Bolivia’s President, Rodrigo Paz, received the presidential sash last Saturday, and a day later assumed the duties of his new government, which was marked by the presence of his old acquaintances from the country’s politics and their distribution among his key partners, as well as the absence of indigenous representation for the first time in two decades.
The 2024 census estimates that 38.7% of Bolivia’s population is indigenous, mainly Quechua and Aymara. Paz ruled out their presence on the grounds that they, like other sectors, had enjoyed representation in government for twenty years, and that this was the appropriate time for the principle of “meritocracy.”
“Is Bolivia better?” Paz asked himself on Sunday, anticipating the criticism he said he would receive because of it. “It is time to give merit and competence and transform the state to serve the people,” he said, adding that the door is open to everyone who wants to “serve the nation.”
Paz’s historic victory in these elections broke with almost two decades of dominance of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), as well as with the power dynamics that were occurring in Bolivian politics, accustomed to the sectoral distribution of positions in the governments of first Evo Morales and then Luis Arce.
The new peace government consists of fourteen ministries, three fewer than the previous Arce ministry, which held its portfolios in the Quemado Palace, relegated in recent years to Casa Grande del Pueblo, in another gesture full of symbolism with which the new president wants to make a difference.
In addition to this gesture, the Huivala flag, which represents the indigenous people, was removed from the facade of Quemado Palace, a few hours after Paz received the presidential sash. It is a very questionable gesture because for these sectors it is a symbol of the diversity of Bolivia’s people.
Former President Morales denounced that “removing him from the palace is an insult to the indigenous peasant movement and an attempt to erase collective memory. We have moved from a state of inclusion to a state of exclusion.”
New wardrobe
Paz warned his new team – consisting of representatives of the groups and sectors that offered him their support during the elections – that this new mandate requires their presence 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to get out of the economic and social crisis in which the country finds itself.
Among those elected, José Luis Lobo stands out, the new Minister of the Presidency, whose first task will be to restructure the government so that the abolished ministerial portfolios become part of other ministries, leading the modernization of the state and the administration, as he has already said, “characterized by efficiency, transparency and austerity.”
Lobo, who will serve as interim president of Rural Development and Lands until the portfolio is absorbed into another ministry, has already served as minister five times in the governments of the new president’s father, Jaime Paz Zamora, as well as Hugo Banzer and Jorge Toto Quiroga.
To contain the economic crisis, former Director of the Central Bank of Bolivia, Gabriel Espinosa, has been selected, while international relations will be left in the hands of Fernando Aramayo, who has experience as UNDP coordinator in Bolivia.
At the moment, it does not seem that Lara will put an end to the Ministry of Justice, as he promised during the election campaign for which he appointed Freddy Vidovic, the personal lawyer of his deputy, Edmand Lara.
About The Author
