Luis Arce, bolivian’s favorite candidate that the Áñez dictatorship intends to disqualify
The upcoming elections will be held in a context of health, social and political crisis caused by the mismanagement of Áñéz in the context of the pandemic by COVID-19
Luis Alberto Arce Catacora is rated internationally as one of the main promoters of the remarkable economic growth that Bolivia had during the three governments of President Evo Morales Ayma, who was unable to complete his mandate as a victim of a coup d’état perpetrated by the extreme right and the elite of the military and police force. After threatening him and several of his political companions with death, Morales left the country with the hope that the violence would end, but a ‘de facto’ dictatorship was imposed that is referenced in the figure of Jeanine Áñez.
Luis Arce was born in La Paz on September 28, 1963. He is a prominent economist, university professor and politician, with a long career after being Minister of Economy and Finance on two occasions: the first, from January 23, 2006 until June 24, 2017; and the second, from January 23, 2019 to November 10, 2019.
The two occasions that he was in charge of the aforementioned office covered the first, second and third periods of the Morales government, which is why he is considered — and internationally recognized — as the promoter and architect of Bolivia’s economic growth between 2006 and 2019, until the coup d’état, endorsed by the Organization of American States (OAS), imposed itself in Bolivia .
After the coup, Morales’s political party, Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), decided by consensus to choose Luis Arce in January 2020 as the presidential candidate for the general elections to be held this year and in which he will participate, if the dictatorship allows it, with former Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca as candidate for vice president.
Arce leads all the polls that refer to the intention to vote, because he is the candidate that Evo Morales supports. For this reason, he has become a target of political judicialization, after the dictatorship issued a series of accusations against him for alleged corruption and embezzlement while in government.
The mission of the Áñez dictatorship is to get Arce and the political party MAS out of the way, in order to call elections without the Bolivian people having a true candidate to represent them, and thus formalize the dictatorship by carrying out a rigged electoral process that gives them the cloak of a supposed democracy.
Thus, a judicial process against Arce has already begun in response to a complaint executed by the dictatorship. This Monday -July 20-, the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office admitted a government complaint of alleged corruption against the former Minister of Economy and presidential candidate.
“The complaint has already been accepted by the Public Ministry, so the accused will have to appear in the next few days to testify”, said the manager of the Public Pension Management, Sergio Flores, main accuser.
The Public Pension Management, backed by the Ministry of Economy, accuses Arce of an alleged economic damage of up to $ 14 million for the delay in the nationalization of the administrators of the pension funds (AFP) that have operated in Bolivia since the decade of the 1990.
Why does the ‘de facto’ dictatorship want to prosecute Luis Arce?
Recently, Arce offered an interview to El Destape, in which he addressed different essential topics to understand what is happening in Bolivia and what his candidacy represents for the future of Bolivians, who must choose between continuing the revolution that began in 2006 , or the perpetuity of an ultra-Catholic far-right dictatorship, which in less than a year has proven to be incompetent, xenophobic, aporophobic and censorship-ridden.
The elections, now set for October 18, will define that Bolivian path, between lamentations or development, in a context of health, social and political crisis caused by the mismanagement of Áñéz of the scenario caused by the pandemic due to the COVID-19.
Here is the interview:
Journalist: What are the prospects of the electoral process, considering that it is organized by a government that emerged from a political coup?
Arce: The electoral landscape is very complicated, not only politically speaking. Health and economic problems have deepened the social crisis. So, it becomes imperative that the solution to these two crises, the health crisis — precipitated by the mismanagement of the pandemic — and the economic, arise from a legitimate democratic process.
In the strictly electoral sense, it is evident that the ‘de facto’ government tries to establish a climate of proscription. First, they have exacerbated the media attacks and judicial persecutions of the main MAS candidates. Every week, systematically, the Judicial power and the press addicted to the government, which is the vast majority, generate a defamatory act contrary to the main references of our force.
Even with comrade Evo (Morales) himself, a harsh accusation came out weeks ago (where the Attorney General’s Office makes him (Morales) responsible for organizing acts of sedition since his early exile in Mexico) without any real evidence.
Journalist: Would you welcome a commitment by the Argentine Government to monitor the electoral process? What other international organizations should participate in this control (of the electoral process) , taking into account the complicit role of the OAS in the coup?
Arce: Regardless of the delegations from the region that may come, we are interested in a delegation from the European Union itself participating, a participation from the Carter Foundation would also be welcome, just as we thought about the Foundation of Pope Francis. All organizations that can help the transparency of the electoral process are welcome.
Journalist: Is the date of September 6 still firm? Do you consider that, in the face of the MAS’s first place in the polls, the right wing sectors will seek to articulate a united electoral front?
Arce: There are two visible trends on the Bolivian right wing sectors. One sector understands that they will be defeated if they attend elections this year. This sector perceives that the further away the electoral call is, the better for them. That reading is led by the coup leader Luis Camacho. Another sector, however, is confident of winning the elections and they want to hold them this year.
Journalist: MAS is likely to win the election, but the ballot instance is equally true. What electoral strategy must be taken to succeed in a second round scenario?
Arce: For us, it would not be at all strange for the entire right to join the ballot. They defend the same project, they have all been involved in the October military political coup. What we are doing, of course, is designing a fundamental economic proposal to solve the problems of the most humble. The strategy we have, in principle, is to remember our economic management.
Today Bolivia suffers from an economic crisis, unemployment and poverty have increased. Those data worry us because they imply a step backwards from the path we took during 14 years as a government. The proposal is to generate an industrialized Bolivia, to give added value to the natural resources that we have, we want the State to put itself at the forefront of our natural resources.
Journalist: Which direction would the agenda for change in a new MAS government take? Would the defense of the lithium resource occupy a relevant place?
Arce: The industrialization of our natural resources will be a central chapter in a new MAS government. The Áñez government paralyzed everything we had done in the lithium nationalization process, she (Añez) sought, at all times, to nullify exploration contracts signed by us, a matter that does not concern them because a government in transition cannot make those decisions. Now, obviously, when we are in government again, we have to give ourselves a longer term policy for the exploitation of this resource.
Journalist: The political conduction on the bolivian right wing sector is a polyhedron. The interim president Jeanine Áñez, the leader Carlos Mesa, the civic leader Luis Camacho, each with a different profile and influence. Who leads the conservative bloc?
Arce: In reality there is no clear leadership in the right wing sector among the seven or eight organizations that, in addition to MAS, will participate in the electoral process. Each sector is pulling for its own account, each referent is divorced from the interests of the other. I think they are waiting to see who gets the second place in the elections, because that result will give that candidate enough merit to lead the group of political right wing parties in the instance of the ballot. However, it is speculation, we have to wait to see what kind of response the right wing sector articulates, its steps are still confusing.
Journalist: Is it likely that Añez will give up her candidacy to give her support to Mesa?
Arce: It is a possibility. But we have to wait and see, the government appears increasingly involved in corruption cases, and at the same time they have taken on international debt to demonstrate management capacity. So, I do not see so clearly that Áñez has the will to resign her candidacy.
Journalist: How far does the United States’ interference in the orientation of the coup government go?
Arce: The interference is notorious, as much as it was prior to the arrival of Evo Morales to the government. The interference is evident from the operational reinstatement of the DEA in the national territory, but also through the tutelage of international cooperation. Furthermore, we see a very notable presence and influence of the American ambassador.
Journalist: What role does ex-President Evo Morales play, and will play, in a hypothetical new MAS government? Was there self-criticism about what happened in October?
Arce: The comrade is the president of the MAS by designation of a national expanded assembly of the political party formed in Cochabamba. In that assembly, he (Morales) was also empowered as the party’s campaign manager for the current electoral process. Regarding the self-criticism of not having foreseen the coup and having insisted on the presidential re-nomination, it was Evo himself who admitted not having made a good political calculation in a recent interview given in Argentina. Everything that Evo can contribute in the campaign is welcome because of the political experience that he has, but it is also clear that when tomorrow, we have to lead the country, it will be me who will make the government’s decisions.
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