Presidents of Bolivia

"Interviewer: Many in Bolivia say that you should be president and that you have more support nationally than any other candidate. What do you have to say about the pressure you may receive from the US government if you are elected president? The US ambassador in Bolivia has stated that if you are elected, the US will pull its financial support from Bolivia."

"Morales: After more than 500 years we, the Quechuas and Aymaras [the Indigenous people of Bolivia], are still the rightful owners of this land. We, the Indigenous people, after 500 years of resistance, are retaking power. This retaking of power is oriented towards the recovery of our natural resources, such as the hydrocarbons. This affects the interests of the transnational corporations and the interests of the neoliberal system. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the power of the people is increasing and strengthening. This power is changing presidents, economic models and politics. We are convinced that capitalism is the enemy of the Earth, of humanity and of culture. The US government does not understand our way of life and our philosophy. But we will defend our proposals, our way of life and our demands with the participation of the Bolivian people."

"Friends, we have now won. ...I say to Aymaras, Quechuas, Chiquitaos, and Guaranis: for the first time we [indigenous people] are going to be presidents. And I want to say to businesses, intellectual professionals, and artists: do not abandon us."

"I am sure of the fact that Fidel and Chávez are commanders of the forces of freedom in America, to liberate America and the world."

"SPIEGEL: The Latin American left is fracturing into a moderate, social democratic current, led by Lula and Bachelet, and a radical, populist movement represented by Castro, Chavez and yourself. Isn't Chavez dividing the continent?"

"Morales: There are social democrats and others who are marching more in the direction of equality, whether you call them socialists or communists. But at least Latin America no longer has racist or fascist presidents like it did in the past. Capitalism has only hurt Latin America."

"SPIEGEL: Do you believe that the Indian peoples have developed a better social model than the white, Western democracies?"

"Morales: There was no private property in the past. Everything was communal property. In the Indian community where I was born, everything belonged to the community. This way of life is more equitable. We Indians are Latin America's moral reserve. We act according to a universal law that consists of three basic principles: do not steal, do not lie and do not be idle. This trilogy will also serve as the basis of our new constitution."

"If we want to save the planet earth, to save life and humanity, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system. Unless we put an end to the capitalist system, it is impossible to imagine that there will be equality and justice on this planet earth. This is why I believe that it is important to put an end to the exploitation of human beings and to the pillage of natural resources, to put an end to destructive wars for markets and raw materials, to the plundering of energy, particularly fossil fuels, to the excessive consumption of goods and to the accumulation of waste. The capitalist system only allows us to heap up waste. I would like to propose that the trillions of money earmarked for war should be channelled to make good the damage to the environment, to make reparations to the earth."

"I learned that the political is above the legal, that’s why when my advisors tell me, Evo, what you are doing is illegal, I say, if it is illegal, then do it legal, you have studied for that"

"I want to tell you, companions and union leaders, to all of you, if you are not with the official party (MAS) at this time, you are the opposition. If you are opposition, then you are right wing, of the racist-fascists, of the neo-liberals...it is time for definition either you are with the MAS or you are a fascist (this rhymes in Spanish: Sos MASista o sos facista). There is no middle ground. Define yourselves."

"The conspiracy against my government is headed by the US Ambassador, USA, with funds that came from American taxpayers would think that they're using to help Bolivian people, is using the money in order to campaign against my government and me they met with NGOs and other groups here always with intention of conspiring. They offered the money in condition that they take part in campaign against Evo Morales; the major vacaca city who visit us recently told me that he was offered money by USAID agency to run as an opposition congressman, they even offered to pay for his campaign and the mayor told me that the people work for US agency go from house to house telling people if they've get rid of Evo they would have more money, if you want the document about this, we could, we are going to present to prove this the document to the US Congress."

"Leaders and delegates of the social movements present here at this World Social Forum, I was remembering the many encounters... where we participated to show our resistance to neoliberalism. I want to tell you, sisters and brothers, that I am the product of our common struggle against neoliberalism... these struggles which have been undertaken by the social forces of Bolivia and Latin America. I feel tonight marks the beginning of the permanent encounter between all the anti-neoliberal presidents and the peoples who are fighting against American imperialism."

"The chicken that we eat is chock-full of feminine hormones. So, when men eat these chickens, they deviate from themselves as men."

"Baldness that appears to be normal is a disease in Europe, almost all of them are bald, and that is because of the things they eat; while among the indigenous peoples there are no bald people, because we eat other things""

"Some countries of Europe have to free themselves from the US Empire. They are not going to frighten us because we are a people with dignity and sovereignty."

"Our sin is that we are ideologically anti-imperialist, but this coup won’t make me change ideologically... We are very grateful to the president of Mexico, because he saved my life."

"The OAS made a political decision, not a technical or legal one. This is a report — now I have realized from the recommendations of some leftist brothers and sisters — that the OAS is not in the service of the people of Latin America, less so the social movements. The OAS is at the service of the North American empire."

"Every day, we are reminded of the duty to continue our struggle against imperialism, against capitalism, and against colonialism. We must work together towards a world in which greater respect for the people and for Mother Earth is possible. In order to do this, it is essential for states to intervene so that the needs of the masses and the oppressed are put first. We have the conviction that we are the masses. And that the masses, over time, will win."

"A key recipient of Venezuelan help has been Evo Morales, a charismatic Bolivian legislator who has broad support among his country’s indigenous population. He is an avowed opponent of the capitalist system."

"Bolivia has this long record of giving into the I.M.F. and the World Bank, privatizing their resources, like their power company and their water company. And the people of Bolivia were fed up with this... so Evo Morales ran on this ticket that said, “I’m not going to put up with this anymore.” .. The reason he was elected.. has to do with the extreme frustration and anger of the Bolivian people, of how they’ve been exploited and how the I.M.F. and the World Bank have insisted that they turn their resources over to foreign corporations. And also, you know, part of the World Trade Organization policies is that we insist that countries like Bolivia not subsidize their local industries and products, but that they accept our subsidies of them, and that they not erect any barriers against our goods coming in there, but they accept the barriers that we erect against their goods. And people around the world, Amy, are getting fed up with this. 300 million Latin Americans — South Americans out of 360 million, over 80% have voted for these types of candidates.... people like Evo Morales, really looked to Hugo Chavez as an example of someone who’s had the staying power. He’s been able to stay there, despite the fact that the (G.W. Bush) administration has spoken so strongly against him and is so angry..."

"Well, I have no doubt that he (Evo Morales) has been visited by at least one of these men... they walk into his office and shake his hands and say, “Congratulations, Mr. President. You won. We launched a strong campaign against you, but now you’ve won. And now, I want to tell you the facts of life and make you —”... Morales was very diplomatic about the whole thing, but absolutely stood firm and said, “You know, my people have elected me for a reason, and I intend to honor that.” This is what his initial response was. But what I will say is we can’t imagine the pressure now that’s being exerted on a man like Morales, as is true with all these other presidents. They know what’s happened before their time. And... the pressure will be put on them tighter and tighter and tighter.... And imagine being in that position. Imagine being an integritous person and really wanting to help your country, being elected with a majority — Morales got 54% of the vote, which is unheard of in Bolivia; he was up against many opponents — and then, wanting to implement the policy, and somebody walks into your office and reminds you of what happened to all these other presidents."

"One of those leaders who came to address the U.N. General Assembly was Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia. While the U.S. rarely looks south for leadership, Morales’ example is worth considering. He has restored diplomatic relations with Iran. Against tremendous internal opposition, he nationalized Bolivia’s natural gas fields, transforming the country’s economic stability, and, interestingly, enriching the very elite that originally criticized the move...President Morales told me: “Neither mother earth nor life are commodities. We are talking about a profound change of models and systems.”"

"Moving forward, we must always go with President Evo Morales, not only do we have to speak, but we must all work [in favor of him]"

"State company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB), established by the government of President Evo Morales in 2008 to exploit lithium in the salt flats, aims to make Bolivia the fourth-largest producer by 2021. Morales, a leftist and former coca farmer, is counting on lithium to serve as the economic engine that lifts his country out of poverty."

"Morales' cancellation of the ACISA deal opened the door to either a renegotiation of the agreement with terms delivering more of the profits to the area's population or the outright nationalization of the Bolivian lithium extraction industry."

"Camacho also hails from a family of corporate elites who have long profited from Bolivia’s plentiful natural gas reserves... his family lost part of its wealth when Morales nationalized the nation’s resources, in order to fund his vast social programs — which cut poverty by 42 percent and extreme poverty by 60 percent."

"José Ariel Blanco, the 25-year-old owner of a stationery store two blocks from the legislature, said he was thankful for Mr. Morales’s achievements — chief among them, tackling the racism that the Indigenous had suffered for centuries. “My grandmother couldn’t walk into a bank in her Indigenous clothes until Evo became president,” he said. “Now she can, and that won’t change.”"

"Morales upended politics in this nation long ruled by light-skinned descendants of Europeans by reversing deep-rooted inequality. The economy grew strongly thanks to a boom in prices of commodities and he ushered through a new constitution that created a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia’s smaller indigenous groups while also allowing self-rule for all indigenous communities."

"In contrast, we were witnesses to how the highest level of government responded, threatening to surround the cities, cut off food supplies and wage war in the streets. The violence committed almost exclusively by government supporters left many wounded and several dead, but it also served to reveal the true character of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), which is still trying to sow chaos and fear in the population. From its conception and in its ideology, this is a movement to savagery, fueled by the discourse of racism and resentment, and openly rejecting the Church and God himself, as was evidenced by the words of now ex-president Evo Morales: “Should anyone say [salvation] comes down from heaven, No. From heaven comes only the rain, salvation does not come to us from heaven” (Jan 22, 2015). His fall from power demonstrates the opposite."

"Broadly speaking, Evo Morales was a successful leader of Bolivia. A trade unionist with familial roots among the country’s indigenous peoples, he was first elected president in 2005 and was twice returned to office with substantial majorities. Morales is credited by the IMF with achieving a drastic reduction in poverty among farmers and coca growers and a societal revolution that, among other things, transformed the standing of Bolivia’s numerous ethnic minority groups."

"He championed a “plurinational” constitution that guaranteed equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, effectively ending the monopoly on power previously enjoyed by Bolivians of European descent. His time in office also saw a big increase in women’s political participation."

"In the eighteen years since I wrote "The Tribe of Guarayamín," there have been significant changes in in the politics of indigenous identity in the Americas. Most powerful among them is the resurgence of Latin American sovereignty, with a strong core of indigenous leadership, much of it female. Evo Morales, an Aymara man, is president of Bolivia, with a new Constitution that renames it as a plurinational state, in recognition of its indigenous nations. Universities, radio stations, courtrooms carry on their business in indigenous languages, and long idle lands of latifundista families have been reclaimed and distributed to campesinxs, some of whom have become, under the new indigenous autonomy laws, self-governing communities for the first time in five hundred years."

"We want to be a democratic tool of inclusion and unity."

"It’s important to preserve our cultural practices of our Bolivian people, because they enrich the national identity."

"Bolivia cannot continue revolving around a tyrant."

"Evo Morales does not qualify to run for a fourth term. It’s because [he did] that we’ve had all this convulsion, and because of this that so many Bolivians have been demonstrating in the streets."

"I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic inigenous rites, the city is not for the Indians who can leave to the plateau or the Chaco!!"

"Demonstrators took to the streets to decry the nation's interim president, Jeanine Añez. The protesters, made up largely of members of Bolivia's indigenous population, view Añez's rule as illegitimate and are calling for Morales to return."

"In Bolivia, indigenous-led protests continued to rage in La Paz Thursday, after Bolivia’s self-proclaimed interim President Jeanine Áñez swore in a new Cabinet with no indigenous members. Áñez is a right-wing Christian who’s previously blasted indigenous communities as “Satanic” in tweets that she later deleted. She said Thursday that exiled socialist President Evo Morales — who fled to Mexico after he was deposed by the military Sunday — would not be allowed to compete in a new round of elections."

"Bolivia has a new US-backed puppet leader, and the Western media can hardly conceal their adulation. Jeanine Áñez declared herself “interim president” in a near-empty Senate chamber on November 12... Despite a lack of quorum rendering the move nakedly unconstiutional, Áñez was immediately recognized by the Trump administration and 10 Downing Street... like a parody of January’s events in Venezuela..."

"Añez also faces a challenge to her legitimacy in Congress, where lawmakers loyal to Morales tried to hold new sessions that would undermine her claim to the presidency... Morales’ backers, who hold a two-thirds majority in Congress, boycotted the session that she called Tuesday night to formalize her claim to the presidency, preventing a quorum. She claimed power anyway, saying the constitution did not specifically require congressional approval."

"Áñez’s choice of cabinet showed no signs that she intended to reach across the country’s deep political and ethnic divide. Her senior ministers includes prominent members of the business elite from Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s most populous city and a bastion of opposition to Evo Morales."

"Speaking to journalists, Áñez’s new interior minister, Arturo Murillo, vowed to “hunt down” his predecessor Juan Ramón Quintana, a prominent Morales ally, stoking fears of a witch-hunt against members the previous administration."

"Hours after the swearing-in ceremony, a New York Times reporter watched about 20 motorbike-riding civilians armed with metal pipes and chains travel out of Cochabamba’s main police station, as police officers saluted them and gave thumbs up on the way out. The riders did not carry any political affiliation, but Cochabamba’s Police Headquarters had flipped its allegiance to the opposition last Saturday, triggering a national wave of police mutiny that brought Ms. Añez to power."

"On Monday, as looting and violence spread across several cities, Ms. Añez at first appeared rattled, sobbing as she called for calm. But by the evening, she was projecting strength, and demanding that the army accept the national police’s call to jointly patrol the streets of La Paz to restore order."

"The Sunday military coup in Bolivia has put in place a government which appears likely to reverse a decision by just-resigned President Evo Morales to cancel an agreement with a German company for developing lithium deposits in the Latin American country for batteries like those in electric cars. ...Sen. Jeanine Añez, of the center-right party Democratic Unity, is currently the interim president in the unstable post-coup government in advance of elections."

"As night is coming and my strength is exhausted, with no hope of anything better, I have only to display the meager harvest that I have accidentally picked."

"It is inherent to the human condition to admire precisely what you do not understand."

"Everyone is sensitive to pain: only the various kinds of misfortunes affect everyone differently and to varying degrees."

"The strongest will, never fully does what it wants. It does what the circumstances allow."

"We don't have to complain about human selfishness: everyone cares about us, and even our enemies would like to correct our defects."

"The smallest evil that is inflicted on us seems to us a monstrous and horrible injustice. On the contrary, we are willing to consider the evils of others' light and to excuse and mitigate the injustices suffered by them."

"All those who are not criticized, err. Those who are not watched, abuse. Those who are spoiled, become fat. Those who are applauded, are puffed up. A true superiority of spirit is needed to save oneself from those consequences."

"Every time we experience a misfortune or a setback, we need to find a culprit. We accuse the wind if there is no other."

"In established interests are the most powerful force of resistance to good."

"He who does not change in this changing world, perishes. He who does not know how to transform with the times has to be eliminated by them."

"In some grocery stores there is an expressive sign that says: Today I don't trust, tomorrow I do. I have some desire to compare that sign the promises of happiness that life gives us."

"From extreme old age, sanity is requested. It is like asking for strength from weakness."

"The most talented man, as he has been told many times, does a hundred foolish things in his life."

"From the ruins of a collapsing cause, the dust of recriminations always rises."

"Nothing is more ridiculous than a tyrant, whose fear is gradually losing itself."

"What is not ephemeral in individual life, if life itself is fleeting like a dream."

"Our politics is a field from which morality is completely exiled."

"In general, past things come to be in the memory not as they were, but as we would like or how we wanted them to have been."

"The political friend of today is the possible enemy of tomorrow. And vice versa. All those who work by a calculation of interest in politics must take that into account. Neither give your secrets to the friend nor give the adversary blows that cannot be forgotten."

"It is very easy to be a skilled man at the head of a powerful country. The difficult thing is to be one when representing a weak country."

"We must defend the Chaco because it is ours, and it is the heritage that our elders left us; not for us, men ephemeral that we will die tomorrow, if not for our children, for our grandchildren, for the old Bolivia."

"The arrival of Salamanca to the presidency represented a challenge for Paraguay. On the other hand, the Bolivian politician's compatriots continued to think of his physical weakness as a sign of moral weakness."

"Salamanca believed he was capable of waging a great war from his desk."

"[Salamanca was] a small, bitter man with a sallow color, with a bifacial mestizo reflection. His expressionless physiognomy and cold, sidestepped eyes do not reveal any dynamism in him. no restlessness. His 70 weighed years and his old painful illness have made this old man an irascible being, full of pettiness and spiteful [...]. His poor build, his weak limbs, and his questioning face, eternally empty, keep pace with his retarded mentality [...]."

"Our maximum responsibility is to act with intellectual honesty in what we believe and to work in a dialectical process in which the end result is something we build, not something we just destroy."

"A few days ago, my country lived through serious episodes of violence, which have forced us to reflect. We are aware of the fact that the last 21 years of democracy — the longest uninterrupted period in our history — are at stake as we face the legitimate pressure exercised by the marginalized sectors of our society, who deserve our attention. [...] Loss of trust in these essential elements of democracy is one of the greatest dangers to the future of our society."

"Bolivia is not yet a country of equals."

"It is very comfortable to coup the government, it is the most comfortable thing in the world, it is a very profitable business, it is practiced every day [...]. This is the country of ultimatums, this is the country of "if you don't do this I am very sorry but you will have consequences", this is the country of people who get involved with dynamite to demand that we do whatever comes to their mind, good, bad or fair. I am not going to continue with that logic, because Bolivia cannot be governed by that logic."

"We are at the beginning, on the threshold of a new time and that new time has to have a new leadership."

"[The vice presidency is] "the most stupid position of all" [...]. An office with a single objective, that of succession, with few clear powers."

"I am not a person that you can handle as you please, I am not going to respond to things that I do not believe in, I am not going to accept doing things that I do not think I should do. I am not controllable, Carlos."

"I am not a friend of demagogic positions and easy answers. My historical and ethical conviction is unalterable, but as a responsible citizen and much more as the president of Bolivians, my obligation is to reconcile the issues of principle with the demands of reality."

"Politics is not the art of ethics."

"Sánchez de Lozada sought to impose constitutional order and consolidate democracy with force. The result was a country on the brink of war [...]."

"Writing is for me like breathing."

"We restore bilateral relations (with Venezuela) to strengthen strategic ties for the good of our peoples."

"Today we find ourselves facing a wide-ranging, systemic capitalist crisis that increasingly endangers the life of humanity and the planet. We should not only reflect on the economic, social, food, climate, energy, water, and trade crises, but also identify with clarity the origin, in order to change a system that reproduces domination, exploitation, and exclusion of the large majorities, that generates the concentration of wealth in a few hands, and that prioritizes the production and reproduction of capital over the production and reproduction of life. Alongside the wide-ranging, systemic crisis of capitalism, we see the final gasp of the unipolar world. But unfortunately we are seeing the gradual deterioration of the multilateral system, because of the whims of the capitalist powers that will not accept the existence of a multipolar world with a balance of power."

"We do not agree with talking about climate change because it is something that seems to necessarily happen. No, this is a climate crisis caused by the capitalist system that has done everything to bring us to this situation. Humanity is at risk and unfortunately the United Nations has not yet come to any concrete agreement to resolve this problem."