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Evo Morales: The Extraordinary Rise of the First Indigenous President of Bolivia
The fascinating Bolivian president Evo Morales is vying with the brash and provocative leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to be the most influential figure in South American politics today. Since coming into office four years ago, Morales has been intensely critical of the United States, speaking out against the drug war at the United Nations and implementing socialist programs at home, including the nationalization of British Petroleum holdings and other foreign investments. And he has reached out to America€™s political enemies, including Cuba and Iran.Based on personal interviews and unprecedented access, Sivak traces the rise of Morales from his humble origins in a family of migrant workers to his youth as union organizer and explosion onto the national stage.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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167 people want to read
About the author
Martín Sivak
11 books22 followersMartín Sivak estudió Sociología en la Universidad de Buenos Aires y siguió estudios de doctorado en Historia de América Latina en la Universidad de Nueva York. Periodista desde los dieciocho años, ha escrito en diarios y revistas de la Argentina y América, y participado en ciclos de radio y televisión.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 17, 2021
With the return of democracy to Bolivia late last year, I’ve been thinking a lot about Latin America’s Pink Tide. It’s a movement which seems to have come to an end - at least for now. Some of the leaders associated with the movement are still governing, but most of them have either left office, or else entered a sour phase. Chavez’s Venezuela has descended into disaster. Having gutted the economy to pay for unsustainable spending, the government has slowly abandoned popular support in favour of old-school authoritarianism as their preferred method of remaining in office. Ortega’s Nicaragua has hardly faired better. Ortega’s authoritarian policies have led to enormous democratic backsliding, albeit without a financial crisis on the same scale as in Maduro’s Venezuela.
Then there’s Brazil, where a government led by Lula achieved impressively excellent results in combating poverty, balanced the books in a way that the Chavismo economic and political ideology could never achieve, and then left office democratically, with Brazil in a strong position economically. If the story ended there, Lula’s domestic and international reputation would place him in the very highest tier of South American politicians. Unfortunately, implication in Operation Car Wash - one of the largest corruption scandals in the history of the world - landed Lula in prison. Although the motivations for this cases have been repeatedly challenged, and Lula’s own role in the case brought into question, the reputational damage of the whole incident was enough to empower a conservative backlash which elevated Jair Bolsinaro to the presidency, and with him a major doubling down on neoliberal economic policy. Although this has far from undone the work of the Lula and the Worker’s Party, it certainly represents a decisive break with that period of policy.
In Argentina, the Kirchners (first Néstor and then Cristina) also left office amidst a conservative backlash, giving way to Mauricio Macri, a centrist, and somebody who promised to be strong on corruption. In Ecuador the government of Rafael Correa led the country into a recession, which in and of itself need not have brought an end to the movement, particularly considering that he was succeeded by his own vice president, Lenín Moreno. However, Moreno moved away from decisively from Correa’s policies, and has been leading Ecuador in a decidedly more neoliberal direction.
This brings us to Bolivia. I thought, like many people, that the pink tide of Bolivia had come to an end in the conservative coup of 2019 - but I was wrong. As of late 2020, the Movement for Socialism (the party of Evo Morales) is again holding the presidency. With the coup finally repelled, Bolivian democracy appears to be healthy, and Bolivia is currently being led by Lucho Arce, a close associate of Morales and one of the architects of the Bolivian economic model under the Movement for Socialism.
So where do Morales and Arce sit politically? They are certainly a touch more radical than Lula was, but not so radical (nor so reckless) as Chavez in Venezuela, or Castro across the water in Cuba. More importantly, in my eyes at least, Morales led a democratic government, not characterised by the sort of democratic backsliding seen in Venezuela or Nicaragua. Morales was personally close with Castro in Cuba, but he seemed to take away rather different lessons from that relationship than Chavez or Maduro did.
The primary advice that Fidel gave him - or what Morales remembers as the most important - was in Havana in 2003: “Don’t do what we have done. Make your revolution a democratic one. We’re in different times now, and the people want profound changes without war.”
It is also worth noting that the government of Morales in Bolivia was not characterised by cookie-cutter solutions, and trying to attach it to a specific ideology is sometimes challenging. The government of Morales has been typified by trying to understood problems facing the country as individual and complex, with solutions being drawn up by thinking about things from new perspectives, not from reference to ideological frameworks (eg. neoliberal or Marxist-Leninist frameworks, both of which have had their time in the sun in Latin America). The ideological position of Morales is typified by an attachment to indigenous culture, a respect for indigenous values, and a vague commitment to ‘anti-imperialism’. Under Morales and his successor, the Bolivian economy has managed to achieve healthy and sustainable economic growth, poverty has dropped dramatically, and infrastructure has been expanded to facilitate and accommodate this growth. Key industries have been nationalised, but they have not been gutted and made unprofitable as they were in Venezuela. Government spending expanded dramatically under Morales, largely facilitated by this nationalisation, but the government has not been spending beyond its means.
Of course, the government of Bolivia remains corrupt, and the often informal style of government which was typical of the Morales administration, has done little to combat this. In addition, concerns are constantly raised internationally over coca production in Bolivia. Morales dramatically liberalised coca production, including adding specific protections for the coca industry into the constitution. Unsurprisingly, this has angered some international partners, not least of all the United States.
However, the coca issue is a complex one, and the administration would argue that they are protecting indigenous traditions, which have long been side-lined, or even totally ignored, in Bolivian politics. Coca production is definitely much less controversial in Bolivia than it is in somewhere like the United States, where it doesn’t naturally grow, and where it isn’t a part of a historic way of life.
Anyway, this book, Evo Morales: The Extraordinary Rise of the First Indigenous President of Bolivia, is good. Journalistic in style, it sometimes reads more like a book-length piece of journalism than a more conventional biography. It is very focused on personal interactions that the author has had with Morales and his team. Being originally published in 2008, it only comments on the first ~1-2 years of Morales’ actual presidency, with most of the book focusing on his campaigns for office, and his turbulent journey to the top of Bolivian politics. The personal style makes it an easy read, and the wealth of access the author had to Morales keeps the new information rolling in. I would like to have read more about the economics of Morales’ administration, but this book is more focused on his character and his personal relationships.
Bolivia, in my eyes, represents probably the only country in South America where the pink tide both worked, and changed the political status quo without repression. In Brazil, it worked, but the people later elected an essentially opposite politician. In Venezuela, it worked for a while, and then it stopped working, and then the state fell into dictatorship. In Ecuador, it worked, and then Moreno led a neoliberal backlash. In Nicaragua, it worked and then it didn’t, and all the while Ortega was leading the country into dictatorship. The would-be dictators in Bolivia were the neoliberal backlash, and the democrats were the leftists. All things considered, I think they managed to buck the trend in quite a satisfying way.
Then there’s Brazil, where a government led by Lula achieved impressively excellent results in combating poverty, balanced the books in a way that the Chavismo economic and political ideology could never achieve, and then left office democratically, with Brazil in a strong position economically. If the story ended there, Lula’s domestic and international reputation would place him in the very highest tier of South American politicians. Unfortunately, implication in Operation Car Wash - one of the largest corruption scandals in the history of the world - landed Lula in prison. Although the motivations for this cases have been repeatedly challenged, and Lula’s own role in the case brought into question, the reputational damage of the whole incident was enough to empower a conservative backlash which elevated Jair Bolsinaro to the presidency, and with him a major doubling down on neoliberal economic policy. Although this has far from undone the work of the Lula and the Worker’s Party, it certainly represents a decisive break with that period of policy.
In Argentina, the Kirchners (first Néstor and then Cristina) also left office amidst a conservative backlash, giving way to Mauricio Macri, a centrist, and somebody who promised to be strong on corruption. In Ecuador the government of Rafael Correa led the country into a recession, which in and of itself need not have brought an end to the movement, particularly considering that he was succeeded by his own vice president, Lenín Moreno. However, Moreno moved away from decisively from Correa’s policies, and has been leading Ecuador in a decidedly more neoliberal direction.
This brings us to Bolivia. I thought, like many people, that the pink tide of Bolivia had come to an end in the conservative coup of 2019 - but I was wrong. As of late 2020, the Movement for Socialism (the party of Evo Morales) is again holding the presidency. With the coup finally repelled, Bolivian democracy appears to be healthy, and Bolivia is currently being led by Lucho Arce, a close associate of Morales and one of the architects of the Bolivian economic model under the Movement for Socialism.
So where do Morales and Arce sit politically? They are certainly a touch more radical than Lula was, but not so radical (nor so reckless) as Chavez in Venezuela, or Castro across the water in Cuba. More importantly, in my eyes at least, Morales led a democratic government, not characterised by the sort of democratic backsliding seen in Venezuela or Nicaragua. Morales was personally close with Castro in Cuba, but he seemed to take away rather different lessons from that relationship than Chavez or Maduro did.
The primary advice that Fidel gave him - or what Morales remembers as the most important - was in Havana in 2003: “Don’t do what we have done. Make your revolution a democratic one. We’re in different times now, and the people want profound changes without war.”
It is also worth noting that the government of Morales in Bolivia was not characterised by cookie-cutter solutions, and trying to attach it to a specific ideology is sometimes challenging. The government of Morales has been typified by trying to understood problems facing the country as individual and complex, with solutions being drawn up by thinking about things from new perspectives, not from reference to ideological frameworks (eg. neoliberal or Marxist-Leninist frameworks, both of which have had their time in the sun in Latin America). The ideological position of Morales is typified by an attachment to indigenous culture, a respect for indigenous values, and a vague commitment to ‘anti-imperialism’. Under Morales and his successor, the Bolivian economy has managed to achieve healthy and sustainable economic growth, poverty has dropped dramatically, and infrastructure has been expanded to facilitate and accommodate this growth. Key industries have been nationalised, but they have not been gutted and made unprofitable as they were in Venezuela. Government spending expanded dramatically under Morales, largely facilitated by this nationalisation, but the government has not been spending beyond its means.
Of course, the government of Bolivia remains corrupt, and the often informal style of government which was typical of the Morales administration, has done little to combat this. In addition, concerns are constantly raised internationally over coca production in Bolivia. Morales dramatically liberalised coca production, including adding specific protections for the coca industry into the constitution. Unsurprisingly, this has angered some international partners, not least of all the United States.
However, the coca issue is a complex one, and the administration would argue that they are protecting indigenous traditions, which have long been side-lined, or even totally ignored, in Bolivian politics. Coca production is definitely much less controversial in Bolivia than it is in somewhere like the United States, where it doesn’t naturally grow, and where it isn’t a part of a historic way of life.
Anyway, this book, Evo Morales: The Extraordinary Rise of the First Indigenous President of Bolivia, is good. Journalistic in style, it sometimes reads more like a book-length piece of journalism than a more conventional biography. It is very focused on personal interactions that the author has had with Morales and his team. Being originally published in 2008, it only comments on the first ~1-2 years of Morales’ actual presidency, with most of the book focusing on his campaigns for office, and his turbulent journey to the top of Bolivian politics. The personal style makes it an easy read, and the wealth of access the author had to Morales keeps the new information rolling in. I would like to have read more about the economics of Morales’ administration, but this book is more focused on his character and his personal relationships.
Bolivia, in my eyes, represents probably the only country in South America where the pink tide both worked, and changed the political status quo without repression. In Brazil, it worked, but the people later elected an essentially opposite politician. In Venezuela, it worked for a while, and then it stopped working, and then the state fell into dictatorship. In Ecuador, it worked, and then Moreno led a neoliberal backlash. In Nicaragua, it worked and then it didn’t, and all the while Ortega was leading the country into dictatorship. The would-be dictators in Bolivia were the neoliberal backlash, and the democrats were the leftists. All things considered, I think they managed to buck the trend in quite a satisfying way.
March 31, 2016
Buenísima la biografía de uno de los Revolucionarios de nuestro tiempo(según mi humilde entender). Hay muchísimo para aprender acá y para entender las presiones y las situaciones por las que atraviesa un gobierno revolucionario.
Es ameno y fácil de leer. El autor acompaña a Evo en muchas instancias y aprovecha para ir contextualizando con un poco de historia que nos ayuda a entender la situación general y el marco de algunas decisiones, su relación con los Estados Unidos y los factores de poder mediático y económico. Recomendable.
Es ameno y fácil de leer. El autor acompaña a Evo en muchas instancias y aprovecha para ir contextualizando con un poco de historia que nos ayuda a entender la situación general y el marco de algunas decisiones, su relación con los Estados Unidos y los factores de poder mediático y económico. Recomendable.
October 10, 2018
Realmemte lo he disfrutado. Es un libro intimo, lleno de detalles y anecdotas en torno a Evo Morales, su vida previa a la presidencia y su dia a dia liderando a Bolivia.
Como persona, Evo es un hombre que no deja indiferente a nadie y destaca por sobre los mandatarios de America Latina, el libro me ayudo mucho a entender desde donde viene y hacia donde pareciese ir.
Como persona, Evo es un hombre que no deja indiferente a nadie y destaca por sobre los mandatarios de America Latina, el libro me ayudo mucho a entender desde donde viene y hacia donde pareciese ir.
December 19, 2019
Excelente aproximación a la historia y la figura de Evo Morales. La intimidad que revela con el entrevistado es de las mejores cosas que ofrece.
El libro apunta lo siguiente :
"Sobre ochenta y tres gobiernos, treinta y seis no duraron más de un año, treinta y siete fueron de facto y hasta el momento (2008) ningún historiador ha sabido precisar la cantidad exacta de golpes de Estado."
Recorrer lo histórico y lo simbólico de una Bolivia constantemente convulsionada ayudan al entendimiento de los acontecimientos recientes. El golpe a Evo parece ser parte de una tensión histórica y compleja entre el Oriente, el Occidente y los intereses de la embajada de EEUU, pero sobre todo una tradición de la élites de Santa Cruz de delimitar su tolerancia con gobiernos no a fines. Este golpe parece ser uno más, un acontecimiento cíclico en la historia boliviana, pero hay algo que está claro, nada volverá a ser lo mismo, Evo marca un antes un después, es la personificación de un cambio profundo.
Muy recomendable.
El libro apunta lo siguiente :
"Sobre ochenta y tres gobiernos, treinta y seis no duraron más de un año, treinta y siete fueron de facto y hasta el momento (2008) ningún historiador ha sabido precisar la cantidad exacta de golpes de Estado."
Recorrer lo histórico y lo simbólico de una Bolivia constantemente convulsionada ayudan al entendimiento de los acontecimientos recientes. El golpe a Evo parece ser parte de una tensión histórica y compleja entre el Oriente, el Occidente y los intereses de la embajada de EEUU, pero sobre todo una tradición de la élites de Santa Cruz de delimitar su tolerancia con gobiernos no a fines. Este golpe parece ser uno más, un acontecimiento cíclico en la historia boliviana, pero hay algo que está claro, nada volverá a ser lo mismo, Evo marca un antes un después, es la personificación de un cambio profundo.
Muy recomendable.
August 15, 2025
Un retrato de época y épica. Una cápsula del tiempo ✊🏻
February 28, 2015
Un agrado que sea un libro centrado en lo político y no en lo personal. Excelente que haya abordado con claridad la indecente intromisión de Estados Unidos en los destinos de Bolivia, intervenciones colonialistas que gozan de buena salud en otros países de la región, Chile sin ir más lejos.
El libro relata muchos momentos que revelan la dignidad de Evo y su proyecto, sólo por la contingencia nacional remarco el caso de un senador oficialista ex director de la petrolera estatal de quién se descubrió que había recibido una coima. Hoy el tipo está condenado a 12 años de cárcel.
¿Con qué cara los derechistas podrían criticar a Evo Morales? Es el patético precio que se paga cuando no reverencias a Estados Unidos y su neoliberalismo demente.
El libro relata muchos momentos que revelan la dignidad de Evo y su proyecto, sólo por la contingencia nacional remarco el caso de un senador oficialista ex director de la petrolera estatal de quién se descubrió que había recibido una coima. Hoy el tipo está condenado a 12 años de cárcel.
¿Con qué cara los derechistas podrían criticar a Evo Morales? Es el patético precio que se paga cuando no reverencias a Estados Unidos y su neoliberalismo demente.
December 2, 2019
Imprescindible libro como para informarse un poco y no hablar tantas boludeces, más en estos tiempos que corren. Porque hablar boludeces es gratis, pero no está bueno.
Este broli trata fundamentalmente de los primeros tiempos de Evo como presidente de Bolivia, pero también tiene “flashbacks“ mediante los cuales conocemos las distintas etapas de su vida, desde su más tierna (o no tanto) infancia hasta la campaña previa a las elecciones.
También sirve para tener un pantallazo general de Bolivia, un país en el que se han sucedido gobiernos democráticos muy breves con dictaduras militares desde siempre y donde el conflicto Oriente/Occidente y la embajada estadounidense siempre han marcado el pulso.
Este broli trata fundamentalmente de los primeros tiempos de Evo como presidente de Bolivia, pero también tiene “flashbacks“ mediante los cuales conocemos las distintas etapas de su vida, desde su más tierna (o no tanto) infancia hasta la campaña previa a las elecciones.
También sirve para tener un pantallazo general de Bolivia, un país en el que se han sucedido gobiernos democráticos muy breves con dictaduras militares desde siempre y donde el conflicto Oriente/Occidente y la embajada estadounidense siempre han marcado el pulso.
June 10, 2025
En su momento esta biografía de Evo Morales fue muy relevante para entender porqué era tan necesario aceptar su ascenso político y comprender el espacio que iba a ocupar en la construcción del nuevo Estado plurinacional. En ese sentido creo que este libro sigue siendo relevante, lastima que el sujeto de esta narración haya sido tan desleal con su propio legado. Recomiendo mucho la segunda parte de esta biografía "Vértigos de lo inesperado", también de Martín Sivak, creo que juntos estos dos relatos explican mucho de lo está pasando hoy en Bolivia.
November 12, 2021
Sivak's biography of Morales is inspirational though his narrative is somewhat tedious given that he first builds up a glorious word tribute to Morales and then tries condensing him into a more relatable figure. I enjoyed his description of Morales rise from rags to President and how he confronts unimaginable challenges in a nation beset by poverty and societal depression.
March 23, 2012
I enjoyed reading this book and learning about social issues facing the indigenous population in Bolivia and the unique situation of the cocaleros. Parts of it were pretty dry, which is to be expected with a political/biographical book. It details the reasons behind Evo's popularity and struggles and there are even a few good laughs in it.
April 13, 2015
La historia de Evo y de los ultimos 20 anios de la politica boliviana puede bien leerse como una novela epica. Una obra recomendada especialmente para los detractores de este controvertido personaje que han decidido formar su opinion de el basandose en lo que dice la prensa, las redes sociales y las opiniones cargadas de racismo e intolerancia de otros.
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August 7, 2011Excelente mirada de Martín Sivak que nos acerca a un líder latinoamericano.
May 13, 2012
Truthfully I was not as engaged by the writing of the book but I very much appreciated the opportunity to get to know Evo and see him as a person.
January 10, 2016
Hay una cantidad impresionante de atributos que admirar de Evo Morales.
December 7, 2014
Es una gran biografía, un excelente trabajo periodístico que aborda la llegada a la presidencia del que sin dudas es un personaje increíble para retratar y que transformó a Bolivia para siempre.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews