Date:21/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/21/stories/2006012107191100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

A grand revolution in the Andes

Richard Gott

Fidel Castro's prophecy has at last been fulfilled as Bolivia joins Latin America's `axis of good.'

— Photo: AP

MORE THAN A PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY: Bolivia's Evo Morales.

ONE OF the most significant events in 500 years of Latin American history will take place in Bolivia on Sunday when Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, is inducted as President. People of indigenous origin have, on occasion, risen to the top in Latin America.

But Mr. Morales' overwhelming election victory took place on a tide of indigenous mobilisation that is especially powerful in Andean countries; elections in Peru and Ecuador this year might also bring success to indigenous movements.

The Rebellion of the Hanged is one of B. Traven's novels of the Mexican jungle, written in 1936. In these stories, the Indians turn slowly from rebellion to revolution, and something of that spirit infuses the new mood in Latin America. The heirs to pre-Columbian civilisations have conquered their distrust of white "democracy" and are again moving to the front of the historical stage. They do so as one of Kondratiev's long economic waves has been sweeping through the continent like a tsunami. The terrible impact of neoliberal economics is reminiscent of the slump of the 1930s that brought revolution to many countries of Latin America.

Mr. Morales' victory is not just a symptom of economic breakdown and age-old repression. It also fulfils a prophecy made by Fidel Castro, who claimed the Andes would become the Americas' Sierra Maestra — the Cuban mountains that harboured black and Indian rebels over the centuries, as well as Mr. Castro's guerrilla band in the 1950s. His prophecy exercised U.S. Governments in the 1960s.

Radical elected governments were destroyed by the armed forces — guardians of the white settler states — supported by Washington. Countries such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia were prevented from following anything that might have resembled the Cuban road.

Today the rules have changed. The Cold War no longer provides an excuse for intervention, and the U.S. is stretched in other parts of the world. The ballot box, for the first time in Latin America, has become the strategy of choice for revolutionaries and the poor majority. The result in Bolivia is a President who invokes the memory of the silver miners of Potosi and Che Guevara, who dreamed of a socialist commonwealth of Latin America. Mr. Castro's prophecy looks close to fulfilment, and, in his 80th year, he will go to Bolivia to savour the moment.

Simon Bolivar's shadow

Another historic presence will be the shadow of Simon Bolivar, the independence leader of the 19th century who also had faith in the ability of the Andean provinces to change Latin America. He drove the Spanish from the mountains, and finished his battles in the country that was given his name. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, mentor of Mr. Morales and largely responsible for channelling the new mood into revolutionary paths, will also be present this weekend.

The "axis of good" — as Mr. Morales terms it — of Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia, is a huge threat to U.S. political, economic, and cultural hegemony. It is also a challenge for Latin America's traditional Left, which has never had much success in coping with indigenous populations. Now the representative of Bolivia's farmers, tin miners, and coca growers of indigenous ancestry is to wear the presidential sash and seek their incorporation into political life. They will be joined by more overtly socialist groups that derive their legitimacy from half a century of union work — an alliance that will be at least as problematic for the President as U.S. hostility and international companies seeking to exploit Bolivia's oil and gas. These won't be nationalised but will certainly have to pay higher royalties.

False dawns are common in Latin American history, but the strength of the radical tide suggests that this time it will not be dammed, still less reversed.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

(Richard Gott is author of Cuba: A New History; and Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian.)