Domestic policy of the Evo Morales administration

He also proposed the creation of a new hydrocarbon law to guarantee Bolivia at least 50% of its revenue, although MAS has also shown interest in the complete nationalization of the gas and oil industries.

[4] Fulfilling a campaign promise, Morales opened on August 6, 2006, an assembly to begin writing a new constitution aimed at giving more power to the indigenous majority.

[5] Morales supports a movement to teach indigenous languages such as Aymara, Quechua, and Guaraní which are spoken mainly in the rural areas of Bolivia.

Morales's Education Ministry has declared the drive to increase this percentage as part of a broad effort "to decolonize the mindset and the Bolivian state.

[6] In 2006 Morales's Minister of Education and Culture, Félix Patzi, announced that he would require all government employees to take indigenous language training.

The Morales government's proposal to require all state schools to teach the languages has angered many urban Bolivians who see it as a move to replace Spanish.

[6] In June 2005, Minister Félix Patzi brought organizational opposition against the Morales governments' ideas when he declared that "Catholicism would no longer be 'the official' religion taught at schools.

Morales, initially supportive of Patzi and his policies, faced with the opposition of the Catholic hierarchy dropped the proposal to change the religion classes in state schools.

"[9] In 2005, following popular protests and president Gonzalo Sánchez "Goni" de Lozada's resignation, Congress passed an energy law that added a 32% tax on production to an already-existing 18% royalty.

Ordering the military and engineers of YPFB, the state firm, to occupy and secure energy installations, he gave foreign companies a six-month "transition period" to re-negotiate contracts, or face expulsion.

Vice President Álvaro García said in La Paz's main plaza that the government's energy-related revenue will jump to $780 million in 2007, expanding nearly sixfold from 2002.

[11] Brazil's Energy Minister, Silas Rondeau, reacted by condemning the move as "unfriendly" and contrary to previous understandings between his country and Bolivia.

On February 8, 2007, Morales announced that a metal processing plant outside of the city of Oruro owned by the Swiss mining company Glencore International AG would be nationalized.

The legal sale and consumption of coca leaves are part of daily life for some groups of Bolivian peasants, especially those in mining and other fields of heavy labor.

They pointed out the increase in prices offered to Peruvian coca farmers during 1998 as proof that international trafficking organizations were going to Peru to make up for the Bolivian shortfall caused by the program.

They also pointed to the 1999 indictment for drug trafficking of Marino Diodato who was married to the niece of President Banzer, and was an Italian believed to have Mafia and Camorra ties.

[15] Along with an increase in worldwide coca production, the program contributed to a decline in the real standard of living of Chapare peasants leading to protests and violent social unrest (where both demonstrators and police were slain).

These conditions caused social mobilization among coca farmers like Evo Morales who called for an end to forced eradication and other measures enacted with the intent of countering narcotics.

Morales rose to national attention by leading the political opposition to eradication and this position is a central reason for his election to the Bolivian Congress.

To address some of his opponents concerns in 2003 he initially proposed allowing families to cultivate small plots of coca but in the face of strong pressure from the US Embassy he withdrew the idea.

[19] In early 2006, soon after taking office, Morales traveled to the tropical region of Chapare and met with a crowd of 20,000 consisting mainly cocaleros.

"[16] There is much disagreement between Morales's administration and the United States regarding anti-drug laws and cooperation between the countries, but officials from both countries have expressed a common desire to work against drug trafficking, with Sean McCormack from the U.S. State Department reinforcing the support of Bolivian anti-drug policy, and Morales repeatedly calling for zero cocaine production and zero drug trafficking.