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"Leftist populist President Evo Morales — until recently one of Latin America’s most popular presidents — is playing a dangerous card to improve his falling support at home: reviving a 132-year-old territorial conflict with neighboring Chile.
What’s going on?, I asked several Bolivian politicians and journalists. Virtually all responded that Morales, who won a second term in 2009 with a massive 64 percent of the vote, has been in a political free fall since December, and is propping up the fight with Chile for domestic political reasons.
Morales’ popularity has fallen to 32 percent in most polls, his lowest number since he took office five years ago."
“The government is rapidly losing popular support, and this fight with Chile is a consequence of that,” says Samuel Doria Medina, a business tycoon and opposition leader who is currently facing several government suits for alleged economic crimes. “Morales is trying to divert public attention from our economic problems.”
