Evo Morales leads march against President Luis Arce

Snail. Former President Evo Morales and several thousand of his supporters began a march on Tuesday against his former ally, leftist leader Luis Arce, along a 190-kilometer route to La Paz, while the government insisted on conspiratorial ambitions.

The march of more than 5,000 people seeks to denounce the Arce government, which they accuse of using the Judicial and Electoral powers to stop Morales’ candidacy for the elections of August 2025. They also criticize the economic crisis that manifests itself in the shortage of dollars and fuel.

“Unfortunately, the president (Arce) and vice president (David Choquehuanca) abandoned us, betrayed us, and suffered poor management and corruption,” Morales said in a speech at the start of the walk.

The protest march started in the town of Caracollo, in the department of Oruro, south of La Paz, and is expected to reach La Paz, the seat of the executive and legislative powers, next Monday.

With Morales at the head, the demonstrators march carrying Bolivian flags, red, yellow and green; “wiphalas”, the checkered and multicoloured symbol of the indigenous people; and the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in blue, black and white.

Morales (2006-2019) accuses Arce of blocking his presidential candidacy, so that the president would be the only candidate for the ruling party, although Arce has not yet said whether he will seek re-election.

The government maintains that Morales is disqualified, since the Constitution does not allow re-election beyond two consecutive presidential terms, although the former head of state insists that there is no such prohibition.

During their march, the protesters chanted recurrent refrains: “Urgent, Evo president,” “Lucho (Luis Arce), the people are angry.”