Morales set for Bolivia election win

13 October 2014 Last updated at 01:25 Opinion polls suggest a first round victory for Evo Morales, seen here voting in Chapare region Exit polls in Bolivia’s presidential elections indicate that the incumbent, Evo Morales, has won a third consecutive term in office.

Mr Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, won more than 60% of the vote, according to the unofficial exit polls.

Votes are still being counted across the country. Six million people were eligible to vote in Bolivia and abroad.

Mr Morales has overseen strong economic growth since taking office in 2006 and has been widely tipped to win.

He has presided over a a period of economic growth and reduced poverty, using Bolivia’s commodity wealth to reduce poverty levels.

But he has been criticised for failing to halt corruption.

Mr Morales’s party, the Movement Toward Socialism, is also expected to make gains and win a strong majority in Congress.

The poll passed without major incident, according to the electoral authorities and foreign observers.

Analysis: Ignacio de los Reyes, BBC News

The La Paz cable car – one of Mr Morales’s projects

Evo Morales became the first indigenous president in 2006 and is even more popular now, and not only among his Aymara ethnic group.

He won the trust of many thanks to Bolivia’s good economic performance. Supermarkets, cinemas and restaurants are popping up everywhere.

The new cable car in La Paz is perhaps the best example of the changing times in Bolivia, which remains one of the poorest countries in the region.

It connects La Paz with the satellite city of El Alto, home to thousands of migrants. There, a monument to Che Guevara sits next to a brand new shopping centre, surrounded by thousands of poorly built stalls selling counterfeit products.

A giant campaign poster of “Evo” overlooks the scene. His face is likely to stay there for five more years if, as predicted, he wins a landslide victory on Sunday.

Economic growth

Since 2006, Mr Morales’s government has focused on education subsidies, increased pensions and spending on public works.

He has been boosted by a boom in commodities prices that has helped boost export revenues nine-fold.

The revenue has helped fund policies that have created an average annual economic growth of 5%, well above the regional average.

It has also funded public works projects, including a cable car system for the capital, La Paz.

Samuel Doria Medina addresses supporters in Santa Cruz

Some 500,000 people have been taken out of poverty.

The oil, gas, mining, telecommunications and water sectors have all been nationalised.

Mr Morales’s critics say he has introduced anti-environment measures and presided over a corrupt administration.

He is also accused of using millions of dollars in government cash to fund his re-election campaign and that this has helped create a fractured opposition.

Although there are four challengers in the election, opinion polls suggest Mr Morales is 40 points ahead of his nearest rival, Samuel Doria Medina.

Mr Doria Medina has vowed to clean up the judiciary if elected.

To avoid a run-off, Mr Morales must win 50% of valid votes, or 40% if that includes a 10-point lead over his nearest rival.

Mr Morales will want to maintain his two-thirds control of Bolivia’s Senate and assembly, which are also holding elections.

This could allow him to alter the constitution to permit a fourth term in office.

Mr Morales has already benefited from a court ruling that permitted him to run for a third term.

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Morales set for Bolivia election win

Bolivia prison riot death toll rises

24 August 2013 Last updated at 18:50 ET Relatives are still waiting for a list of those killed in Friday’s riot The number of people killed as a result of a riot at a prison in eastern Bolivia on Friday has risen to 31.

Another 37 inmates were seriously injured when fighting broke out between rival gangs inside the jail.

Most of the victims burned to death after inmates blew up two propane tanks and used others as flamethrowers.

Among those killed is an 18-month-old toddler, one of the many children living in the prison with its incarcerated parents.

Inferno

Under Bolivian law, children under six years of age can stay in jail with their parents if there is no other relative to look after them.

The authorities have so far not released a list of those who died in the riot at Palmasola prison outside the city of Santa Cruz. Palmasola is Bolivia’s largest jail.

Relatives and friends of inmates have been waiting outside the prison for news. The latest victim died on Saturday of burns sustained during the riot.

Interior Minister Carlos Romero said the violence started when inmates in one cell block knocked a hole in the wall separating them from another block.

They then attacked their rivals with propane gas tanks, machetes, knives and sticks.

The fire spread quickly as straw mattresses were set alight. Guards took several hours to put out the fire and regain control of the prison.

Some prisoners jumped off the roof to escape the flames.

President Evo Morales has ordered an investigation into the incident.

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Bolivia prison riot death toll rises

Many dead in Bolivia prison riot

23 August 2013 Last updated at 18:57 ET A number of inmates were taken to hospital with burns after the riot A riot at a jail in eastern Bolivia has left at least 29 people dead and more than 50 injured, officials say.

The head of police, Alberto Jorge Aracena, said many of the bodies had been badly burnt.

He said fighting broke out early on Friday between inmates at the maximum security area of the Palmasola jail in the city of Santa Cruz.

“There was a fight for control in two cellblocks in the prison,” said Mr Aracena.

He said prisoners in one of the blocks had blown up a metal propane tank in another block around dawn.

Local media reported that shots had been heard after the explosion. A fire that broke out shortly afterwards took almost two hours to put out.

Mr Aracena said the authorities had brought the situation under control.

Another government official, Celso Parada, said the gas explosion had caused many injuries.

“I saw some 60 injured inmates. Some of them were badly burnt,” he said.

Mr Parada said the death toll could eventually be much higher.

He also said he had seen the charred body of a small boy.

Prisons in Bolivia are often overcrowded, but not only with adults. Hundreds of children live in them while their parents serve their sentences.

Under the country’s legislation, children under six years are allowed to stay in their parents’ cells.

But many remain there even longer, as there is nowhere else for them to go.

President Evo Morales expressed “dismay” over the deaths, ordering an urgent investigation.

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Many dead in Bolivia prison riot

Bolivia profile

21 May 2013 Last updated at 07:10 ET A country of statistical extremes, landlocked Bolivia is the highest and most isolated country in South America.

It has the largest proportion of indigenous people, who make up around two-thirds of the population.

Though rich in mineral and energy resources, Bolivia is one of South America’s poorest countries. Wealthy urban elites, who are mostly of Spanish ancestry, have traditionally dominated political and economic life, whereas most Bolivians are low-income subsistence farmers, miners, small traders or artisans.

The country has the second-largest reserves of natural gas in South America, but there have been long-running tensions over the exploitation and export of the resource. Indigenous groups say the country should not relinquish control of the reserves, which they see as Bolivia’s sole remaining natural resource.

La Paz is the world’s highest administrative capital

Before President Evo Morales came to power the political fallout from the issue had helped to topple two presidents and had led to calls for regional autonomy, including in prosperous, oil-producing Santa Cruz.

In May 2006 President Morales delighted his supporters but sent shockwaves through the energy world when he put the energy industry under state control.

Bolivia underwent further radical change in January 2009, when voters backed President Morales’ project for a new constitution that aimed to give greater rights to the indigenous majority population.

Continue reading the main story Politics: Differences over the exploitation of energy resources underlie recurring political crises; Evo Morales is the first indigenous presidentEconomy: Poverty is rife and there are regional disparities in wealth distribution; Mr Morales opposes free-trade policies and has tightened state control over the economy, nationalising the energy sector and key utilitiesInternational: Mr Morales is a strong critic of the US, which in turn is concerned about Bolivian coca cultivation; Bolivia has close ties with communist Cuba and socialist VenezuelaProfiles compiled by BBC MonitoringIn the 1980s Bolivia experienced a deep economic recession. The tin market collapsed, with the loss of about 21,000 jobs, inflation was rampant and the national currency was in severe crisis.

While strict austerity measures, the introduction of a new currency and tax reform succeeded in curbing inflation and restoring foreign confidence, these policies also widened the already huge wealth gap and generated great social unrest.

Bolivia is one of the world’s largest producers of coca, the raw material for cocaine. A crop-eradication programme, though easing the flow of conditional US aid, has incensed many of Bolivia’s poorest farmers for whom coca is often the only source of income.

A village in the Amazon, a region which residents are trying to protect from outside intrusion

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Bolivia profile

Bolivia accepts European apologies

24 July 2013 Last updated at 14:02 ET President Evo Morales said he was not fully satisfied but accepted the apologies nevertheless Bolivian President Evo Morales says he accepts the apologies from European countries which barred his jet from flying into their airspace last month.

The Bolivians accused France, Spain, Portugal and Italy of acting on an alleged US tip-off that the fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden was onboard a plane flying from Moscow.

The Europeans apologised and said the decision had been due to mistakes.

Mr Snowden has been in the transit area of a Moscow airport since 23 June.

‘Continue relationships’

Mr Morales said he was not “fully satisfied” with the apologies, but accepted them nevertheless.

“Because we want to continue relationships of respect among our countries – relationships which are complementary and in solidarity with consequence and in co-ordination with our ministries and the presidents – we have agreed to send our ambassadors back,” he told reporters in the Bolivian capital, La Paz.

After his flight diversion, Bolivia had recalled their ambassadors to the involved countries.

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Bolivia accepts European apologies