The former president was a victim of his own refusal to hand over power

Broadly speaking, Evo Morales was a successful leader of Bolivia. A trade unionist with familial roots among the country’s indigenous peoples, he was first elected president in 2005 and was twice returned to office with substantial majorities. Morales is credited by the IMF with achieving a drastic reduction in poverty among farmers and coca growers and a societal revolution that, among other things, transformed the standing of Bolivia’s numerous ethnic minority groups.

A convinced socialist, Morales identified with the late Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela and with other leftwing leaders such as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president. He championed a “plurinational” constitution that guaranteed equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, effectively ending the monopoly on power previously enjoyed by Bolivians of European descent. His time in office also saw a big increase in women’s political participation.