Bolivian President, Soccer Star

Timothy Spangler
Wed, 21 May 2014 15:26:10 -0700
Opinion

Evo Morales, the socialist president of Bolivia, made international news this week when he signed a contract to play professional soccer for the local team, Sports Boys. At 54, this is a particularly noteworthy achievement, although Morales will only be earning the minimum salary permitted, a mere $200 a month.

Age has not made Morales a timid or reluctant player. Instead, he is known for a physical, if at times cynical, style of play. A collision with a goalkeeper in 2006 left the new president with a broken nose. Four years later, he felt it necessary to knee an opponent in the private parts in order to express his thoughts on a particular passage of play. As an accommodation for his advanced years, the president of Sports Boys announced that Morales will be able to pick the matches he plays in and will be limited to 20 minutes per game.

With the World Cup in Brazil only a few weeks away, the global sport of football is again center stage in the minds of billions of fans. The sport commands great loyalty, particularly in Latin America. Having a senior political figure such as Morales put on his boots and take to the pitch sends an idiosyncratic, Hugo Chavez-like message to his constituents that their leader is both physically fit and in tune with their sporting preferences.
Updated: Thu May 22, 2014

Evo Morales, the socialist president of Bolivia, made international news this week when he signed a contract to play professional soccer for the local team, Sports Boys. At 54, this is a particularly noteworthy achievement, although Morales will only be earning the minimum salary permitted, a mere $200 a month.

Age has not made Morales a timid or reluctant player. Instead, he is known for a physical, if at times cynical, style of play. A collision with a goalkeeper in 2006 left the new president with a broken nose. Four years later, he felt it necessary to knee an opponent in the private parts in order to express his thoughts on a particular passage of play. As an accommodation for his advanced years, the president of Sports Boys announced that Morales will be able to pick the matches he plays in and will be limited to 20 minutes per game.

With the World Cup in Brazil only a few weeks away, the global sport of football is again center stage in the minds of billions of fans. The sport commands great loyalty, particularly in Latin America. Having a senior political figure such as Morales put on his boots and take to the pitch sends an idiosyncratic, Hugo Chavez-like message to his constituents that their leader is both physically fit and in tune with their sporting preferences.

After reports earlier this month that Russian President Vladimir Putin scored six goals in a blistering 21-4 victory in an exhibition ice hockey match, the presence of a strategic "sports gap" may now be confronting the United States, impacting its international standing and prestige. It is one thing for President Barack Obama to announce his NCAA basketball brackets on national television. But how impressive would it be if the White House press secretary announced to a roomful of jaded journalists that Obama had just signed a 10-day NBA contract with the Washington Wizards?

Some cynics might ask what value athletic prowess is to the leader of a country facing considerable challenges. Landlocked and still highly impoverished, Bolivia has suffered greatly since it was first colonized by the Spanish conquistadors. Despite Bolivia's vast amounts of valuable natural resources — including oil, gas, gold and vital ingredients for 21st-century life such as lithium — dramatic economic inequality and stubbornly low levels of development plague the country. Morales was elected as Bolivia's first indigenous president in the hope that his radically left-wing ideas would somehow push the country forward.

Unfortunately, his socialist policies had some foreseeable, but still painful, consequences. Having nationalized a number of businesses in industries such as oil, power generation and mining, the Bolivian government now faces claims by the disenfranchised owners for compensation for their losses. In February, for example, a small company listed in London received a $40 million judgment from the Permanent Court of Arbitration, located in The Hague, as damages for the loss of its shareholdings in Guaracachi, a large power company.

Fortunately, Bolivia has recently benefited from a growing friendship with China. At the end of 2013, Beijing arranged for the launch of a communications satellite into orbit on Bolivia's behalf. Morales was present at the launch of the Long March 3B rocket that carried the satellite — named the Tupac Katari after a famous rebel leader from the 1700s — into orbit. In addition to services in the heavens, the Chinese government is also very keen to expand its "cooperation" with resource-rich Bolivia here on the ground. For example, in a country that lacks much-needed infrastructure, China Railway Group was awarded last year the right to build a lucrative railroad project worth $250 million. Construction is underway by the Chinese at the Salar de Uyuni saltwater lakes to build Bolivia's first factory for the production of high-demand lithium batteries.

Despite the efforts of Bolivia's new BFF, many old problems still linger — for example, the narcotics trade centered on local coca growers. Legal if used for traditional medicine, coca leaves grown without official permission are used to make cocaine and smuggled out of the country. The government estimates that approximately one-third of the coca currently cultivated within the country finds its way into illegal drugs. Morales knows his fair share about growing coca, as he has previously served as leader of a coca growers union.

With challenges of this magnitude facing his country, Morales' decision to have a go at being a part-time soccer star is rightly being questioned. Much work remains to be done to assist the Bolivian people in developing their economy so that their basic needs can be met. Rather than show off how he can bend it like Beckham, Morales needs to demonstrate that he has a clear vision for his country and a pragmatic plan for realizing that vision.