Federico Fuentes, "Bolivia: Social Tensions Erupt" - 1 views
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The first wave of this cycle peaked with the overthrow of the-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in October 2003, when a diverse range of worker, peasant, and indigenous organizations first united against the government's attempts to cheaply export the country's gas via Chile. The movement demanded the president's resignation following the massacre of more than 60 people. A second wave of resistance brought down his successor in June 2005, again with diverse organizations uniting around the issue of gas. This paved the way for Morales' victory in December 2005 presidential election, with a historic 54.7% of the vote.
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Fierce resistance from the traditional elites, who felt they were being pushed out of power, triggered the third, most powerful revolutionary wave in this cycle of struggle.
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However, the combined action of Morales' government, the social movements, and the armed forces crushed the coup attempt in September 2008, a blow the opposition has yet to fully recover from.
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Ironically, while its electoral base grew to 64% in December 2009, the MAS itself was greatly weakened. While the MAS was born in the countryside, where the structures of the "political instrument" and the powerful peasant and indigenous organizations were one and the same, it began to expand into the cities following its 2005 victory, where social organizations are much weaker and individual affiliation prevailed. In many cases, due to the lack of trained professionals in the peasant and indigenous organizations, Morales was forced to rely on "invitees" from the already existing state bureaucracy to run the government. Most of Morales' first cabinet came from these sectors, causing concern among the founding organizations of the MAS, who felt they were not being treated as they should be, with quotas in the government. While the relatively autonomous social organizations united to defend "their" government during times of intense confrontation, they have also tended to retreat to more local and sectoral demands.