Kathryn Cook

Compañero

"Compañero" is a journey in the footsteps of Evo Morales just before and during his 2005 presidential campaign in Bolivia. "Compañero", or Spanish for companion, is what Evo and his supporters affectionately call one another.

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has been troubled by a long history of political turbulence: since gaining independence from Spain in 1825, it has suffered from over 150 coups and counter-coups.

This body of work was inspired as I photographed Morales and his core supporters. As elections neared it was evident that an indigenous leader - one who grew up herding llamas in the high plains - was about to make history. Confirmation in numbers came on December 15, 2005 when he won elections with a historic 54% of the vote.

The Bolivian Congress building can be seen across the Plaza Murillo through bullet-shattered window at the Caja de Salud. The building suffered heavy damage in February 2003 during a two-day confrontation between the Bolivian military and National Police force. The violent clash, which occurred during the term of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, was named Black February. In October 2003 Lozada was forced to flee the country due to popular protests. Since 2000, Bolivia has seen six Presidents come through office. The sixth and current President Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, won elections in December 2005 with 54% of the vote.
   
Evo Morales is seen in the coca-growing region of Chapare during a press interview.
  
Supporters of presidential candidate Evo Morales fill the Plaza San Francisco during the political party´s official campaign kick-off rally in La Paz, Bolivia Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005. Evo Morales won elections with 54% of the vote on December 18th, 2005.
     
  
A stray dog runs along an abandoned train track in El Alto, Bolivia. The poorest country in South America, many struggling farmers and unemployed miners have migrated to big cities to find work, or the tropics to cultivate the controversial coca leaf.
  
Supporters of presidential candidate Evo Morales wait for him by a fence in Villa Catorce, a small town in the coca-growing region of Chapare, Bolivia, on Election Day, December 18, 2005. Morales won elections with 54% of the vote.
   
Police and government officials parade a small statue of the Virgen del Carmen, patron of the Armed Forces, during a street procession in Potosi, Bolivia. Since gaining independence from Spain in 1825, Bolivia has suffered from over 150 military coups and counter-coups. Plagued by political unrest, there have been six Presidents since 2000, with Evo Morales currently in office.
     
  
Giant replications of paintings of Latin American liberator and Bolivia’s first President Simon Bolivar (left) and 2nd President Antonio Jose de Sucre Alcala (right) are hauled out of the Government Palace to storage in La Paz, Bolivia, June 16, 2005. The pictures were used in the innauguration ceremony for interim President Eduardo Rodriguez, who took office after former President Carlos Mesa resigned. Bolivia has had five Presidents since 2000, with Evo Morales as the current and democratically elected President.
   
Supporters cheer for then-presidential candidate Evo Morales during a campaign rally in the city of Montero, located in the province of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Morales won elections in December and is calling to "deregulate" coca and open an international market to export it.
   
Evo Morales, seen before he was elected President in December 2005, rides on the shoulders of community leaders during a rally in his birth-town of Orinica. Self-proclaimed as Washington's "worst nightmare", Morales is a fierce nationalist who has allied himself with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. In May he nationalized Bolivia's natural gas industry and is calling to "deregulate" coca production.
     
  
A coca farmer works in a pile of leaves that he is packing into bags to sell at the market in Villa Catorce, Bolivia. The small town is located in the tropical coca-growing region of Chapare, stronghold of President Evo Morales.
  
Coca leaves stick to the back of a coca farmer as he works at the market in Villa Catorce, a small town in the tropical coca-growing region of Chapare, Bolivia. Current President Evo Morales is calling for the "depenalization" of coca and hopes to find an international market for coca products.
   
Coca farmers, shielding their faces from the hot afternoon sun, pick leaves from plants in the region of Las Yungas, Bolivia. Newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales, a coca famer himself, is calling to "depenalize" coca and find more international markets for coca products.
     
  
A child runs by a mural of revolutionary Che Guevara in the coca-market town of Sacaba, Bolivia, political stronghold of President Evo Morales. Self-proclaimed as Washington's "worst nightmare", Morales is a fierce nationalist who has allied himself with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. In May he nationalized Bolivia's natural gas industry and is calling to "deregulate" coca production.
   
A young miner, cheeks full of coca leaves, rests next to a barrel full of rock before it is lifted out of a mine shaft in the Robertito mine in Potosi, Bolivia. The mines were first worked through slave labor, consisting mostly of Quechua and Aymara indigenous peoples. In the 1980s, a decree to privatize much of the mining industry left thousands of miners without work. Many turned to a viable alternative - coca cultivation - for its high market price. This migration eventually created the backbone of the militant coca farmers' movement, President Evo Morales' political base. Today, the mines continue to be exploited under workers' cooperatives.
   
Miners' children play on old pipelines in front of a partially abandoned mining refinery in Potosi, Bolivia. The famous "Cerro Rico", or rich mountain, contained immense silver deposits that were discovered in 1544 by the Spaniards.
     
  
An indigenous woman walks through a neighborhood in La Paz, Bolivia. The poorest country in South America, Bolivia has just elected the first indigenous President even, Evo Morales, who says his reforms will provide more opportunity and equality for the country's indigenous majority.
   
Evo Morales, seen when he was still a presidential candidate, is showered with confetti in the traditional greeting as supporters welcome him to a rally in Oruro, Bolivia. Morales won elections in December 2005 with a historic 54% of the vote.
   
Ludwing Rodriguez wears a Che Guevara t-shirt as he cheers during a campaign rally for then-Presidential candidate Evo Morales in the town of Tiquipaya, Bolivia. Morales won elections with 54% of the vote on December 18th, 2005.
     
  
Officials tally presidential votes on a chalkboard at the school where candidate Evo Morales voted in Villa Catorce, Bolivia Dec. 18, 2005. Morales won with 54% of the vote.
   
Thousands of supporters flood a stadium in Cochabamba, Bolivia during the official campaign closure for then-presidential candidate Evo Morales. Morales won elections with 54% of the vote on December 18th, 2005. Self-proclaimed as Washington's "worst nightmare", Morales is a fierce nationalist who has allied himself with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. In May 2006 he nationalized Bolivia's natural gas industry and is calling to "deregulate" coca production.
   
Evo Morales, seen before he was elected President, speaks to the press corp inside the adobe house where he was born in Orinoca, Bolivia. Morales' family made a living raising llamas and growing potatoes. But in the 1980s, the worsening economy forced them to relocate to the tropical coca-growing region of Chapare.
     
  
The shadow of an airplane is seen passing over farm land on Bolivia's altiplano, or high plains. Newly elected President Evo Morales, the first indigenous president in Bolivia, was born on the altiplano where his family herded llamas. In the 1980s, the worsening economy forced Morales and his father to move to the tropical Chapare region to grow coca. Many Quechua and Aymara indigenous peoples, who make up over a majority of Bolivia's population, migrate from the altiplano to the city of El Alto or La Paz to find work.