MORE INFO ON EVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LA PAZ 000007

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR WHA PDAS CSHAPIRO, WHA/AND LPETRONI, INR/IAA KSMITH
ARMITAGE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON PINR BL
SUBJECT: MORE INFO ON EVO

REF: A. LA PAZ 3755

B. LA PAZ 3763

C. LA PAZ 1238

D. LA PAZ 1062 (2004)

Classified By: Amb. David N. Greenlee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Evo Morales rose to the presidency on a wave of ethnic
identification and widespread frustration, embodying the
aspirations of his own indigenous majority and signaling for
the middle class a break from the corrupt, inept political
elite and the social upheaval it increasingly produced.
Morales speaks only halting Aymara and Quechua, the main
indigenous languages, but his roots in poverty and later in
syndicate politics lend him legitimacy for most Bolivians as
their first truly representative elected president.


2. (C) Born Juan Evo Morales Ayma on October 26, 1959 in
Orinoca, Oruro, in Bolivia's western highlands, he was one of
seven children, only three of whom survived childhood. His
family tended sheep and llama and, during high school,
Morales balanced his studies with work as a breadmaker and
bricklayer. He performed obligatory military service in
Cochabamba and then returned to Oruro and played trumpet in a
local band. Morales described his life on the altiplano as
"survival, hunger, and misery."


3. (C) Morales's family moved for economic reasons from
Oruro to the Chapare (Tropico de Cochabamba) in 1979, joining
a flood of migrants, mostly former miners and their families,
to plant coca. He showed leadership early on by organizing a
soccer league and captaining one of its teams. He also
claims to have been exposed for the first time to labor
unions and favorably contrasts cultivating coca, the symbol,
he says, of political power, with his harsh experience on the
altiplano. But Morales also developed in the Chapare deep
distrust of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He claims
to have watched a friend burned to death as an accused
narcotrafficker and reports watching DEA agents machine gun
campesinos from a helicopter, supposedly leaving five dead.
While the facts may not support his memory, Morales continues
to feel deeply wounded by charges that he is variously a
narcotrafficker or narcoterrorist - both of which he
vehemently denies.


4. (C) Morales began his career as a labor leader in 1983,
when a Chapare union (Sindicato de Colonizadores en el
Chapare) named him their Secretary of Sports. After two
years, Morales rose to be the organization's Secretary
General. In 1988, he became Executive Secretary of the
Cocalero Federation of the Tropics, and then assumed the
presidency of the six federations of coca growers of the
Chapare in 1996. Morales organized a political party, called
the Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People
(IPSP in Spanish) in 1995, but had difficulty obtaining
recognition from the Supreme Electoral Court. He
transitioned from a labor leader in the Chapare to national
politics in 1997, when he was elected to Congress (as a
uninominal deputy on the now-defunct United Left party
ticket). In 2002, Morales formed an alliance with the
Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party (founded July 23,
1987) to run as its presidential candidate (and also to run
as a uninominal deputy in the event he didn't win the
presidency). Morales came in second in the June 2002
presidential elections with 20 percent of the vote. He did
not contest his loss, but accepted his place in Congress.


5. (C) Morales's poor working class and cocolero background
influences his leadership style. He can be proud, stubborn
and suspicious of outsiders, particularly Americans. He is
most comfortable with coca growers in the Chapare and within
the familiar labor union structure, where his
"anti-imperialist" rhetoric is well-received. In meetings
(including with foreign diplomats in Bolivia or dignitaries

LA PAZ 00000007 002 OF 002


abroad) he seldom tailors himself to his audience, often
monopolizing conversations. In a recent pre-election meeting
with the OAS observer mission, he lambasted the United States
and directed his comments toward a member of the team who
looked (and was) American, without regard for the
representative's OAS employment. In his own party, there is
much speculation about tension between he and VP-elect Alvaro
Garcia Linera, perhaps because of Garcia Linera's publicly
perceived intellectual superiority. At the same time,
Morales is perfectly capable of slapping down in-house
rivals, like former MAS founding member and senator Filemon
Escobar, when he feels they are no longer loyal to him.


5. (C) On a personal note, Morales is notoriously single
with at least two illegitimate children. During the
campaign, he dodged press questions about his marital
intentions by saying that he would soon reveal the identity
of his future first lady, who some believed was Adriana Gil
Moreno, a 23-year-old MAS activist who is an alternative city
council member in Santa Cruz. Gil finished high school in
the United States and studied international relations in
Alabama; she is now studying law at the Private University of
Santa Cruz. Since the landslide victory, however, talk of
Morales's family life has quieted.


6. (C) Comment: In his first meeting with the Ambassador on
January 2 (ref),Morales seemed self-assured, if a little
suspicious, but clearly was the senior partner in his
relationship with VP-elect Alvaro Garcia Linera, also present
at the discussion. Morales generally showed more pragmatism
than ideology and seemed interested in opening and
maintaining a dialog with the Embassy. At the same time, he
responded in-kind but proportionately to the Ambassador's
no-nonsense, no-platitudes approach and seemed willing to
take on board information that may have challenged some of
his preconceived notions of the U.S. role in Bolivia. The
meeting ended on a reasonably cordial note and indicated that
treating Morales with respect but without kid gloves may hold
the most promise for future cooperation. End comment.
GREENLEE