Amidst Turbulence, New Bolivian President Elected But with No Clear Program

Oct. 25—In the second round of Bolivia’s presidential election Oct. 19, the winner was Rodrigo Paz Pereira, candidate of the Christian Democratic Party with 54.5% of the vote over the 45.5% of his well-financed opponent Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga. In the first round Aug. 17, the relatively unknown Paz emerged as the surprise winner with 34% of the vote over Quiroga’s 26.7%. Quiroga, a U.S.-educated industrial engineer, is a rabid neoliberal and longtime asset of the global Project Democracy apparatus who was a leading figure in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. He vowed that if elected, he would tell China and Russia to forget about their investments, focus on strengthening Bolivia’s alliance with the U.S. and Israel, seek loans from the IMF and World Bank and privatize state-sector industries.

In initial polling and campaigning, Paz did poorly, attracting few people to his campaign events. He didn’t even make it into the first presidential debate. But grass-roots campaigning with his running mate, police Captain Edman Lara, in many parts of the country, garnered significant support from Bolivia’s large indigenous population, also with strong backing from the Catholic Church. He won in six districts of the country against Quiroga’s three. Quiroga took Santa Cruz, Beni and Tarija, regions known historically for their efforts to secede from indigenous Bolivia on grounds that they were racially and culturally superior to the rest of the country. Quiroga never hid his racism toward Bolivia’s indigenous population.

One well-informed Bolivian source told EIR News that the Anglo-American establishment and its Bolivian hangers-on had badly miscalculated in assuming Quiroga would win. There is little clarity, however, on Paz’s economic program and how he intends to deal with Bolivia’s acute financial crisis. Fuel scarcity, dollar scarcity, high inflation, and rising food prices have caused significant social unrest. Without a competent economic development program, and continued relations with the BRICS, “Bolivia will explode,” this source predicted. Paz has called for “capitalism for all,” committed to reducing government expenditures but promised to maintain social programs for the poor. On Oct. 20, he announced he wanted to “create a Bolivia open to the world.” He has expressed a desire to have closer relations with the United States but has made no comment about Bolivia’s continued status as a BRICS partner state.

In an Oct. 15 paper on the possible outcome of Bolivia’s election, U.S. Army War College geopolitician Evan Ellis, suggested that were Quiroga or Paz willing to work closely with the U.S., this would “further expand the U.S.-friendly block roughly spanning the western portion of South America…. Bolivia would join Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and possibly Peru.” He hopefully ventured that in Chile’s November presidential election, Austrian School fanatic Jose Antonio Kast would defeat Communist candidate Jeanette Jara in the second round of elections, “further contributing to the pattern.”