26 Facts About Esther Morales

Esther Morales Ayma de Willacarani was a Bolivian grocer, businesswoman and political activist.

Esther Morales was born in Orinoca, Oruro Department, on 13 November 1949, to a family from the indigenous Aymara people.

Esther Morales's family were farmers and Morales spent her youth farming and herding llamas.

Esther Morales, who had to leave elementary school when she was just 8-years old, was responsible for raising her younger brothers, including Evo, when their mother died.

Later in life, then-President Evo Esther Morales said that he viewed her as his own mother.

Esther Morales eventually moved to Oruro, Bolivia, where she sold groceries and llama meat from a small store located in her home.

Esther Morales married Ponciano Willcarani, a musician, with whom she had three children - Ademar, Marcelo, and Roger.

In December 2005, her brother, Evo Esther Morales, was elected president of Bolivia.

President Evo Esther Morales was unmarried throughout his presidency and questions arose if Bolivia would have an acting first lady, or its equivalent.

Still, in January 2006, he announced that his older sister, Esther Morales, who was still working as a small scale grocer at the time, would assume the role of acting First Lady of Bolivia for official functions and protocol events.

On 8 March 2006, Esther Morales closed her store in Oruro and traveled by bus to the Casa Grande del Pueblo in La Paz to attend a presidential ceremony honoring Bolivian women.

Observers noted that the appointment of his sister to acting First Lady indicated that President Esther Morales wanted to focus on the poor and Indigenous peoples in Bolivia.

Dona Esther Morales is expected to represent the feminine side of his project, to become a mother figure to the poor.

Esther Morales met with foreign dignitaries, traveled to South Korea, and represented Bolivia at a women's conference in the United Kingdom.

Esther Morales spoke in favor of Bolivia's maritime claims to territory in neighboring Chile.

In January 2012, First Lady Esther Morales met with members of the Bolivian immigrant community at the Casa America Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

Esther Morales argued that he did not want to favor his sister over other family members, including his daughter, Eva Liz Esther Morales, who sometimes filled in for her aunt.

President Esther Morales admitted that his decision made his sister cry.

Esther Morales retired from public life during the later years of her brother's presidency.

Esther Morales fled the country following her brother's resignation on 10 November 2019.

Esther Morales briefly stayed in Mexico before returning to Bolivia.

Esther Morales initially been treated in the emergency room of San Juan de Dios General Hospital, but was not admitted due to a shortage of beds in the intensive care unit.

On 9 August 2020, Esther Morales, who had pre-existing health conditions, was finally admitted to Oruro Corea Hospital's intensive care unit, a public hospital, for treatment of COVID-19, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

Esther Morales developed severe complications associated with coronavirus, including respiratory failure, renal failure, septic shock, and sepsis.

Esther Morales died from complications of COVID-19 on Sunday, 16 August 2020, at the age of 70, at the Oruro hospital.

Esther Morales was survived by her husband, Ponciano Willcarani and their three sons, Ademar, Marcelo, and Roger.