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Bolivia Has Transformed Itself by Ignoring the Washington Consensus
By breaking with orthodox prescriptions for progress, Evo Morales has helped to forge a new Bolivia centered on 'living well'
Gabriela Oviedo is a fashion model and TV personality. She is a 28-year-old brunette, almost six feet tall. Born in the Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, she was elected as the national beauty queen in 2003. In 2004, Gabriela took part in the Miss Universe pageant. There she was asked to name one of the biggest misconceptions about her country. In awkward English, she answered: "Um … unfortunately, people that don't know Bolivia very much think that we are all just Indian people from the west side of the country. It's La Paz, all the image that we reflect, is that poor people and very short people and Indian people ... I'm from the other side of the country, the east side, and it's not cold, it's very hot and we are tall and we are white people and we know English."
Bolivia's President Evo Morales 'did the opposite of what the Washington Consensus recommends'. (Photograph: Gaston Brito/Reuters)
Gabriela's answer, heavy with racism, raised such a wave of outrage in her country that she was forced to give up the contest. Two in every three Bolivians are indigenous people. Her answer, however, was not an isolated occurrence. It reflects the persistence of a white, deeply anti-indigenous Bolivia, which survives today even though deep changes have been introduced, including the approval of anti-racist legislation.
In spite of the force of racial discrimination, on 22 January 2006, the Aymara Indian and cocalero unionist Evo Morales was elected president. Since then, the Bolivian state and society have undergone a profound transformation. The country has been decolonised. Indigenous people hold key cabinet positions in government and also in political institutions, while their standard and quality of life have been notably improved.
In the past six years, Bolivia has become one of the Latin American countries most successful at improving its citizens' standard of living. Economic indicators such as low unemployment and decreased poverty, as well as better public healthcare and education, are outstanding.
Between 2005 and 2010, the proportion of those in moderate poverty went down from 60% to 49.6%, while extreme poverty fell from 38% to 25%. Likewise, the unemployment rate decreased from 8.4% to 4%. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) points out that Bolivia is the top country in Latin America in terms of transferring resources to its most vulnerable population – 2.5% of its GNP.
According to Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, "Bolivia is one of the few countries that has reduced inequality … the gap between rich and poor has been hugely narrowed."
One of the key tools in reducing poverty has been the expansive distribution of economic surplus among the population, through direct cash transfers and bonds in programmes such as Juancito Pinto and Juana Azurduy, the Renta Dignidad, and salary increases. These payments have contributed to increasing the number of children attending school, broadening the coverage of public pensions to alleviate extreme poverty among senior citizens, and delivering subsidies to mothers excluded from social security, so as to reduce children's mortality and expand pre- and post-natal attention.
Bolivia has been declared an illiteracy-free country. Income redistribution has fuelled a 7% increase in the internal consumption of electricity, purified water and domestic gas among sectors that didn't have access to those services before.
During 2011, the country's economy grew at 5.3%, above the Latin American average. It is not an isolated event. The economy has been constantly expanding since 2007, averaging 4.5% a year.
These economic and social successes have been attained following an alternative route to neoliberalism. Evo Morales's government did the opposite of what the Washington Consensus recommends: it nationalised hydrocarbons, electricity, telecommunications and mining; renegotiated the presence of direct foreign investment in the country; implemented an expansive fiscal policy and closed borders to the free importation of economically strategic products. The state took 34% of the economy under its control.
This exceptional performance was obtained even though remittances decreased, the United States revoked the most-favoured nation status for some Bolivian products, and in spite of a global recession. The oil income is now three times that of 2005. The tax revenues went up. The international currency reserves are up to more than $12bn dollars. The banking savings-and-loans system has been "Bolivian-ised" and the external debt has been reduced. The bid now is that Bolivia will take a "big industrial leap" in the next five years so that it ceases to be an extractor of natural resources and begins to export value-added goods.
However, the Bolivian story is not one of "progress", but of forging an alternative economy, one which stems from the original peoples and nations. At the centre of its proposal is the Suma Qamaña, a notion that has been incorporated into the constitution and that is translated as "living well", meaning to be in harmony and equilibrium with other people and with nature. It is a proposal born in the community, and it is based, not in the logic of economic profitability, but on producing goods according to nature. As Evo Morales has said: "We don't believe in the linear, cumulative conception of progress and of an unlimited development at the cost of other people and of nature. To live well is to think not only in terms of per capita income, but of cultural identity, community, harmony among ourselves and with Mother Earth."
Raúl García Linera, one of Bolivia's principal political strategists, describes the current process of transformation in his country as trying to change the engine of a car while it's moving. It is, no doubt, a genuine, bold and encouraging attempt.
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15 Comments so far
Show AllDamn! Wish I lived there. Hope.
Yes, when I returned from a stay in Venezuela a few years back, I had this oppressive feeling as i got off the plane in Miami, as though the air was thicker, the energy of the people in general was heavier, sadder, more mean-spirited. There is something bright and positive going on in South America that has directly to do with using the tool of "government" to uplift the people whom it governs. Imagine!
What if, in the USA, a leader of courage such as FDR was to put people back to work using government to build solar rail systems, improve schools, hospitals, social programs and so forth. What a concept! To see such positive economic numbers, the turnaround in poverty and literacy statistics, all that is being done by these countries rejecting the "Washington/Wall St. Concensus" -- what more need be said?
I'm sure the CIA is working overtime to undermine Evo, Hugo, Rafael, et al., much like "law-enforcement" is bent on suppressing OWS or any alternative currents here. May we all live "there" someday, in a country where government is truly "of, by and for" it's people, for Justice, and for the Laws (rights) of Nature.
Do it! It also just happens to be a stunningly gorgeous country! I'm hoping to buy myself a small apartment in somewhere like Santiago de Chile in order to avoid the coming US economy crash in my older age, to avoid monetarily supporting the US's voracious appetite for military aggression, to escape a country that no longer values its rank-and-file citizens, and overall, to better live with my conscience.
"...oil income is now three times that of 2005." There's a possible problem here: is the income up because Bolivia is retaining more of the profit (through productivity gains, more equitable profit retention, etc.) or because of the general rise in oil prices? If the former, that's great. If the latter, then their handsome return is at the whim of the price of oil. If because of the general rise in oil prices, this dependency might imperil the great (though laborious) task of making their nation a more fair one and one that will withstand the coming end of cheap oil. I hope they are putting a significant amount of their newfound money into renewable energy so they might keep on a path that benefits their people now and later.
Something that comes to mind here is that to 'ignore' one model should not skip over the fact that in order to do so requires profound analyses, development of entire structures and discourse to transition as peacefully as possible. The latter being a tremendous challenge given the history of recourse to violence practiced by colonial, and yes, it must be reiterated, racist powers.
People tend to forget that in the Potosi mine alone, since the arrival of invaders, over 800 million people died in order for rare minerals to be extracted to fuel the "growth" of the north. Today those same powers invest the greater portion of material and social 'wealth' in continuing and intensifying militarization and rapacious extraction.
The indigenous movement is truly one of the greatest gifts to mother earth, humanity, wisdom, creativity and simplicity that is consistently 'ignored', in real ignorance, in the north.
That Potosi mine sounds like a real black hole. Citation please for that 800 million number. Sounds a wee bit high. Bolivia does have natural resources. They make good money now from hydrocarbons and will make lots more from lithium. Anyway, bravo, Evo.
Correction - you're right - 8 million over 500 years
What a triumph Bolivia has been. What a thrill to see patriotic leadership - those who can not be bought off by our Economic Hit Men, who really stand for the overall betterment of their societies at large. I'm so proud of these Latin leaders who give me hope for the human race. They provide examples to be emulated. Have been a great admirer of Evo's since he refused to wear a white shirt and tie when, just after first elected, he visited Spain. The former colonialists were incensed, but every indigenous person on the planet knew what his choice represented.
Recent clashes between the government and various protesters have been due to the rising expectations of the Bolivian people and the general combativeness (with dynamite!) of the population. It has been a hard slog for the government to balance social demands, economic development, and environmental protection with the state they have, especially when Morales has identified all three as vitally important. This is especially true for Bolivia which has been plundered mercilessly for five centuries and is only in a few years had time to recover from the latest neoliberal pillage that has made the country the poorest in South America.
There are various Western Trotskyists out there who find any government immediately problematic and suspect, especially given the Trot tendency to side with any group that proclaims itself Left of Left, no matter how baseless. Their posturing however borders on the irresponsible, especially given how difficult the task is for Morales to uplift his country. Some critiques have been fair, but much of the noise clouds the fundamental issues at stake. So far, Morales has proved to be one of the few visionary leaders in the world.
Bravo Evo! (And Hugo, and Rafael!)
One can only imagine the plans drawn by uniformed ghouls, with curled lips, decorated with ribbons and medals, to punish the upstart who dares oppose the horned ruler, drooling with contempt at their cries for freedom. Morales and his people have embarked on a righteous and dangerous road. Good fortune to them, and a lesson to us all.
It was Bolivians' rejection of Chicago School economics that has led to its improvement. What is it about Chicago? The city of Milton Friedman, Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel? What a legacy!
“We must realize, and make sure others realize that we all share the same destiny. Unity, in this global age, means that we have a common destiny, of life, and of death. The universal is no longer abstraction, but specific, because what is at stake is the fate of a specific planet and its specific inhabitants, facing the specific problems of life, death, and progress.”
--- Edgar Morin
Sorry, but this is complete and utter bull.
Has this been written by Morales' propaganda machine? Because that seems to be the number one expense of the government. It seems 90% of TV air time has become spots about how great the government is and about "living well".
This article is a slap in the face to those of us actually living in Bolivia and seeing Morales' devastation of the economy. Yes, I said devastation. Statistical figures are easy. But there are wave after wave of protests not because we have a "high standard", but because inflation is completely destroying us. I voted for Morales, twice even, but this has been a complete disappointment. It would be really helpful if people from outside stopped supporting this guy over just the image he tries to give. He is not an indigenous leader, his movement was never that, he started as a coca grower (from an area where it wasn't traditional - Chapare coca has always been destined 100% to narcotrafic). And he still is completely subject to control of coca growers. He is not a beacon of left economics.
"The country has been decolonised."
Decolonized is almost a fad buzzword in here. Apparently whenever Morales' government does something unilaterally like randomly confiscating companies so that its humongous army of partidaries get free jobs.
The indigenous people getting government positions are unfortunately not well-prepared for their position. That is not because there are no better-informed indigenous people in the country. There definitely are, like Victor Hugo Cardenas to mention a quick example. But the reason Morales' government picks the ones that are not well informed is so that they can all decide in block.
Indigenous have gotten a better standard of living? This is once again false. In Bolivia, the only ones to have improved their standard of living are people affiliated to the party. Morales has since replaced one discrimination with another. By any chance, try getting a job without being affiliated to the party. Good luck with that. It is a known condition, that to find a job in anything that is even remotely public you need to give 15% to the party.
The reality of indigenous people in Bolivia becomes clearer when you see what happened to those that marched for months trying to defend a natural rainforest and indigenous reserve from a highway plan that didn't even need to cross it. Government was quick to call these poor people "spies from the right" (Everyone that slightly disagrees with Morales' government is an extreme right traitor). Then he sent the thugs punish them and didn't even let them get to the square. Eventually, Morales claimed to have changed his mind and declared the territory as "intangible".
Until January, when a pseudo march composed of coca growers (the current power elite) and MAS goons pretending to be indigenous marched for the construction of the highway. And of course, this time the government was so quick to "listen to the indigenous people". He declared a referendum about the construction of the highway. Morales has complete control over the electoral council. Everyone, and I mean, everyone knows that the results will be rigged, ask anybody including government officials, we all know the result will be 95% in favor of destroying the reserve.
The statistics are only until 2010. The government was reaping the benefits of nationalizing gas, and the tons of money loaned from Venezuela to spend it in bonds after bonds. It is no surprise that in the short term our condition went so well.
Whilst we were improving only in appearance, the government was administrating things terribly. The subvention of gasoline, which was kept for no reason even during the times oil was at very low amounts. Our agriculture was getting exterminated, because government filled people with bonds, forbade exports and the coca mafia was able to replace tons of crops with coca.
We no longer seem to have Bolivian food products. If you want to find fruit in the market it turns out to be Peruvian or Chilean. Same seems to happen with meat. Rice and sugar have become scarce and keep on the rise. In 2010 we had the start of our alimentary crisis. Food scarcity. How good does that sound for those that are not >= middle class? The government that waits 5 years before handling a government started talking in 2011 about "food security" haha. Their plans to fix the food crisis? Allow us to import transgenic good. I am not making this up.
Worse, in 2011, the gasoline subvention bubble exploded, leaving Morales to halt the subvention. While prices were climbing, protests made Morales scared like a kitten and he backpedaled. 1 year later we are still subventionning gasoline, but the deficit is going to go insane eventually. Who is gonna save Morales? Oh, and the horrifying effects, the gasoline price rise got over the prices of everything? They are still like that, even though the price got reverted. Yay!
Oh and coca. It is no surprise our economy is rising so much. We are flooding in coca. That's not food. And although there is a percentage of about 20% who chew it, they don't really use that much (That's the whole point of it, you can chew the same bunch of coca leaves for hours). There is an obvious excess of coca. It has become the only thing we produce besides of gas.
Oh and natural gas. We enjoyed it so much at the beginning. But since we scared every business from it, nobody actually wants to invest in it for us. Nor to look for more reserves. It is clear that we are running out of capacity, because we are not growing it. Meanwhile, the other countries are exploring and getting more and more reserves. I am longing for the day, because it is gas what is feeding the Morales empire. All the money spent on public officials that are unnecessary. It is obvious that our public companies are beyond their capacity in regards to employees. That's probably the reason the gov wants to scare out all non-government organizations, to have more reasons to grow and keep giving employment to unqualified personal that they owe a job to because they painted the streets or went to fake marches. I guess the private companies will be next.
Oh, and it is an authoritarian regime. Try to find an opposition figure that is not under trial or in jail or in exile. Not only that, all of the left intellectuals that started as officials, eventually ran away from this government after they learned what it was really about.
If you'd like an example for a Latin America that actually improved economically, look no further than Peru. Yes, they are the ones who still got fruit and now they have quite the business and also tech progress. I miss Bolivian fruit, it tasted better.
What's the time bomb that will collapse Morales' government? If Venezuela's Chavez goes away we will be doomed because they are gonna ask for all the money we owe them (We replaced our dependence to the IMF with dependency to Venezuela, that's dignity). Maybe natural gas prices are going to go down and suddenly the government won't have money anymore, because it never occurred them to diversify. Or perhaps the deficit will get so heavy that they will have no choice other than fire all of their goons.
By the way, the indigenous movement that battles the highway. It keeps getting demonized on state-run media. Their leaders are the devil, basically. The government swears that Pedro Nuni is looking after being a presidential candidate. That's the main difference between the old and the new Bolivia. In the old Bolivia, it was possible and legitimate for an indigenous leader to enter the political arena through protests and eventually become president. In the new Bolivia, anyone who do protests is an enemy to the "change process" and does not deserve to be a candidate, ever.