Bolivia’s indigenous middle class rises during leadership of 1st ever native president

Global Business

Bolivia’s first indigenous president Evo Morales has just celebrated a decade in power — a period during which Bolivia’s indigenous population have benefited from a steady decline in poverty and the tripling of the average per-capita income.

CCTV America’s Dan Collyns reports from El Alto, Bolivia.

Bolivia’s indigenous middle class rises during leadership of 1st ever native president

Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales has just celebrated a decade in power -- a period during which Bolivia's indigenous population have benefited from a steady decline in poverty and the tripling of the average per-capita income.

El Alto sprawls across Bolivia’s high plain to the edge of La Paz, a parallel city of rural migrants that’s growing so fast it sometimes feels like a building site.

Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, empowered his fellow Aymaras and presided over an economic boom.

Architect Freddy Mamani found a new generation of affluent patrons from El Alto’s growing indigenous middle class.

“There have always been rich Aymaras but we never had an architectural identity,” Mamani said. “So those Aymaras who now have money have taken on this new architectural trend and show their opulence and identity through it.”

Between 2006-2014, Bolivia’s average economic growth rate of 5.1 percent was the highest in the region.

But soon Bolivia’s exports will be hit by falling gas and minerals prices. As buildings continue to come up in El Alto, there’s no sign that the urban Aymara are feeling the pinch yet.


Global security expert Joseph Humire on indigenous economic advancement

CCTV America’s Rachelle Akuffo interviewed Joseph Humire, the Executive Director of the Center for a Free Society, about Bolivia’s growing indigenous middle class and how nations deal with the challenges facing indigenous populations.

Global security expert Joseph Humire on indigenous economic advancement

CCTV America's Rachelle Akuffo interviewed Joseph Humire, the Executive Director of the Center for a Free Society, about Bolivia's growing indigenous middle class and how nations deal with the challenges facing indigenous populations.