (In other words, if at first he doesn’t succeed, he will try, try again.)
Morales has been the Andean nation’s president since 2006, and — despite his populist rhetoric and a socialist spiel not unlike that of his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro — his popularity has been going down ever since.
Much of Morales difficulties stem from his apparent magnetism for scandals.
In recent weeks, there have been serious allegations of corruption and influence-peddling after revelations came to light that Morales had an intimate relationship with the commercial manager of a Chinese engineering company with which his government had signed contracts worth more than $560 million.
And then there is the nasty paternity claim against him that just doesn’t seem to want to go away (even though the child in question keeps seeming to change names and ages as the suit progresses).
All of this has sent the Bolivian leader’s approval rating plummeting from 54 percent at the start of the year to 29 percent today.
True, the former head of a coca growers union has done a lot of good for Bolivia since taking power.
According to the World Bank, his prudent financial management policies have added stability to a nation once torn by social and political unrest.
And although Bolivia is still the poorest country in South America, Morales has managed to reduce poverty, especially among the country’s marginalized indigenous communities, from 34 percent to 18 percent.
But now trouble is brewing with Bolivia’s national trade union federation, which represents factory workers, miners, teachers and healthcare providers, all of whom have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the firing of 1,000 state textile workers.
The workers were abruptly dismissed last month when Morales announced the closure of the state-run textile company which he expropriated from private-sector owners and nationalized four years ago.
The company — which employed over 4,000 workers and produced high-quality textiles for an impressive portfolio of U.S. conglomerates such as Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren and Nautica before its expropriation — is now bankrupt.
Moreover, with international commodity prices plunging, there are signs that Bolivia is entering an economic slowdown.
To make matters worse, Bolivia’s natural gas-supply contracts with Brazil and Argentina are due to expire this year and are likely to be renegotiated at lower prices.
Evo Morales had his heyday and, in all fairness, was a good leader for Bolivia.
But now the time has come for him to hang up his political gloves and let someone else take over the administrative ring for Bolivia’s future.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at [email protected].
