The story of how Bolivian President Evo Morales came to power is an intriguing one.
Director Alejandro Landes follows Morales during the campaign that brought Morales to power in 2006, showing the candidate as a charming, ideologically fervent man.
Morales is the leader of the party Movement for Socialism, the acronym in Spanish being MAS, which means “more.”
He won on a platform calling for the relegalization of coca, nationalizing natural resources, and redistribution of land.
Morales is unabashedly socialist and considers himself allied with Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He also lionizes Che Guevara.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eJ91ku5rJxc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
In speeches made during his campaign, Morales calls for the expulsion of “yankees” and death to capitalists.
One thing that helped galvanize Morales as a younger man was the attempt by the Bolivian government to eradicate all coca production in the nation, with full backing and blessing of the United States. The coca farmers in Bolivia see that policy as ridiculous as eradicating sugar cane because it’s used to make rum.
Morales, an Aymara, claims to be the first Bolivian president of indigenous descent. That claim is disputed.
Peruvian author and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa has said Morales is playing the race card in a time when mixing of the races is more and more common.
This movie, Landes’s first, is quiet and subtle. It shows how unlikely a candidate Morales is because of his plain, blunt talk and his casual attire.
Morales won his second term as president in 2009.
This documentary should be seen by anyone interested in Latin American affairs and those who want to see where radical ideas are born.
Cocalero is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: [email protected]
