Bolivia's Morales Goes Down an Ugly Road

President Evo Morales is a Bolivarian success story. While Latin America's marquee populist brand has lost its charm in much of the region, Bolivia's caudillo soldiers on. He's governed for 11 years, longer than any other leader in the small, landlocked Andean country's troubled political history, surviving electoral challenges, constitutional assemblies, mass protests and the commodities slump.

Yet the region's senior strongman is still angling for a grander prize. This week, Morales lifted the hands-off law for the Isiboro Secure National Park. The waiver, endorsed earlier by the government-friendly senate, means the huge preserve, known by its acronym TIPNIS, is now fair game for loggers, ranchers and farmers. And since much of the region's farming is dedicated to coca, the waxy leaf from which cocaine is made, the world has taken notice.