22 January 2006 marks a milestone without comparisons in the independent and democratic history of the Republic of Bolivia. On that date, Evo Morales AIMA, the first democratically elected president of indigenous origin, took office as constitutional president of the Republic. This event is not only the culmination of an electoral process which began in mid-2005 in view of the general elections on 18 December of the same year, when Bolivia was struck by the political and social crisis and brought it very dangerously closer to the limits of its democracy. The event is much more significant because it represents the culmination of a project that starts in the mid-1980s and aims to reorganise the country’s political power. This article seeks to explore the reasons behind Morales’ political success.