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Bolivia: Arce attacks Evo in his farewell message
Arce announced that he will now take legal action as a private citizen
Bolivia’s outgoing president, Luis Arce Catacora, addressed his final address to the nation at the Casa Grande del Pueblo on Friday morning, launching a harsh attack against former president Evo Morales, whom he directly blamed for his electoral defeat and the current state of his political movement.
Accompanied by his cabinet and the outgoing vice-president, David Choquehuanca, Arce acknowledged the mistakes of his administration, stating: “Rarely in our history have we seen the decline of a social process as profound as the one we have promoted in recent years.”
The outgoing president declared that his government “moved forward, did not give up, did not bend and managed to preserve social peace and democracy” despite the adversities. However, he identified the biggest political error as the division within the Movement to Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People (MAS-IPSP), in power. “From a political point of view, I am convinced that the biggest mistake of all the actors was the division of the political instrument, the division of the MAS-IPSP… each of the actors should have made more efforts to preserve unity,” stated Arce.
His decision not to seek a new presidential candidacy, according to him, was precisely due to the preservation of this unity, but the effort was in vain. He regretted that internal disputes quickly became public and lost all ideological orientation, reaching the point where some factions “preferred to make agreements with the right”.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the process of change was mortally wounded,” he continued, “and that, from the different factions, we contributed to the electoral defeat in August, giving way to the right.”
Arce, who was Morales’ Economy Minister, directly implicated his former boss, claiming that divisions began to appear at the end of 2022 due to “Evo Morales’ thirst for power”, whom he accused of destroying the achievements of the current government to improve his image. “He does not see himself anywhere other than the presidency and, to impose his candidacy and remain relevant, he needed to destroy a government so as not to be remembered for his achievements… He intends for the people to yearn for him as the only savior of Bolivia.” Furthermore, Arce stated that Morales “never tolerated anything other than being a puppet, nor did he tolerate the emergence of new leaders or the democratization of the MAS-IPSP.”
The outgoing president condemned what he described as systematic attacks by the Evista wing (Morales supporters) with the aim of destroying him “politically, professionally and personally”. Arce announced that he will now take legal action as a private citizen to seek redress for the “many slanders and lies” he tolerated during his time in office. He also pointed out the negative economic and social consequences of the split, indicating that the Evista faction, in alliance with the traditional opposition, blocked fundamental legislation in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. This included credits necessary for the flow of exchange and fuel imports, as well as social laws, such as that relating to the imprescriptibility of sexual crimes against minors.
This message arrived on the eve of the inauguration of president-elect Rodrigo Paz, who won the August second round after eliminating the fractured MAS-IPSP coalition in the first round.
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