The MAS leader has been a senior leader of the coca growers of Chapare (Cochabamba) for more than 25 years. The leaders are entitled to receive the "union dues".
Former President Evo Morales has been living off the State for more than 20 years. First he was deputy for the Tropic of Cochabamba from 1997 to 2005, then he was president from 2006 to 2019 and from 2021 to date he receives his life annuity as former head of state. In addition, he received since the 80's the "union fee" for being a coca growers' leader.
This issue becomes relevant as a result of the ruling of the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (TCP) that provides compensation to the former ruler because he was disqualified as a senatorial candidate for the 2020 general elections.
Morales began his activity as a leader in the 80's and as he climbed the ranks he received the "union dues". Since the 90's he has been a top leader of the coca growers of Cochabamba.
In 1997 he was elected as deputy for the Cochabamba tropics for Izquierda Unida (United Left). This, after two failed attempts in the 1989 and 1993 elections.
In 2002 he was candidate for president for MAS and also ran for congressman, since the Political Constitution of the State at that time allowed him to run for the presidency and at the same time run for a congressional seat. He came second in the presidential elections, but again won a seat in the lower house.
The former president has been president of the Coordinating Committee of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba for more than 25 years. As a congressman, he spent eight years in the Chamber of Deputies and as a governor, 14 years in power.
Morales lost his parliamentary immunity in October 2001, accused of the death of a policeman and a soldier. After filing an appeal to the Constitutional Court, in March 2002 he regained his privilege as a legislator.
A duality
A source who worked in the former Congress explained that Evo Morales, like the rest of the parliamentarians, received a salary of between US$3,000 and US$3,500.
He also indicated that as a legislator and later as president, Morales served at the same time as a union leader, to defend the interests of the Chapare coca growers. This meant that he had his influence as a congressman and at the same time promoted mobilizations with his "union power."
"He had a duality of functions that he never broke. The road blockades were a force that he played as a leader, when he was president he was also president of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba. This duality does not exist anywhere in the world," he added.
"Vicious of power".
MAS co-founder Román Loayza said that Morales is "a vicious of power". This, because he has been a union leader for more than 30 years and has been "maintained with the union dues" since then. In addition, he recalled that he tried to stay as president indefinitely and now seeks to be a candidate for the 2025 elections.
"Before he was a congressman he has been maintained with the union quota, with the work of the Chapare comrades since the 80s. So, he is a vicious of power, he eternally wants to be a leader, he eternally wants to be a politician and that cannot be. We are going to fight, without affecting Lucho and David, with the Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People (IPSP) so that Evo Morales is no longer a candidate," said the former leader.
Loayza criticized the fact that Morales is not satisfied with having governed the country for approximately 14 years. He also regretted that the Chapare coca growers and some members of the ruling party have him "as an eternal president" of the union and the party, which even goes against their internal statutes.
Word unfulfilled
Morales has received since January of last year his annuity of 21,640 bolivianos. In 2007, during his first years as president, he proposed to annul this economic remuneration received by former presidents.
"We have decided with comrade Álvaro García Linera, when we leave the Government Palace we will not receive any salary as former president or former vice president, we have made a proposal to the National Congress that the President and Vice President will not receive any salary for life", he said 15 years ago.
Morales stopped receiving resources from the State during the time he was in exile after the October 2019 crisis.
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