Indian movement seeks 'to expel white invasion'

Martin Arostegui:

A growing indigenous movement has helped topple successive governments in Bolivia and Ecuador and, angered by the destruction of Andean coca crops, now threatens the stability of other countries where Indians are in the majority.

Drawing support from European leftists and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the long-marginalized Indians are tasting political influence for the first time since the Spanish conquest and beginning to wrest power from South America's white elites.

The leader of Bolivia's Movement to Socialism party (MAS), Evo Morales, talks about "uniting Latin America's 135 Indian nations to expel the white invasion, which began with the landing of Columbus in 1492."

Urbanized Latins ridicule the idea, pointing out that Indians have intermarried with whites and become assimilated into Western culture throughout the continent. In Chile and Argentina, pure Indians make up less than 10 percent of the population.

But with solid support among rural Aymara and Quechuas -- who make up 60 percent of Bolivia's population -- MAS regularly receives 20 percent of the national vote in Bolivia and is the country's strongest political force.

The Wind from the South — Anti-White Populism

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