Much of the instability dates back to the economic reforms otherwise known as "shock therapy" implemented by President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada whereby many formerly public utilities were privatized.

These reforms ultimately led to the First Bolivian Gas War in October 2003 where protesters, many of them of indigenous descent, essentially forced the resignation of Sánchez de Lozada.

The unions, led by Evo Morales, felt the law did not go far enough and effectively shut down the country, blockading major roads and cutting off the food supplies of several large cities.

Viewed as an apolitical figure, Rodríguez was welcomed by protesters and called for the presidential elections slated to take place in 2007 to be brought forward to December 2005.

Morales claimed his victory marked Bolivia's first election of an indigenous head of state, but this claim generated controversy,[1] due to the number of mestizo presidents who came before him,[2] and was challenged publicly by such figures as Mario Vargas Llosa,[3] who accused Morales of fomenting racial divisions in an increasingly mestizo Latin America.