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BOLIVIA: Morales pulls out all the stops
A “politically high voltage cabinet” was how the local media dubbed the new ministerial team selected by President Evo Morales in his now customary annual reshuffle marking the start of each year of his mandate. With half of his 20-member cabinet replaced, the assignment of Morales’ top aides to politically sensitive portfolios (namely the interior ministry) is the latest response to the current problems afflicting his Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government, which is entering its seventh year in office. These were caused by unpopular policies such as his December 2010 proposal to ditch fuel subsidies (the so-called gasolinazo), and a plan last year to construct a road through indigenous territory (Tipnis), both of which ultimately failed.
