Issued on: 20/01/2020
Bolivian president Evo Morales (L) and Economy Minister Luis Arce Catacora during a ceremony at the Palacio Quemado presidential palace in La Paz to launch USD 500 million in bonds on October 23, 2012. AFP - AIZAR RALDES
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Luis Arce, credited with steering Bolivia through years of economic growth, will be a presidential candidate in May elections, Bolivia’s exiled former leader Evo Morales said on Sunday.
Bolivians will choose a new president May 3, more than six months after a disputed ballot sparked violent street protests and the resignation of Morales, who fled to Mexico and then Argentina.
Bolivia’s interim government has banned Morales himself from standing and has issued a warrant for his arrest should he return.
Arce, 56, who also fled his homeland after Morales’s downfall, was a major part of successive Morales governments after 2006 that slashed the poverty rate and presided over rapid economic growth fuelled by gas exports.
Bolivia became one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies, but Arce had to temporarily step aside in 2017 for health reasons.
He will be backed in the election by Morales’s Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, the former leader said in Buenos Aires.
Arce’s vice presidential candidate running mate will be former foreign minister David Choquehuanca, 58, Morales said.
'Continuation of process of change'
Arce is “a combination of the city and the countryside to continue the process of change,” said Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president.
“Our peasant movement does not exclude people and does not marginalize people.”
He led the country for almost 14 years until his resignation on November 10, but in December said he was convinced his party would win the next ballot.
Recent polls have shown the MAS has about 21 percent support, followed by centrist former president Carlos Mesa with about 14 percent.
Morales, a socialist, told AFP on December 24 that he was forced from power by a US-backed coup d’etat aimed at gaining access to the South American country’s vast lithium resources.
The government of interim President Jeanine Anez said it would launch a corruption probe into nearly 600 officials of Morales’s administration, including ministers.
(AFP)
Issued on: 21/01/2020
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Luis Arce, credited with steering Bolivia through years of economic growth, will be a presidential candidate in May elections, Bolivia’s exiled former leader Evo Morales said on Sunday.
Bolivians will choose a new president May 3, more than six months after a disputed ballot sparked violent street protests and the resignation of Morales, who fled to Mexico and then Argentina.
Bolivia’s interim government has banned Morales himself from standing and has issued a warrant for his arrest should he return.
Arce, 56, who also fled his homeland after Morales’s downfall, was a major part of successive Morales governments after 2006 that slashed the poverty rate and presided over rapid economic growth fuelled by gas exports.
Bolivia became one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies, but Arce had to temporarily step aside in 2017 for health reasons.
He will be backed in the election by Morales’s Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, the former leader said in Buenos Aires.
Arce’s vice presidential candidate running mate will be former foreign minister David Choquehuanca, 58, Morales said.
'Continuation of process of change'
Arce is “a combination of the city and the countryside to continue the process of change,” said Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president.
“Our peasant movement does not exclude people and does not marginalize people.”
He led the country for almost 14 years until his resignation on November 10, but in December said he was convinced his party would win the next ballot.
Recent polls have shown the MAS has about 21 percent support, followed by centrist former president Carlos Mesa with about 14 percent.
Morales, a socialist, told AFP on December 24 that he was forced from power by a US-backed coup d’etat aimed at gaining access to the South American country’s vast lithium resources.
The government of interim President Jeanine Anez said it would launch a corruption probe into nearly 600 officials of Morales’s administration, including ministers.
(AFP)
Bolivian Congress to vote on Morales' resignation
Issued on: 21/01/2020
La Paz (AFP)
Bolivia's Congress is to convene Tuesday to debate the validity of ex-president Evo Morales' resignation, with a vote expected on whether to accept or reject it, a leading lawmaker said.
Senate speaker Eva Copa, a member of the former president's Movement for Socialism party MAS, summoned lawmakers from both houses of Congress to "consider the resignations of Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera from the posts of president and vice-president."
The congress is constitutionally bound to examine the resignation to decide on its validity.
MAS senator Omar Aguilar told journalists that Congress would vote "whether to accept or reject the resignations."
Morales resigned under pressure from the armed forces on November 10 after rioting greeted his re-election following contested October 20 polls.
The Organization of American States (OAS) later pointed to widespread irregularities. The right-wing interim government has scheduled a new election for May 3.
Morales, who is living in exile in neighboring Argentina, insists he is still president until Congress declares otherwise.
Morales' five-year term officially runs until Wednesday.
© 2020 AFP
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