Evo Morales announces that he will run for president again and the ruling party is divided

2023-09-24 22:21:31

Evo Morales, the coca leader who governed Bolivia between 2016 and 2019when he was overthrown by a coup d’état, announced that he would fight for the presidency in the October 2025 elections. Although the race is more than two years away, his decision represents one more step towards the precipice of Movement to Socialism (MAS), the party that Morales founded and led but which, by virtue of his attempt to return to the Palacio Quemado, faces a serious danger of division.

Once overthrown by a right-wing conspiracy, in alliance with the police and the military, Morales went into exile. First Mexico and then Argentina. Luis Arcewho was its efficient Minister of Economy, one of the architects of the “Bolivian miracle”, which allowed millions of people to be lifted out of poverty, represented the MAS in the 2020 elections. His victory, with 55% of the votes, With David Choquehuanca As vice president, he paved the way for the renewal of that left-wing party. The distancing from the first and extended Morales era was explicit: Arce did not surround himself with any of his close collaborators of yesteryear and, analysts pointed out, in that gesture a seed of discord was planted.

The confrontation did not take long to come to light. First in a subtle and elusive way. Then, without a muzzle. The factions accuse each other of corruption and having relations with drug trafficking. Morales denounced that the Government he manages on behalf of the MAS and the social movements was plotting an alleged “black plan” against him and those around him. The disputes impact the party as well as the union and peasant organizations. The conservative opposition observes it with enthusiasm. The internal dispute of the MAS increases its chances of returning to power through the vote.

In this context, the former president’s announcement is known. Morales said during the nomination ceremony that the Government wants to “outlaw him”, “defenestrate him” and even “physically remove it“. Under this situation, he decided to “accept” the “requests of our militancy and of so many sisters and brothers who attend rallies throughout the country” and, in this way, represent them at the polls. “The right, the government, the empire are forcing me“.

Morales has also said that His detractors will seek to disqualify his candidacy “using a woman”, as “the right did” during the 2019 crisis, when amid reports of electoral fraud in his favor, he resigned denouncing a “coup d’état” and Senator Jeanine Áñez assumed the presidency. “We are never going to give up, sisters and brothers! United we are going to save our beloved Bolivia again!” She noted.

Forced by the government’s attacks, its plan to ban the MAS-IPSP and defenestrate us with political processes, even physically eliminating us, we have decided to accept the requests of our militancy and of so many sisters and brothers who attend rallies throughout… pic.twitter.com/H37m78wLL2

— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) September 24, 2023

Breaking point

Morales spoke a few days before the MAS national congress takes place in the city of Cochabamba, one of its political strongholds. Arce’s followers tried to have that meeting take place in El Alto, the citadel that surrounds La Paz. The leaders who respond to the former president want to expel Arce and Choquehuanca for “traitors.”

The confrontation in the heart of the ruling party has been described as “political suicide“Nothing less than Alvaro García Linera, who supported Morales in the Government for 13 years. These warnings were rejected by Morales at the time with words that caused surprise and even stupor. “I have one more enemy. Fourteen years my vice president, it hurts a lot. “Will it be because I am indigenous or will it be because I am loyal to the principles and values ​​that our ancestors left us.”

García Linera returned to work days ago. “Eye, don’t play with people’s patience. There is a malaise that is incubating.” The former vice president, currently dedicated to academic life, referred to a recent survey according to which the dissatisfaction of Bolivians with the economic situation has gone from 35% to 38%. The Government maintains that the economy will grow by 4.8% of GDP this year, although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered the prediction to 1.8%.

The utopia of unity

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Choquehuanca called for unity and avoiding divisions. “If this continues, the people may become angry at the political class.“. The Minister of Public Works, Services and Housing, Édgar Montaño, was more explicit in his distancing from Morales and accused moralism of wanting to dig the “grave” of the MAS for “power struggle”. This excessive appetite is, in his opinion, what is especially manifested by people who “surround comrade Evo” and bring him “lying” information.

Last Friday, Morales accused Arce of having sunk the country’s economy since he took the reins of the Executive. “How is that, Brother Evo! Of a cashier, how many times have you told us that the Minister of Economy, at that time Comrade Lucho, was one of the best ministers? How much has changed, Brother Evo! “What has made you change?”. Montaño showed to what extent the MAS has been divided. “We are men of peace and unity, but when they mess with our president, obviously the people are here to defend him.”