The former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2006-2019) opened a meeting with government sectors on Tuesday Movement to Socialism (BUT) who are loyal to him and who warned that they would block roads to “respect” his candidacy for the 2025 general elections.
The meeting, which takes place in the town of Villa Tunariin the area of the Cochabamba Tropics, a political and union stronghold of Moraleswas initially convened as a national congress to renew the national leadership of the party, still chaired by the former president.
However, as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) decided not to oversee the congress, attendees, including Moralesdecided to turn it into a “national extension” to “respect” the acronym of the BUT and to the “families that are suffering economically,” according to the former ruler himself.
“Now we are inaugurating this large extension to make decisions. What is decided here is done in the whole Bolivialet the Government know, let the TSE“, held Morales.
Evo Morales confirms that he will seek the candidacy
The former president confirmed that he is “legally qualified” to be a candidate in 2025, a decision that was taken at the national congress held by his related sectors in 2023, but which was not recognized by the TSE.
Before Morales Other union members loyal to the former president spoke, such as the indigenous leader Ramiro Cucho and the peasant leader Pontian Santoswho stressed that they had run out of “patience” in the face of the electoral body’s repeated refusal to supervise the congress of the BUT.
Cucho He said that they will not allow them to “snatch” the acronym of the BUT or prevent Morales’ candidacy, and announced that they will “defend” the party and its leader with roadblocks.
“We only have to defend the acronym and the candidacy of Evo Morales on the roads. Now the end has come Luis Arce“, he warned for his part Santos.
Internal conflict
The electoral body’s argument for not supervising the congress is that it did not comply with the requirement of being done through a prior consensus between the social organizations that make up the ruling party; this due to the internal fight between the factions related to Morales and loyal to the president of the country, Luis Arce.
With that same justification, the TSE annulled the official congress held in 2023, in which the ‘Evista’ sectors ratified Morales as party president and proclaimed him their “sole candidate” for the 2025 elections.
Arce and the Bolivian vice president, David Choquehuancadid not attend that meeting because they considered that social organizations, which are the basis of the party, were not properly represented.
The electoral body also did not validate a congress held last May by the ‘arcista’ faction, in which they elected the peasant leader Grover Garcia as the new president of BUTbecause the call did not comply with the requirements of the same statute of the ruling party, so Evo Morales has remained its leader.
He BUT He has already received a warning from the TSE for not holding its congress to renew its leadership and if it receives a third warning, the political organization could lose its legal status.
Morales and Arce have been estranged since 2021
The candidacy of the former ruler, who is distanced from Arce since the end of 2021, which has caused internal controversy in the ruling party, since the Government has insisted that Morales He can no longer run again, while his allied sectors maintain that he can.
Added to this is the suspension of the primary elections for next year’s elections, which all political forces agreed to except the ‘Evista’ faction. BUTas Morales believes that it was part of the Government’s plan to stop his candidacy. EFE
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