MABB ©
In a prior post I speculated on the deconstruction of the Morales government on the grounds that 1) his (ama sua, ama qhella, ama llulla) government's credibility was seriously undermined through the Fondioc scandal, which revealed serious corruption cases in a special fund used to finance, of all, development projects for the indigenous peoples; and 2) the persona of Evo Morales, who personifies the ideals and values of this government was also under attack on the grounds that Morales' private life, especially the revelation that he had an illegitimate child with a business woman and that that woman used her connections to the government to weave business deals with a Chinese company.
I also cautioned, the deconstruction was in process and that, most likely, the post was going to end in a to be continued...
Well, the process is still evolving, i.e. to be continued, however, it can no longer be called a deconstruction process. The credibility of the government as well as the persona of Evo Morales have been seriously damaged, but the Morales government is still standing.
This begs the question: how have they managed to control such damage?
The Morales government has acted as it has been acting all along, it has taken the reins of the problem and has provided a solution benign to itself.
First of all, it has used the law to bring things into control. That is, the very law it has been passing with the help of its overwhelming support in Congress. Two moves are to highlight: 1) the defense lawyers have been legally cornered in to a situation where they themselves were being accused of some crimes. Both lawyers saw cases presented against them and, at least one of them, was in jail for some days. Now, both have left the case and Bolivia and have sought asylum in other countries. Number 2) the woman who has been in and out of jail, at times being for several weeks behind bars, has been placed in a situation where the crimes she was being accused, are slowly being dropped due to lack of evidence, and her new defense team has been less prominent and, perhaps more efficient?
The news reports have ceased to dominate the headlines. Above all, because no media outlet has been able to see the child, while other outlets have provided evidence that the whole thing was invented by the woman. A real telenovela.
With that, the scandal has been largely dropped aside and the government has been able to turn its attention to other issues. The government still seems to stand strong with the support of the people, however it has not been able to come out uninjured from the scandal. Now, the litmus test will be whether Morales, in spite of the negative results in the last referendum which asked whether Morales could run for another term, is able to gather enough support to once again try to get permission to run once more.![]()
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In a prior post I speculated on the deconstruction of the Morales government on the grounds that 1) his (ama sua, ama qhella, ama llulla) government's credibility was seriously undermined through the Fondioc scandal, which revealed serious corruption cases in a special fund used to finance, of all, development projects for the indigenous peoples; and 2) the persona of Evo Morales, who personifies the ideals and values of this government was also under attack on the grounds that Morales' private life, especially the revelation that he had an illegitimate child with a business woman and that that woman used her connections to the government to weave business deals with a Chinese company.
I also cautioned, the deconstruction was in process and that, most likely, the post was going to end in a to be continued...
Well, the process is still evolving, i.e. to be continued, however, it can no longer be called a deconstruction process. The credibility of the government as well as the persona of Evo Morales have been seriously damaged, but the Morales government is still standing.
This begs the question: how have they managed to control such damage?
The Morales government has acted as it has been acting all along, it has taken the reins of the problem and has provided a solution benign to itself.
First of all, it has used the law to bring things into control. That is, the very law it has been passing with the help of its overwhelming support in Congress. Two moves are to highlight: 1) the defense lawyers have been legally cornered in to a situation where they themselves were being accused of some crimes. Both lawyers saw cases presented against them and, at least one of them, was in jail for some days. Now, both have left the case and Bolivia and have sought asylum in other countries. Number 2) the woman who has been in and out of jail, at times being for several weeks behind bars, has been placed in a situation where the crimes she was being accused, are slowly being dropped due to lack of evidence, and her new defense team has been less prominent and, perhaps more efficient?
The news reports have ceased to dominate the headlines. Above all, because no media outlet has been able to see the child, while other outlets have provided evidence that the whole thing was invented by the woman. A real telenovela.
With that, the scandal has been largely dropped aside and the government has been able to turn its attention to other issues. The government still seems to stand strong with the support of the people, however it has not been able to come out uninjured from the scandal. Now, the litmus test will be whether Morales, in spite of the negative results in the last referendum which asked whether Morales could run for another term, is able to gather enough support to once again try to get permission to run once more.