Indigenous Protest in Bolivia Against Evo Morales

In 2005, Evo Morales won a historic election, leading a political movement which merged indigenous activism with opposition to neoliberal reforms. While the approval of a new constitution and a second landslide victory for Morales in 2010 seemed to set the basis for a revitalized phase of his political project, new tensions emerged within the coalition of popular forces that supported it. The tipping point in the relationship between the government and indigenous groups was marked by an internationally famous dispute around the construction of a road cutting across the Isoboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS). The plan was supported by campesino migrants of Aymara and Quechua origins but strongly opposed by some lowland indigenous groups based on environmental concerns and the lack of prior consultation, as mandated by Bolivian and international law. This conflict not only marked a turning point in the political alliance between the Morales government and large sectors of the Bolivian indigenous movement, but it also revealed a nuanced picture of pan‐rural relationships and the challenges of conciliating urgent and conflicting demands: identity revitalization, environmental protection, economic development, and political participation.