You remind me of something (Parenti I think?) said, where he criticized people who had bad things to say about Castro, and said that people should compare the current regime with what it replaced; I'm reminded of the government that replaced Evo's and the lady (whose name escapes me) who called the indigenous population satan worshippers.

I've no idea of the state of democracy under Evo, but if I recall correctly, he changed laws to allow the native population to work in the government where apparently prior it had been illegal for them to do so. His rule was actually great for Bolivia, which is probably why his party won the elections again after the coup.