Morales Ayma, (Juan) Evo (1959– )

Bolivian politician, president from 2006. The country's first indigenous president and a strong critic of ‘US imperialism’, he was elected in December 2005 on a pledge to re-found Bolivia through redistributing 20m hectares (50m acres) of land to the landless poor and to nationalize the country's energy resources. His government soon increased the minimum wage, but faced strong opposition to its land reform and nationalization plans from commercial farmers and opposition politicians. Internationally, he developed close relations with the anti-US governments of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Fidel Castro in Cuba.

Born in Orinoca, Oruro, into a Bolivian indigenous family, in his youth he was a llama herder and trumpet player in a band. He rose to prominence as leader of the cocalero movement, a grouping of coca growers who resisted efforts of the US government to eradicate coca growing in southeastern Bolivia. He founded and led the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) political party in 1995. He rose to prominence when he finished a surprise second in the June 2002 presidential elections and his party won 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections, after he had been controversially removed from Bolivia's congress in January 2002 on charges of ‘terrorism’. He won strong support from the indigenous people of the Altiplano region and his populist campaigns helped bring forward new presidential elections to December 2005.