Bolivia's Economy Under Evo (Morales) in 10 Graphs | The American Center for Economics Research

[Fred Sanders]

Last edited Tue Jan 27, 2015, 04:50 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/bolivias-economy-under-evo-in-10-graphs

On October 12, Bolivians will go to the polls to choose their next president for a five-year term. Recent polling suggests that the incumbent, Evo Morales, will obtain a decisive first-round victory over his closest opponent, Samuel Doria Medina. Below are ten graphs on economic and social developments since Evo’s election in 2005 that help explain the strong support for his re-election.



1. Economic Growth: Bolivia has grown much faster over the last 8 years under President Evo Morales than in any period over the past three-and-a-half decades.

Source: IMF



2. High Level of International Reserves: International reserves act as a buffer against external shocks, preventing balance of payments crises. Bolivia’s buildup of reserves has allowed it to avoid the often harmful conditions that come with IMF borrowing; the country operated under IMF agreements almost continuously for 20 years until Morales took office in 2006. Bolivia’s international reserves are currently more than 48 percent of GDP, higher than even China; there is room for Bolivia to put these resources to greater productive use, for example in public investment.

Source: Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB).

3. Nationalization Shifts Hydrocarbon Revenues to the Public Sector: A referendum vote in mid-2004 indicated public support for a greater state role in the hydrocarbons sector, and in May 2006, newly-elected president Evo Morales renationalized Bolivia’s oil and gas industries. The increased tax revenue has allowed Bolivia to vastly increase its macroeconomic policy space. Some of this revenue went into reserves, as noted above, and Bolivia also increased public investment (below).

Source: BCB.

4. Highest Foreign Direct Investment in South America: While the business press consider nationalizations to be anathema to attracting international investment, Bolivia actually had the highest level of foreign direct investment, as a percent of GDP, in South America in 2013.

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

5. Public Investment is High and Increasing: Since 2006, Bolivia has made it a priority to increase public investment spending. Over the last 8 years, total public investment doubled as a percentage of GDP.

Source: Viceministerio de Inversión Pública Y Financiamiento Externo.

6. Poverty Reduced by 25 Percent, Extreme Poverty Reduced by 43 Percent: Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America, but poverty has been on a downward trend in recent years after stagnating at a very high level for almost a decade.

Source: Instituto de Estadística de Bolivia (INE)

7. Economic Inequality Decreases: Bolivia has been praised by Alicia Barcena, the head of the Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as being “one of the few countries that has reduced inequality … the gap between rich and poor has been hugely narrowed.” As shown below (by decile), the income of the poorer sectors of the population has grown much faster since 2006 than that of the higher-income households.

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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 centred on 'living well'

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/21/bolivia-washington-consensus

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Updated U.N. reports on economies of Latin America

http://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/37345

Bolivia report

http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/37345/Bolivia_en.pdf?sequence=34

[azmom]

1. Saw a couple of documentaries on

Him and how he came to power.. Talk about grassroots And getting out the vote.

[SamKnause]

2. Thanks Fred.

Viva President Evo Morales.

Viva Bolivia.

Viva the Bolivarian Revolution.

[Fred Sanders]

3. The updated Bible on Latin American economics is here:

http://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/37345

In case some folks try to cherry pick you can show them the whole cherry tree.

You will like the report on Bolivia, the economic surge is amazing.

[SamKnause]

4. Great website Fred.

Thanks again.

[Judi Lynn]

5. He and his administration accomplished this even tho' Bush & Co. started their war against him

even before he was elected, knowing how much support he had from the vast majority of real Bolivians.


George Bush had Bolivia's missiles removed just before Evo Morales won by a landslide.


US Denies Removal of Bolivian Missiles Was Secret
By David Gollust
Washington
23 December 2005

The United States denied Thursday that it removed anti-aircraft missiles from Bolivia without the knowledge of top officials in La Paz. The State Department says the operation was at the request of Bolivian authorities and in line with an Organization of American States resolution.

Officials here acknowledge that the United States removed a small number of MANPADS, man-portable air defense system, from Bolivia earlier this year as part of a broader effort to keep the shoulder launch missiles out of the hands of terrorists.

But they are denying charges from Bolivia, which figured in that country's presidential election campaign, that the operation was conducted without the knowledge of senior Bolivian officials.

Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales, the victor in last Sunday's election, has alleged that the 28 Chinese-made missiles were spirited out of the country in June in an operation he described as international intervention.

More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=45819&mesg_id=45823

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In October 2005, presidential candidate Morales denounced the
deactivation or destruction by the U.S. military of an undetermined
quantity (press sources estimate between nineteen and 31) of
Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles of the Bolivian armed
forces after they were removed from the country. While these
allegations were denied at first by the military command, the
army’s head, General Marcelo Antezana, admitted (and then
denied) deactivation of the missiles out of concern for Morales’
possible election. On 9 March 2006, former President Eduardo
Rodríguez, former Defence Minister Gonzalo Méndez and
former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Marco
Antonio Justiniano were formally accused of high treason after
an investigation by the attorney general’s office. La Razón, 10
March 2006.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=45819&mesg_id=45823

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Bolivia hands over its missiles to the United States

Evo Morales, “cocalero” and MAS (Movement towards Socialism) leader, and presidential candidate for elections in Bolivia scheduled for December 18, recently stated that 28 MHN-5 surface-to-air missiles made in China had disappeared. The missiles were in Bolivian arsenals and handed over to the United States for “deactivation”.

Morales indicated he was planning to file a lawsuit against the current acting president Eduardo Rodríguez and his minister of defense Gonzalo Méndez Gutiérrez, for “betraying the homeland” (a popular uprising to overthrow the former president Carlos Mesa from power in June 2005). In order to justify why the Chinese missiles were sent to the United States, the Bolivian authorities mentioned that such equipment was obsolete, and their handling was dangerous. It seems, though, that they had been acquired in China in the early 90’s and were in perfect condition.

Furthermore, they were the only missiles that the Bolivian army had, and whose lack of ordnance is chronic. In that case, why giving those weapons away?

Used to different forms of interference in Latin America, in 2004, the United States had already tried unsuccessfully to convince the former president Carlos Mesa to hand over such armaments, said the former Foreign Minister Juan Ignacio Siles. The imminent presidential decision and fear over Evo Morales’ victory are obviously the factors that precipitated the events.

More:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article133814.html

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23 December 2005

Evo Morales faces his first problem: what happened to Bolivia's air defence missiles?
President-Elect Evo Morales of Bolivia met the outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez to discuss the handover of power yesterday. However, the new President faces a problem with the USA even before taking office. Put simply, what happened to Bolivia's air-defence missiles?

The country had 28 or 30 Chinese built HN-SA hand-held anti-aircraft missiles that seem to have vanished from the military's arsenal. By all accounts they were stolen by the American Embassy with the conivence of Bolivian military officers, during May or June of this year. It is reported that they were taken aboard an unmarked C-130 transport aircraft and removed from the country.

When Evo Morales first made these allegations last month, the Bolivian army claimed that the missiles had been disposed of as part of an "annual disposal of obsolete equipment," and the army also claimed that the weapons were still in the country. However, army reports which were released this month show that the missiles, which cost Bolivia about £1,000,000, were well-maintained and had ten more years of service left in them.

At this point I fully expect some idiotic hand-shandyist for war to write in and tell me that 30 missiles will not protect anyone from the American armed forces. Don't bother, lads, because I know this. Besides, it's not the point.

The point is that the theft proves that the United States has pretty thoroughly infiltrated the Bolivian army. Should a future President Morales act against America's interests, and he has already said that he will, then the Americans can remove him as they have done so many before him. They would not need to send in the marines, they could set the scene as they did in Chile and then leave it to the locals to do their dirty work for them.

More:
http://www.the-exile.info/2005_12_01_archive.html

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MAS Denounces Serious US Interference in Bolivia
Prensa Latina || October 19, 2005

Bolivian presidential candidate Evo Morales denounced Wednesday that troops at the service of the US seized 28 land-air missiles supplied by China to Bolivia and sent them to the United States.

In his news conference, Morales said that "patriotic soldiers" who opposed the operation that took place a few days ago reported the despicable interference to his political party, Movement towards Socialism (MAS).

Consulted by phone, presidential spokesman Julio Pemintel refused to comment and said he had requested information on the matter from Defense Minister Gonzalo Molina.

Morales explained that a Bolivian commando force commanded by elements from the US Embassy and the CIA were involved in the seizure.

He denounced that the group raided an army facility in Viacha, near La Paz, where the missiles were seized and taken to the airport or to El Alto military base, and then were smuggled out of the country by air, supposedly bound for the US.

The weapons had been provided to Bolivia by the People's Republic of China, in accord with bilateral military cooperation agreements.

More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=45819&mesg_id=45823

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6 January 2013 Last updated at 21:54 ET
Bolivia accuses United States of plotting against Morales

Bolivia has "irrefutable evidence" that the US has been working to destabilise the government of President Evo Morales, a senior minister has said.

Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana said proof of improper activities involving the US embassy would be given to President Obama.

Mr Morales expelled the US ambassador in 2008 after accusing him of plotting against his government.

A charge d'affaires heads the embassy in La Paz.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20929211

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Bolivia's Defense Chiefs Ousted in Missile Scandal
Reuters
Wednesday, January 18, 2006

LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 18 -- A scandal in Bolivia over surface-to-air missiles prompted the defense minister's resignation and the army chief's dismissal Tuesday, plunging the military into a political crisis days before socialist president-elect Evo Morales is to be sworn into office.

The outgoing interim president, Eduardo Rodriguez, said he had accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Gonzalo Mendez, and fired Gen. Marcelo Antezana over apparent irregularities in the destruction in the United States of a batch of Chinese-made missiles in October.

"I have relieved the commander of the army of his duties and accepted the defense minister's resignation," Rodriguez told reporters after a cabinet meeting Tuesday.

At the height of campaigning for last month's presidential elections, Morales denounced the destruction of the 28 to 30 Chinese HN-5 shoulder-fired missiles, the only arms of their kind in the military's arsenal.

Antezana, the army chief, told reporters that Washington initiated the drive to destroy the missiles because it feared Morales would win the presidency of the South American country.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011800124.html

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Then there's the vicious interference in Bolivia's internal affairs by Bush's people at the US Embassy. Unforgiveable. Relentless interference until Morales kicked out the embassy altogether.

There's a lot of information is available in searches regarding this dirty, underhanded, dishonest butting-in to their sovereign government's affairs.

[eridani]

6. 1.5M Lifted Out of Poverty in Ecuador Under Correa

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/28270-15m-lifted-out-of-poverty-in-ecuador-under-correa

The Ecuadorean National Secretariat for Planning and Development announced Friday that between 2007 and 2014, more than 1.5 million people had been lifted out of poverty in the South American country.

These years coincide with Presdient Rafael Correa’s time in office and the policies of what is known as the Citizens’ Revolution, which recently celebrated eight years of government.

“The model of government has radically changed,” said Pabel Muñoz, the national secretary for planning and development. The Correa administration has also dramatically reduced inequality in the country. In 2007, the country’s wealthiest earned 42 times that of the poorest, while in 2014 that was reduced to only 22 times.

The 1.5 million lifted out of poverty represents a drop of 14 percent in the poverty rate in the country, with extreme poverty dropping 8 points from 16.5 percent to 8.6 percent.

“Ecuador is a successful country because while reducing poverty, it reduces the gap between the rich and the poor. It has allowed for an increase in consumption and has not registered drops in social indicators. Instead people have climbed the social ladder,” said Muñoz.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Intelligent socialism beats out malicious capitalism every time, over time, and if no interference.

[Marksman_91]

8. What about malicious socialism? Like in Venezuela?

It's obvious that Evo and Correa are doing exactly the opposite of what the Chavista regime is doing, hence why it's working out for them. And good for them, they deserve the praise. If only Maduro and co. where as intelligent and selfless as the other socialist leaders in LatAm.

[Fred Sanders]

9. Yes, obvious to anyone not familiar with history.

[Marksman_91]

11. Hey, don't take my word for it

Just check out what this VenezuelaAnalysis article, one of the most pro-Chavista propaganda sites out there, said about the situation back in October:

OPINION AND ANALYSIS: ECONOMY | INTERNATIONAL

Paralysed Venezuela vs Thriving Bolivia: Two Faces of Socialism

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10961

The above is notable because Evo Morales has declared himself a Marxist and admirer of Fidel [Castro], however, it would appear that he is also a pragmatic man who understands that socialism of the 21st century has to be radically different than that of the 20th, something that the person who was our economic flag bearer, [former minister Jorge] Giordani, could never understand and less so put into practice. Strong applause for Evo Morales.

Oh, and let's see what the wise, old Heinz Dieterich recently has to say about Maduro. Keep in note that Dieterich was to a degree Chavez's mentor:

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11168

[Fred Sanders]

12. If there is a point to all that please share it.

[Marksman_91]

13. The point is, not every leftists agrees with the US-sanctioned "economic war" hypothesis

And even those who do still have to put forth clear evidence to support such a claim besides the typical "It HAPPENED TO ALLENDE'S GOVERNMENT" excuse. We live in a different era now where hard proof is necessary and is much easier to obtain and publish for the world to see. If such evidence is not presented in a way that makes sense of all the bullshit claims, nobody's gonna take them seriously. If you want me to believe that the Venezuelan economy's debacle is due to US interference, give me an article from someone credible with hard proof of it and explaining elaborately how exactly the US is doing so other than the same BS of "JUST LOOK AT HISTORY!"

[uhnope]

14. don't interrupt the "USA is Great Satan" method of analysis with your silly reality-based argument!

Please!

[Judi Lynn]

15. " "USA is Great Satan" ." That doesn't work around decent people.

Haven't you figured that out, yet?

People know and discuss what has been history already. There is actually information to use as a guideline.

Spend less time trying to attack liberals, progressives, democrats, and humble yourself enough to start doing your homework.

This is not the place where anyone but other wingers will support your vicious attacks.

Read some books. Find out how very little you have ever really known about US American actions throughout the Americas.

[uhnope]

16. that's funny. Unhinged, but funny. Please reply to post #13,

it pretty much answers you directly:

The point is, not every leftists agrees with the US-sanctioned "economic war" hypothesis
And even those who do still have to put forth clear evidence to support such a claim besides the typical "It HAPPENED TO ALLENDE'S GOVERNMENT" excuse. We live in a different era now where hard proof is necessary and is much easier to obtain and publish for the world to see. If such evidence is not presented in a way that makes sense of all the bullshit claims, nobody's gonna take them seriously. If you want me to believe that the Venezuelan economy's debacle is due to US interference, give me an article from someone credible with hard proof of it and explaining elaborately how exactly the US is doing so other than the same BS of "JUST LOOK AT HISTORY!"

[Judi Lynn]

20. Hard evidence of actions taken covertly? Do you have any idea of what you're trying to say?

Simply amazing.

If you had ever taken the time to know what you're talking about, you would recall what Richard M. Nixon had to say regarding his evil schemes against the people's choice for their President, Salvador Allende, the man Nixon wanted to destroy.

From a quick search, found this in Wikipedia:

U.S. involvement

A report prepared by the United States Intelligence Community in 2000, at the direction of the National Intelligence Council, and echoed by the Church committee, states that

Although CIA did not instigate the coup that ended Allende's government on 11 September 1973, it was aware of coup-plotting by the military, had ongoing intelligence collection relationships with some plotters, and—because CIA did not discourage the takeover and had sought to instigate a coup in 1970—probably appeared to condone it.

The report says that the CIA "actively supported the military Junta after the overthrow of Allende but did not assist Pinochet to assume the Presidency."[33] After a review of recordings of telephone conversations between Nixon and Henry Kissinger, Robert Dallek concluded that both of them used the CIA to actively destabilize the Allende government. In one particular conversation about the news of Allende's overthrow, Kissinger complains about the lack of recognition of the American role in the overthrow of a "communist" government, upon which Nixon remarked "Well, we didn't - as you know - our hand doesn't show on this one."

Historian Peter Winn found "extensive evidence" of United States complicity in the coup. He states that its covert support was crucial to engineering the coup, as well as for the consolidation of power by the Pinochet regime following the takeover. Winn documents an extensive CIA operation to fabricate reports of a coup against Allende, as justification for the imposition of military rule.[6] Peter Kornbluh asserts that the CIA destabilized Chile and helped create the conditions for the coup, citing documents declassified by the Clinton administration.[35] Other authors point to the involvement of the Defense Intelligence Agency, agents of which allegedly secured the missiles used to bombard the La Moneda Palace.[36] Nonetheless, historian Mark Falcoff credits the CIA with preserving democratic opposition to Allende and preventing the "consolidation" of his supposed "totalitarian project".

[34]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d'%C3%A9tat

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As most people would be able to grasp, a foreign government operating illegally to destroy a country's leaders does do its work COVERTLY, since it wants the whole world to NOT KNOW what it's doing. It doesn't want any one to try to stop it, or to rally such world-wide support it would be far too costly in prestige.

The way it goes is that if people finally find out, they find out about usually YEARS LATER, through the Freedom of Information Act if and when the US Government agrees to partially declassify some part of its documents on a subject.

Why can't trolls understand the simplest of all possible connections, anyway?

[Marksman_91]

22. Like I said, the "JUST LOOK AT HISTORY" BS isn't gonna be enough

Richard Nixon's government is not the same as Barack Obama. And the policies of back then were also heavily driven by ideological Cold War geopolitics, which don't exist today now.

I'm not denying the US had a hand in the Allende coup. But to say that the same thing is happening today in Venezuela is absurd because then that would mean you genuinely believe that Obama wants to instigate a coup in Venezuela, "covertly". And like I said before as well, we live in a different era now where hard evidence of these "covert" ops would've showed up by now either by espionage from a whistleblower or what-have-you, as it happened with the NSA case.

So next time you bring up the Allende coup topic again to try to justify the state of affairs of Venezuela, I'm simply gonna ignore it and continue demanding the same thing.

[Judi Lynn]

24. What has prevented you from understanding what happened with the Honduran coup,

just several years ago, under Barack Obama?

Were you sleeping?

You do the footwork for this, if you haven't bothered to learn about it. It's about time you started thinking things through, and looking for the answers.

[uhnope]

23. you show who you really are with that last line

Why can't trolls understand the simplest of all possible connections, anyway?

You can't seem to even pretend to debate without getting insulting and emotional, which makes sense, since only someone with an emotional and malicious attachment could be defending a place that the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all agree is becoming a nightmare.

To get to your argument itself, it is exactly what Marksman_91 summarized it as--the US government did something to Allende forty years ago, so it must be doing it to some place now, and it is to blame for everything going wrong in that place. And we will surely have the proof, many years from now. Kind of a time machine argument.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Kind of a real truth. Anyone who knows about US history would know this already.

You're not going to get people to back away from facts.

You are claiming that something atrocious the US did in the 1970's would NOT be repeated endlessly? That the U.S. government would simply put that set of proven tactics AWAY and they would all sit with sweetly folded hands at their desks from that time to the present?

What kind of person doesn't know this is exactly the kind of business the U.S. has been engaged in from the first: taking what actually isn't offered, is already owned.

How can you even pretend to grasp this country's history without any awareness of it at all, or, more likely, supporting the long, long line of tortured, murdered people which would fill a decent-sized heaven created as the new home for the broken-hearted, suffering souls who got in the way.

Your attempt to attack people won't get you what you need. You need to re-evaluate your principles.

[Marksman_91]

17. So democrats that don't support the Chavista regime are automatically wingers?

Wow, that is not a black-and-white viewpoint at all

[uhnope]

18. yeah. Anyone who disagrees is instantly RW.

[Fred Sanders]

27. Not automatically. A little more evidence is required.

[Judi Lynn]

19. The author of the second article doesn't seem to agree with you that Dieterich was a "mentor"

to Hugo Chavez. Not exactly.

From your article:

Nowadays Dieterich is a critic of the Bolivarian leadership. But that was not always the case. In the past he attempted to cultivate relations with the same leaders. Like an obsequious courtier, he poured bucketloads of flattery on them. It would be difficult now to re-read those articles without being overcome with a feeling of nausea. Now the flattering courtier has become a vicious critic. It is hard to say which of the two variants is more poisonous.

Dieterich criticizes the Bolivarian Revolution, not from the left but from the right. In all his criticisms he stands on the same ground as the reactionary bourgeoisie. But he hides this fact under a thick smokescreen of “left” phraseology. This is a trick he has perfected over the years, raising it to the level of a fine art.

What Dieterich proposes

Let us proceed to the concrete. What are his suggestions? In essence Dieterich proposes to put an end to exchange control and price controls. This is exactly the same as what the bourgeoisie is demanding. But by relinquishing these necessary controls, the Revolution would immediately place itself at the mercy of the bourgeois and the speculators who wish to destroy it by economic sabotage.

The lifting of currency control would provoke an immediate outflow of capital, which would bring about an economic collapse and prices would soar. Goods may or may not appear on the supermarket shelves (they are now being hoarded by the speculators) but they would be so expensive that no ordinary people could afford to buy them. Thus the “plan” proposed by Dieterich is no different to that of the counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie. The fact that it is camouflaged by “socialist” rhetoric is irrelevant and resembles the pretty roses and coloured ribbons that adorn a box full of poisoned chocolates.

[center]. . .[/center]
Professor Dieterich’s constant failures to predict the course of events is well documented. He has made equally bold predictions in relation to Bolivia. A few years earlier Dieterich had set a date for an alleged coup in Bolivia that:“Reliable sources of high Bolivian government, who requested anonymity, revealed that the first attempted coup against Evo Morales is planned for this Wednesday, October 11,” he affirmed boldly on October 8, 2006.

Thanks for the great article by Alan Woods. He is an outstanding person.

[center]~ ~ ~



Hernán Luis Torres Nunez [/center]
I could swear the trolls around here have howled that DU'ers who post links to Venezuelanalysis are trying to pass off propaganda created by a Chavez-serving website. How does Hernán Luis Torres Nunez fit into your overall "take" on the website?

[Marksman_91]

21. I know the article wasn't written by Dieterich

It still shows the words that he said on a Spanish-language article that criticized Maduro. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a translated version for the non-Spanish speakers in this forum, which are curiously most of the people who support Chavismo, hence why I decided to go with this one, which the writer did the favor of translating.

Also, what do YOU think of Dieterich? It's obvious many Chavistas regarded him as a very intellectual leftist. And now that he's criticizing Maduro's regime, all of a sudden they're calling him a right-winger. Guess one thing is common in Chavismo: zero tolerance for criticism

[Judi Lynn]

26. We've had a lot of obsessive slow learners here who have insisted we are obligated to respect him.

It never seemed to go over when they dragged him out before, hoping they had pulled off a "gotcha" moment. Sad.

Thanks for sharring Dieterich with us, again. He's a real item with right-wingers.

[Bacchus4.0]

10. and Peru, Chile, and Brazil. I'll never understand the affinity for chavismo given what it is

when you have leftist leaders from those countries where things have actually improved and in some instances remarkably. But yeah, they look at Ven and say, guacala! that is what we don't want.