Rodrigo Paz, a center-right politician and son of a former president, won Bolivia’s runoff election on Sunday. He defeated former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga who ran on a more conservative platform. For the first time since 2005, there was no candidate on the ballot from the Movement for Socialism (MAS), the party of former President Evo Morales.
The son of ex-president Jaime Paz Zamora, Paz scored a decisive victory over Quiroga, prevailing by a nine-point margin with 54 percent of the vote and winning in six of Bolivia’s nine departments. His victory capped a remarkable campaign in which Paz consistently defied the polls. In August, he stunned observers by finishing first in the first round of voting after months of polling towards the bottom of the eight-candidate field. Sunday’s result was another upset: despite trailing Quiroga in the days leading up to the vote by a similar margin as his eventual victory, Paz reversed the numbers comfortably.
Tuto’s far-right supporters took to the streets in several cities across the country to contest the results, despite no evidence of irregularities. On Tuesday, his Libre party sent a letter to the country’s electoral body requesting an audit of 34,000 ballots, alleging a possible “inversion” of votes between Libre and Paz’s Christian Democratic Party. Tuto finally conceded his loss on Wednesday as international observers like the European Union rejected the allegations of fraud. Bolivia’s Electoral Tribunal called the move “antidemocratic.”
Paz’s success is in part due to his more cautious approach addressing Bolivia’s profound economic crisis. Quiroga had proposed deep economic reforms, including a massive IMF bailout and widespread privatization of state industries and natural resources. By contrast, Paz offered a more moderate reform agenda: preserving social programs, cracking down on corruption, and rejecting IMF dependency. His platform drew support from left-leaning voters who were uneasy about a full shift to the right.
Paz’s appeal also had much to do with his charismatic running mate, former police captain Edman Lara. A self-styled corruption crusader and admirer of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Lara rose to fame on TikTok for exposing alleged police abuses. His outsider persona energized younger voters and lent credibility to Paz’s campaign. Yet the strength of their alliance is unclear. After Paz’s first-round victory, Lara publicly warned that he would turn against Paz if he failed to deliver on his promises. On the campaign trail, Paz routinely had to walk back Lara’s populist pledges of universal income and higher pensions. Still, Lara’s popularity proved so strong that many Bolivians said they cast their votes as if it were Lara, not Paz, leading the ticket.
The results were celebrated by mainstream media around the world as a resounding defeat for a fractured Bolivian left weakened by years of infighting and economic turmoil. Nevertheless, Paz’s win attests to Bolivians’ enduring attachment to the social and economic programs born from nearly two decades of leftist rule. At the same time, Paz moved quickly to distance himself from a key pillar of MAS rule: its hostility toward the United States. Nearly 20 years after Evo Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador, Paz pledged to restore warm relations with Washington. In a striking departure from recent Bolivian diplomacy, Paz received a congratulatory phone call from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. He seized the opportunity to congratulate her recent Nobel Peace Prize and invite her to his inauguration on November 8. Breaking with years of alignment with the Venezuelan governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro, Paz told Machado that Bolivia would “join in the fight” for Venezuelan democracy. In a post-election interview with El País, Paz re-affirmed his slogan “capitalism for all” and expressed his hope that “Bolivia return to the world and the world return to Bolivia.”
For Bolivia’s social movements and rural populations, deeply distrustful of the traditional party politics represented by Paz and his Christian Democratic Party, there is little cause for celebration. But in the words of Bolivian anarchist feminist María Galindo: “the far right has been defeated.”
Layqa Nuna Yawar’s new exhibition carefully crafts an aesthetic uniting Indigenous peoples and Andean immigrants, linking both through Indigenous principles of Andean Philosophy.
Una red de sobornos en la que está involucrada la hermana del presidente argentino, Karina Milei, es solo otro de la serie de escándalos que rodean al gobierno de Milei
A kickback scheme involving the Argentine President's sister, Karina Milei, is just another in a string of scandals surrounding Milei’s administration in the lead-up to legislative elections.
Washington’s Venezuela policy has intensified divisions within the opposition, revealing class divides and fears over the fallout from a potential U.S. invasion.
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IMAGE OF THE WEEK
A banner reading “Gaza is not for sale” hangs at the entrance of the Biblioteca Andres Henestrosa in Oaxaca City. The photo comes from Elybeth Sofia Alcantar's recent NACLA article on the Mexican government's disappointing position on Israel's genocide in Gaza—and the fight to change it. (Elybeth Sofia Alcantar)
AROUND THE REGION
U.S. STRIKES STIR TENSIONS—The CIA is playing a crucial role in the U.S. government’s ongoing lethal airstrikes on alleged “drug trafficking" boats in the Caribbean. According to reporting by The Guardian, the agency has been providing intelligence, tracking ships, and recommending targets for strikes. The revelation means that much of the evidence used to inform which boats to target will most likely remain secret. The disclosure comes as Washington ramps up pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to step down and as troubling details emerge about the nature of the CIA’s intelligence. Among those killed was a Colombian fisherman named Alejandro Carranza, one of at least 35 people killed in the administration’s eight confirmed strikes. According to his wife, Carranza had no links to drug traffickers and was killed while on a routine fishing trip. Her account, echoed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, further strained U.S.-Colombian relations, prompting Petro to recall his ambassador from Washington and leading Trump to suspend aid and threaten tariffs. Evidence that the U.S. is targeting innocent people grew stronger this week, after an Ecuadorian survivor of a previous strike—repatriated by the Trump administration—was released by the country’s authorities after they found no evidence tying him to drug trafficking. Undeterred, the U.S. government announced its eighth strike on Tuesday, this one off Colombia’s Pacific coast.
URIBE’S CONVICTION OVERTURNED—A Colombian appeals court overturned the conviction of former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe on charges of bribery and witness tampering, citing “structural deficiencies” in the case. The ruling will likely be appealed by prosecutors and ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. The decisions sent shockwaves through Colombia as the nation prepares for presidential elections in May. Though divisive, Uribe’s original sentence of 12 years of house arrest in August marked the first time in modern history that a Colombian head of state had been convicted of a crime. For many Colombians tired of entrenched right-wing impunity, the verdict had symbolized some measure of accountability. It also provided some closure to the family members of victims of massacres carried out by paramilitary groups with which Uribe was accused of having tight ties. Uribe, who served as President from 2002 to 2010, praised the ruling, vowed to fight for the freedom of allies implicated in the same case, and thanked his right-wing supporters. In response President Gustavo Petro lamented that “this is how the history of paramilitary governance in Colombia is covered up.”
STATE OF SIEGE IN PERU—Peru’s interim President José Jerí declared a state of emergency in Lima and the neighboring town of Callao on Tuesday. Jerí, who assumed power less than two weeks ago following the sudden impeachment of former president Dina Boluarte, said the measure was necessary to allow the government to go on the "offensive in the fight against crime.” While crime rates have indeed surged in recent years, many in Peru’s powerful social movements view the decree with suspicion. The 30-day state of emergency grants Jerí the power to deploy the military to patrol the streets and suspend the freedom of assembly—a move critics say is aimed at tamping down on protest. Protests have continued despite Boluarte’s ouster. A massive concentration is planned for Saturday to denounce Jerí, corruption and impunity, and the police killing of “Trvko,” a young rapper who was murdered during protests last week. In anticipation of further unrest, Jerí’s new interior minister, former hardline general Vicente Tiburcio, announced the purchase of new anti-riot gear, including 44 water cannon trucks and 56 armored vehicles.
GUATEMALA’S ANTI-GANG LAW—Guatemala passed a sweeping anti-gang law on Tuesday as part of the government’s ongoing response to a mass prison break earlier this month. The legislation, which was drafted years ago but had remained in limbo, orders the construction of a new prison for gang members, increases their sentences, and designates the Barrio 18 and MS-13 gangs as terrorist organizations—a step previously taken by the Trump administration. The law’s passage follows President Bernardo Arévalo’s shakeup of his cabinet and vow to crack down on organized crime with the help of U.S. security agencies. Arévalo’s focus on bolstering the prison system has fueled concerns that he may be emulating El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele. Though Arévalo rejected the comparison, similar measures taken by Honduran President Xiomara Castro—including terrorist designations and the construction of new prisons—have not been very effective, raising fears that Guatemala, too, may be headed towards a broader “war on gangs.”
