Bolivia on the Brink

Bolivia on the Brink
New York Sun ^ | April 8, 2008 | JAIME DAREMBLUM

There is an emerging mini-me of Hugo Chavez — Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia. And his country is starting to pay the price for it. Bolivia may end up not merely fragmented but wracked by bloodshed if Mr. Morales continues to emulate the senseless and destructive policies of his patron.

Mr. Morales has turned frequently to the Chavez playbook on "revolutionary" brinkmanship for policy guidance. From promoting a bespoke constitution, which removed inconvenient term limits, to undermining democratic institutions, to approving populist measures that hurt poor people the most, he has made all the moves favored by his role model.

Unlike Mr. Chavez, however, Mr. Morales faces open and at times violent revolt in his country. Since nationalizing the gas and oil industry in May 2006 — a May Day gift for the Bolivian people, Mr. Morales claimed — he has not come up with a fair way to distribute the new tax revenues. This failure, along with new regulations on coca growing and the president's unabashed attempts to exercise absolute power, has generated increasing unrest.
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In yet another attempt to emulate his mentor, Mr. Morales is cozying up to President Ahmadinejad. With Mr. Morales's typically skewed priorities, he has arranged to install an Iranian television station in the province of Chapare, even as he threatens to eject USAID officers. This comes at a time when an increasing number of Cuban and Venezuelan security agents and military personnel are in the country to assist Mr. Morales.

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...