Juan Evo Morales Ayma,), popularly
known as politician and activist, who has served as President of Bolivia since 2006. Morales
began his political career as a Cocalero trade union organizer. His administration has focused
on the implementation of leftist policies, poverty reduction and combating the
influence of the United States
and transnational corporations in Bolivia.
Born in October
26, 1959 to an Aymara family of subsistence farmers in Isallawi, Orinoca
Canton, Evo undertook a basic education before mandatory military
service, in 1978 moving to Chapare
Province. Growing coca, he joined the trade union, rising to prominence in the rural
laborers union, campaigning against the United States and Bolivian
government's attempts to eradicate coca as a part of the War on Drugs.
Entering electoral politics in 1995, he became
leader of MAS, focusing on issues affecting indigenous and poor communities,
advocating land reform and redistribution of gas wealth. Gaining increasing
visibility through the gas conflict and the Cochabamba protests of 2000, in 2002 he
was expelled from Congress, though came second in that year's presidential
election.
Elected president
in 2005, he instituted land confiscation, redistribution and nationalization of
key industries, scaling back U.S.
involvement in Bolivia while
building relationships with other nations in the Latin American Pink Tide
and joining the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Winning a recall referendum in 2008,
he instituted a new constitution before being re-elected
with a landslide in 2009, furthering leftist policies and joining the Bank of the
South and Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States.
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