Bolivia tries to hold elections amid pandemic, risking chaos

Public transport drivers take part in a protest demanding an increase in fares because quarantine measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus have decreased their income, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A public transport driver, wearing a protective face mask emblazoned with an image of Lionel Messi, attends a protest demanding an increase in fares because quarantine measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus have decreased his income, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Deserted during months of quarantine, the streets of Bolivia are roiling again with protests that have forced the government into an uncomfortable challenge: trying to resolve the country’s long-term political crisis with elections in the middle of a rising pandemic.

If plans hold, Bolivia will conduct presidential elections in September, giving former President Evo Morales’ leftist party a chance to return to power after he resigned and fled the country at the end of 2019. The looming vote is increasing political tensions in Bolivia just as the novel coronavirus overwhelms the health system.

The capital, La Paz, and other major cities see demonstrations near daily in defiance of antivirus measures. On Tuesday, teachers protested in La Paz. On Wednesday, health workers marched in Santa Cruz, and the streets of Cochabamba were blocked by a variety of groups decrying the government.

Protesters rarely follow requirements for social distancing and pack closely together unmasked as they shout anti-government slogans. Police presence is at a minimum because much of the force is sick with the coronavirus.

After a year of protests and crises across Latin American and the Caribbean, Bolivia is one of several countries that put politics on hold to grapple with the new coronavirus, and it will be one of the first to attempt a return to some semblance of political normality. The Dominican Republic holds delayed elections on Sunday. Chile put off an April referendum on a new constitution until October, with many predicting further delays.

Bolivia is the country that appears to have the greatest immediate potential for chaos. The country is deeply polarized between Morales’ supporters and those who accused him of fraud in October 2019 elections and worked to push him from power after 14 years in office.


A homeless man sleeps at San Francisco square amid a government ordered lockdown to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Pressured by Morales’ Movement toward Socialism party, which still controls the legislature, and weakened by the pandemic and an accompanying economic crisis, interim President Jeanine Añez accepted elections on Sept. 6.

After a decade of growth under Morales, Bolivia’s economy began to slump and the coronavirus pandemic is expected to cut gross domestic product 5.9% this year, the first recession in four decades.

“We want the government to reactivate the economy,” small-business leader Juan Carlos Apaza said during a recent demonstration in La Paz. “Hunger can do more damage than the coronavirus.”

With over 70% of the population in informal day jobs, a 71-day quarantine has pushed many to desperation that’s fueling the daily protests.

“Confronting the political crisis first makes sense,” said independent journalist and political analyst Andrés Gómez.

Other analysts say trying to resolve the political crisis amid a raging epidemic could worsen the country’s instability.

Low turnout due to voters fearful of contagion could undercut the legitimacy of the vote, warned Franklin Pareja, a political scientist at the University of San Andrés.

Luis Larrea, president of the Medical College of La Paz, agreed, contending the vote could worsen the disease crisis.

“Holding a vote in the middle of a pandemic is irresponsible on the part of the politicians,″ he said. “Health comes first.″

Bolivia has had more than 32,000 diagnosed cases of the new coronavirus and more than 1,000 deaths, and the numbers are expected to peak around the time of the presidential election.

The country’s weak medical system is already overwhelmed, with intensive-care units full, patients dying in hospital lobbies or at home and protests from under-equipped and under-financed medical workers.

In Cochabamba, a series of coronavirus patients have died in the street for want of hospital beds and funeral homes have declared a crisis because the city’s crematorium can only cremate four bodies a day, a third of the current demand.

Morales remains in exile in Argentina and is wanted in Bolivia on charges of sedition, terrorism and electoral fraud, but polls have shown a double-digit lead for his party’s candidate, Luis Arce, a former economy minister. Centrist former President Carlos Mesa appears to be in second place, with Añez in third.

The weakened economy, a failing pandemic response and accusations of corruption in the health ministry’s purchase of respirators at triple the world price have damaged her credibility and contributed to her trailing badly.

The latest figures show Arce’s lead is likely narrow enough to require a second round of voting and Mesa, who ran against Morales last year, gaining ground.

“The people want answers from those making decisions confronting the pandemic,″ Mesa said.

Morales, a leader of the coca-growers’ unions, become the country’s first Indigenous president in 2006. His three terms in office coincided with a boom in natural gas and other commodities that allowed him to cut extreme poverty in half, to 17% of the population.

He lost popularity, particularly among the middle class, amid corruption scandals and his desire to seek a fourth term amid a political battle over term limits.

“Clean and transparent elections will be the way forward that the country needs,″ said María Teresa Zegada, a political scientist at the University of San Simón. “Afterward, we’ll need to leave confrontation behind and reach political consensus that will allow the new administration to govern.”

OUSTED BY A COUP 

Exiled Morales pulling Bolivian political strings as polls loom

Issued on: 02/07/2020 -

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales takes part in a meeting in Argentina in support of MAS candidate Luis Arce in March 2020 Andres Larrovere AFP/FileLa Paz (AFP)

From exile in Buenos Aires, former leftist president Evo Morales continues to influence Bolivian politics and is plotting his party's return to power in September elections, analysts say.

Though banned from running in the poll and facing arrest if he returns, the 60-year-old -- Bolivia's first indigenous president -- is masterminding opposition to right-wing interim leader Jeanine Anez.

"At this time when Evo Morales is in exile, outside of power, he has become a kind of kingmaker," political scientist Carlos Cordero told AFP.

Morales last year hand-picked economist Luis Arce as the man who can win back the presidency for his Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.

To do so he faced down grassroots members who favored former foreign minister David Choquehuanca or young coca-growers' leader Andronico Rodriguez.

Arce, however, has slowly won over the doubters and is riding high in opinion polls, which if confirmed in the September 6 elections, would hand the presidency back to MAS a year after Morales' tumultuous resignation.

The polls give Arce 33 percent and centrist ex-president Carlos Mesa just over 18 percent, while Anez trails with nearly 17 percent.

- 'Polarizing factor' -

Maria Teresa Zegada, a sociologist at the state-run Universidad Mayor de San Simon, says Morales is a key player in the electoral campaign, despite his absence.

"I believe that he will continue to play an important role, as long as he continues to be a polarizing factor in the country's politics. There are important sectors that support MAS and that is where Morales' presence lies."

Ahead of the pandemic, the ex-president frequently convened meetings with MAS leaders in Argentina, but that direct communication has been frustrated by the pandemic lockdowns.

These days he issues instructions via social media.

"We will come back stronger and we will restore freedom and dignity to the Bolivian people," said a message on his Twitter account.

Morales on Wednesday condemned what he said was an attempt by Anez to get the courts to outlaw his party and remove Arce from the electoral race.

"The de facto government initiated a judicial strategy with political ends to disqualify our candidate and MAS and prevent us from participating in the elections," he tweeted.

Anez has accused Morales of conspiring to damage her electoral chances by sending overpriced Spanish ventilators for COVID-19 patients into the country as part of a relief operation during the pandemic.

Zegada said Morales has benefited from the errors and scandals that have tainted his adversaries in power.

- 'Messianic leadership' -

Morales fled the country after three weeks of protests over his controversial re-election in October 2019 in a poll in which he was constitutionally barred from participating.

He had tried to cling to power but lost the backing of the country's military after an Organization of American States audit found clear evidence of election fraud.

He initially fled to Mexico, which sent a government plane to pick him up, before settling later in Argentina, home to a large Bolivian population.

Most of Morales' cabinet fled with him, leaving behind a power vacuum in the bitterly divided country. Anez -- a hitherto little known conservative senator -- assumed the presidency the following month.

Her government accuses him of sedition and terrorism for allegedly urging his supporters to lay siege to major cities such as La Paz.

However, Morales, a member of the Aymara indigenous community, has built up a "messianic leadership -- which is why his voice continues to carry so much weight, even in exile," said Cordero, a professor at the Catholic University in La Paz.

"These leaders become political professionals... Their life is simply doing politics, that's the psychological profile of these people," he said.

Morales is a colossus of his own party, whose support comes mainly from indigenous people and poor farmers, and there is no one in the party ranks to overshadow him.

According to Zagada, his broader influence has waned, however.

"We have a gravitating figure, but at the same time one that is worn out, and he is no longer the figure he was when he was president of the country," she said.

Under Morales' 14-year rule, Bolivia's 36 indigenous groups -- which account for 62 percent of the country's more than 11 million people -- were constitutionally recognized.

The country also reduced extreme poverty from 38 percent to 17 percent, and achieved an average economic growth rate of 4.8 percent.

© 2020 AFP