Bolivia’s ruling party confirms Evo Morales’ candidacy and Luis Arce’s ouster

The growing divisions between Luis Arce and Evo Morales came to ahead in the party’s congress held this weekOctober 06, 2023 by Brasil de Fato

Evo Morales poses with supporters during the congress: he said that the current government is worse than that of the neoliberals – PABLO RIVERA / AFP

The split in Bolivia’s ruling political party has become official. President Luis Arce and vice-president David Choquehuanca are no longer part of the MAS (Movement towards Socialism) party, which ratified the decision, informally announced on the 24, to present former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) as its candidate in the 2025 elections.

The MAS held its tenth congress from October 3-4 in the town of Lauca Ñ, a coca growing region in the center of the country. On that occasion, the party decreed the “self-expulsion” of Arce and Choquehuanca, for not attending the meeting, and of 20 other deputies aligned with the Arce government.

On Tuesday, the day of the inauguration of the congress, Arce made a surprise appearance at a meeting of farmers in La Paz. He explained that he wasn’t going to Lauca Ñ because the invite had taken space away from various social organizations, such as the powerful Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Rurales, while the representation of the party apparatus had grown significantly.

Arce’s followers questioned the legitimacy of the congress before the Constitutional Court, which ordered its suspension just hours before it was due to end. Morales expressed concern on his social networks about an alleged police intervention underway, which did not take place. “Unfortunately, the government of Lucho and David, worse than the neoliberal governments, until the last moment wanted to postpone the congress,” said the former president in his speech.

“We continue to make national and international history. The MAS will recover the revolution to save the homeland again,” Morales said.

On X (formerly Twitter), Evo posted: “The unity, determination, conscience and dignity of the MAS members prevailed over the desperate acts that tried in vain to sabotage, even threaten our lives, and politically use some judges to make us fail. The strength of the people is unstoppable and invincible, sisters and brothers.”

The Constitutional Court’s decision could render the congress resolutions legally invalid. The MAS would not have complied with the requirement to renew its leadership required by electoral law, which would jeopardize its legal existence. A committee of Morales’ lawyers told the press that the Constitutional Court’s decision was “fraudulent” and would have no legal effect.

If the Constitutional Court’s decision prevails, the Electoral Court will have to give MAS time to organize a new congress and choose another leadership. Or annul the party, which could have unpredictable political consequences.

At the MAS congress, hundreds of leaders dressed in the party’s blue color, wearing T-shirts and caps with Morales’ image, proclaimed him the “undisputed leader.” At the same time, the farmers gathered with Arce called him an “academic”, a “scholar” and “South America’s greatest economic scientist.”

What is at stake is a contest to decide who will be the candidate of the popular and Indigenous sectors. According to Bolivia’s latest census, 40.6% of the population claim to be Indigenous. Morales was the first president to represent this section of the population. He came to power after a process of population impoverishment—between 1998 and 2002, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita fell by 20% and unemployment doubled—and led a process of income redistribution.

Morales left power after suffering a coup d’état in 2019. After the interim government of Jeanine Áñez, who is now in prison, Luis Arce, who had been Minister of Economy in the Morales government, was elected president in 2020.

This article was translated from a piece in Portuguese originally published in Brasil de Fato.

Luis Arce Completes One Year at the Helm of Bolivia’s Government

Source: TeleSUR

November 8 2021

Bolivian President Luis Arce said, “We feel strengthened by the expressions of affection and the
 support we received from social organizations during the celebration of our first year in office”
| Photo: Twitter/@LuchoXBolivia

On November 8, 2020, Luis Arce took power before the Legislative Assembly with 55.11 percent of the votes.

Bolivian President, Luis Arce, offered a speech to the nation, within the framework of the inauguration of the first ordinary session of the Legislative Assembly (Parliament) for 2021-2022 and on the first anniversary of his assumption to the Bolivian Presidency.

Before the President’s speech, the Vice President, David Choquehuanca, referred to the popular demand for justice for the deaths and human rights violations and cases of racism during the de facto government of Jeanine Añez.

RELATED: Colombians Involved in Attempted Assassination of Luis Arce

In this regard, he indicated that what happened in 2020 compared to 2021 reflects irreversible change and stressed the need to use democratic means and the rule of law to banish fascism and other forms of extreme violence.

“2020 has warned us and taught us that political chaos, deaths, racism, abuse, corruption, injustices, violation of human rights is not the path of our plurinational system. It is the obligation of all of us to identify those responsible so that these events never happen again,” he said.

In this sense, he referred to the importance of justice to respect due process but identifying those responsible so that the facts do not go unpunished.

“A country without justice is a nation submerged in disorder and chaos; justice has to seek the truth, the people need to know the truth, the people demand justice,” he said.

Luis Arce, on his part, presented before the Legislature the results of his first 12 months in office. Concerning his administration, he said that 54.4 percent of the Bolivian population over 18 years of age is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, thanks to the application of 7.9 million doses of the more than 15.4 million free antigens distributed.

At the same time, he noted that in the third wave of the pandemic, immunization was massive, reaching 64 percent of first doses and 54 percent in second doses, in addition to implementing active epidemiological surveillance.

The Bolivian head of state recalled that when he took office in November 2020, the country had a deep health crisis due to the coronavirus.

“In the year of our democratically elected government, 7.9 million doses were administered, including first, second, third and single doses. As of November 2021, 54.4% of the population over 18 years of age has the complete vaccination schedule against COVID19.”

“In Bolivia, COVID-19 arrived in March 2020, bringing pain, mourning and impotence in the face of a clear inability to manage the health crisis of the de facto government, the lack of medical supplies, medicines, oxygen, massive PCR tests, trained personnel resulted in shocking figures of lethality, in a scenario that, despite having adopted rigid and flexible quarantines, did not foresee hope for the Bolivian people,” he commented.

To face this situation, the President said that three lines of action were implemented, including free mass testing, free vaccination, and strengthening the health system at the state level.

“With these actions, we went from a lethality rate of 6.2 percent in the first wave to a lethality that did not exceed 2.7 percent in the second and third waves. At the beginning of this fourth wave, the lowest levels of the entire pandemic were recorded at 0.96 percent in November 2021,” he said.

Arce continued his speech, outlining the work of the Government to favor pregnant women with the Juana Azurduy Bonus. He added that through the Unified Health System and the National Intercultural Community Family Health Policy, the number of births attended by qualified personnel increased.

He also referred to the reestablishment of sports institutions taken over after the de facto Government, through the reopening of centers, incentives for sports practice and economic support.

He also highlighted the opening of the school year in February 2021, with 38.5 percent of educational institutions in face-to-face mode, increasing to 58.7 percent in October. “If to that modality we add the semi-presential classes, we would have a total of 84.1 percent of the total of the country’s educational units under these two modalities, which means a substantive improvement of the educational process in our country in times of pandemic,” he evidenced.

Luis Arce also referred to the economic reconstruction measures to seek gradual growth. “The measures implemented responded favorably, achieving positive results for our economy, reducing the depth of the crisis that in the second and third quarter of 2020 hit bottom, with accumulated falls of -12.9 percent and -12.6 percent, respectively,” he said.

The head of the Bolivian Government was sworn in on Sunday, November 8, 2020, at the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and with national support of 55.11 percent at the polls. From his entry into the Presidency, he implemented measures to counteract the political, economic, educational and health crises in search of the reconstruction of Bolivia and its stability after the coup d’état of 2019

Bolivia’s Social Movements Hold Massive Victory Celebration

The official celebration of the MAS-IPSP was held in El Alto and attended by tens of thousands.

Social movements from around the country have descended on the city of El Alto, to attend the official celebration for the victory of the Movement Towards Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of Peoples (MAS-IPSP).

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Bolivia’s TSE Declares Luis Arce the Elected President

It was called the “Grand cultural party for the recuperation of democracy” and incldued the presence of all peoples and nationalities of the country.

President-elect Luis Arce and Vice President-elect David Choquehuanca were in attendance as different regional groups and organizations paraded down the route on Avenida Civica, greeting the candidates.

The incoming executive was joined on stage by newly elected Senators, Lower House legislators and other union and social movement leaders of the MAS.

teleSUR spoke with Segundina Flores, leader of the Bartolina Sisa National Confederation of Campesino, Indigenous, and Native Women of Bolivia.

She said today is a festive day in celebration of the restoration of democracy to come,”This process won’t end, it will continue for many years. That’s why our peoples are going to govern ourselves, that’s why today is a democratic party.”

“Today, a democracy will return which is egalitarian, a democracy participatory, a democracy for all,” said the national women’s leader.

Vice President-elect David Choquehuanca told teleSUR that today’s celebration was a cultural manifestation of the Bolivian peoples, “We are happy, there is a lot of hope on the faces of our brothers, who express their joy by dancing, showing our culture, that culture of brotherhood, of joy and happiness. The people have recovered their spirit, our people have recovered their “ajayu” their courage.”

The official presenation of results and declaration of the winners of the 2020 General Election took place on Friday evening, in statements by Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) President, Salvador Romero, before press and electoral observers. Arce and Choquehuanca won the election, receiving 55.1% of the vote, beating out Carlos Mesa by over 26 points.

Both Arce and Choquehuanca served as ministers, of economy and foreign affairs respectively, under the government of President Evo Morales who served as campaign chief for the MAS.

Socialist Presidential Candidate Arce Wins Bolivia’s Elections

Source: TeleSUR

October 18 2020

Results of Bolivian elections broadcast by local media October 19 2020

The Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) won with 52.4 percent over the parties that were backed by the right-wing interim regime.

After midnight on Sunday, Bolivian authorities allowed the results of the exit polls to be known. The Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate Luis Arce obtained 52.4 percent of the votes, the Citizen Community (CC) candidate Carlos Mesa got 31.5 percent, and the “We Believe Alliance” candidate Luis Fernando Camacho reached 14.1 percent of the votes.

RELATED:   The Long Wait for Official Results Disconcerts Bolivia

Bolivia’s president-elect Arce thanked the people for their support and for their peaceful participation in the electoral process.

“We have recovered democracy and hope. We ratify our commitment to work with social organizations. We are going to build a national unity government.”

Previously, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) spokesperson Sebastian Mitchell made an official statement regarding the absence of definitive data on the elections. He said that mainstream media and exit-polls companies know that Socialist candidate Arce had already exceeded 45 percent of the votes.

“Election observers do not understand if the absence of information results from inefficiency or if the government is implementing a strategy to win two or three days, generate violence, and justify a military intervention,” Mitchell said.

The Bolivian Socialists’ message was categorical and clear: “we call on the community to avoid provocations… let’s end this nightmare we have been living for a year.”

A few minutes before the official information was issued, former President Evo Morales, who remains a political asylee in Argentina, recalled that millions of Bolivians cast their vote peacefully and demanded that the coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez respect the results.

“Yesterday we denounced that the authorities suspended the presentation of the results of the exit poll companies. That was suspicious,” the Socialist leader said

“Everything indicates that the MAS has won the elections and won a majority of seats in both chambers,” Evo added.