Bolivia Hoy: Rupturas, inercias y desafios

• Main Author: Pablo Stefanoni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2012-02-01
• Series: Bolivian Studies Journal
• Subjects: Comunitarian Socialism; Constituent Asembly; Decolonization; Developmentalism; Evo Morales; Living Well
• Online Access: http://bsj.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/bsj/article/view/28

<p class="abstractparagraphsblue">La llegada de Evo Morales al poder en enero de 2006 ―avalado con un in&eacute;dito 54% de los votos― marc&oacute; un punto de inflexi&oacute;n en la historia pol&iacute;tica boliviana y abri&oacute; paso a un ambicioso proyecto de refundaci&oacute;n del pa&iacute;s. Esos ejes se tradujeron en la convocatoria a una Asamblea Constituyente y en la nacionalizaci&oacute;n de los hidrocarburos, en el marco de una fuerte &ldquo;ruralizaci&oacute;n de la pol&iacute;tica&rdquo;.&nbsp; A m&aacute;s de cinco a&ntilde;os de aquel triunfo y luego de una reelecci&oacute;n con el 64% en diciembre de 2009 que consolid&oacute; la hegemon&iacute;a &ldquo;evista&rdquo;, el gobierno enfrenta una serie de retos vinculados a la materializaci&oacute;n efectiva del cambio propuesto en los discursos refundacionales. En este art&iacute;culo se analiza esta experiencia novedosa de &ldquo;los indios en el poder&rdquo; centrada en la tensi&oacute;n entre los cambios operados y las inercias del pasado en esferas como la radicalizaci&oacute;n democr&aacute;tica, la igualdad social, el modelo de desarrollo y el proyecto pol&iacute;tico. Temas todos ellos atravesados por un objetivo tan poderoso como por momentos impreciso: la descolonizaci&oacute;n del pa&iacute;s.</p><p class="abstractparagraphsblue"><em>The arrival of Evo Morales to power in January of 2006 &ndash;supported with an unprecedent 54% of the votes&ndash; marked a milestone in Bolivian political history and opened the way to an ambitious project of re-foundation of the country. Those events were translated in the call for a Constituent Assembly and in the nationalization of hydrocarbons, within the framework of a strong &ldquo;ruralizaci&oacute;n de la pol&iacute;tica&rdquo;. More than five years of that one triumph has passed and after a re-election with 64% of the votes in December 2009 that consolidated the &ldquo;evista&rdquo; hegemonyhas declined.&nbsp; Now the government faces a series of challenges tied to the effective materialization of the change proposed in the re-foundational speeches. This article analyses the novel experience of &ldquo;Indians in the power&rdquo; centered in the tension between the changes implemented and the inertias of the past in spheres such as the democratic radicalization, the social equality, the model of development, and the political project. All these themes affected by a powerful, and yet somehow vague objective: the decolonization of the country.</em></p>