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Marzo 19, 2006
Approval Still High, VP Well Respected
Three out of every four Bolivians approve of the job that President Morales has done over the last two months in office. Equipos MORI's poll of Bolivians living in the urban centers of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and El Alto approved of his performance, which is up 13% points from January.
However, the emergence of marches and blockades indicate that not everyone is content with the performance. Even with the austerity measures within the Executive branch of government and the creation of approximately 3500 jobs for education, the magisterio (teacher's groups) recently took to the streets demanding the creation of even more jobs. Education minister Felix Patzi recently called the situation created by these pressures as an "infierno" (hell).
The role that Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera has also attracted favorable ratings, especially from the middle class. Captura Consulting polled individuals in the middle class neighborhoods in Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba and found that 54% approved of his performance, compared to 48.6% rating for Morales, which differs from the findings of the MORI poll.
Garcia Linera is being hailed as a great compromiser and was lauded by members of the opposition for negotiating the law convocating the Constitutent Assembly. At times, it appeared as if MAS would remain immovable in their positions and that regional interests might threaten this process with some rumblings of taking up arms in Santa Cruz.
Clearly the VP enjoys this "intellectual challenge" as he mentions in this interview in the Santa Cruz newspaper El Deber. The mathematician turned sociologist admits that he reflects on his decisions twice before acting upon them. Many speculate that he is the true decision maker in this new government, however, he stresses that he is always in conference with the President and follows his lead.
Posted by eduardo at Marzo 19, 2006 03:27 PM