Luis Arce (La Paz, 60 years old) does not seem like a president who only three days ago they tried to overthrow with a coup d’état. He looks relaxed, dresses casually and doesn’t hide his good mood. He receives EL PAÍS on the 23rd floor of the Casa Grande del Pueblo, a large building inaugurated by Evo Morales (2006-2019) that serves as the president’s office. Arce says that he already has some things clear about that violent day, when the head of the Army, Juan José Zúñiga, tried to break into the Palacio Quemado, the headquarters of the Government, helped by tanks. There were behind it, he assures, “foreign interests” that sought to appropriate Bolivia’s natural reserves. He also talks about Evo Morales, his political mentor, whom he accuses of being “willing to do anything” in order to be a presidential candidate in 2025 under the wing of the Government party, the Movement towards Socialism (MAS).
Ask. Why was a coup d’état possible in Bolivia?
Answer. We really have to talk about the circumstances that did not allow the coup d’état. In Bolivia, objectively, there is no economic or social motive for this type of situation. It is clear that there are foreign and national interests that are seeking, in some way, to gain power in Bolivia. These interests seek our natural resources. Bolivia is the world’s main lithium reserve; it also has rare earths, which are what the planet needs today. How can they not love them!
Q. Do you see the hidden hand of these foreign interests behind General Zúñiga?
R. Of course. They were the operators, but on the morning of the day of the coup there was a meeting at the General Staff. Not only were the military there, there were retired military personnel who were involved in the 2019 coup and there were also civilians. Behind these retired military personnel and civilians there is something else, which is precisely what we are investigating.
Q. When one speaks with economic analysts, they agree that there are warning signs that need to be addressed, such as the lack of dollars or the fiscal deficit. Do you agree with these readings?
R. But I’m the one who comes out to explain where the problems are! It is unknown to anyone that Bolivia is a gas exporter, but gas did not have the investment in exploration that it needed under the Government of Evo Morales. Here is the problem, today we do not have enough gas to expand export volumes to Argentina, Brazil or for the domestic market.
Q. Is he enough in the year and a half of his remaining term to resolve this?
R. We have been doing it since day one. Evo did only six exploration projects; We have done 43, that is the difference. Not only that, because I know what right-wing economic analysts have in their heads. Bolivia is entering a clear process of industrialization, not only of natural resources. Bolivia imported everything, even soaps, and now we are producing them. The diesel and gasoline problem [que escasea en Bolivia] It will not be resolved only with more gas exports, because today we are net importers of liquids. If we find the wells, and I think we will have good results, we will solve 60% of diesel imports. What worries the right? We are going to be able to show results in 2025, because things have a moment of maturation. The right wants to appropriate our work so they can say that they did it.
P. The year-on-year inflation rate for May was 3.5% and has risen to 2% since January. Are you not worried about this figure?
R. We are the economy with the greatest price stability in the region. Look what’s happening in Chile [4,1%] or Argentina [276%], where it is better not to refer. Can anyone say that there is a crisis here? We are a country that has economic growth [el Gobierno proyecta alrededor de un 4% para 2024] according to ECLAC, so that they don’t say that I am saying it.
Q. He brought up Evo Morales several times. Were you surprised that he spoke of a self-coup?
R. It doesn’t surprise me, because we know what Evo wants.
P. And what does Evo want?
R. He wants to be a presidential candidate in 2024 at all costs. He said: ‘I’m going to be a candidate by hook or by crook.’ He had us in conflict here, with threats of blockades, he is inciting the sectors to go out and cause conflict in the country so that later the coca growers of the Tropics will join in. [Cochabamba, en el centro del país] and demand your candidacy.
P. Are you saying then that Morales works for things to go wrong?
R. Of course, or do you have any doubts about it?
P. Could the military coup be a good excuse for the unification of the MAS, especially thinking about next year’s elections?
R. We have seen what the social organizations that are supporting the Government, the founders of the MAS, are doing. At the time they called comrade Evo to a meeting, as the statute says, to convene a Congress between the national leadership and the owners of the political instrument on four occasions. They were never heard, nor even responded.
P. Have you not spoken to Evo Morales again?
R. No, I only called him the day of the coup to warn him of the situation.
Q. Were you surprised by his reaction?
R. I was not surprised, because all of us who know him know what he wants. And he is going to use everything, including questioning the failed coup, for his personal political aspirations.
Q. Morales has been disqualified by the courts from running for office. Is there any chance that this could be reversed?
R. In 2019, that was the problem. He had himself authorized by the Constitutional Court saying that reelection is a human right. The IACHR [Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos] He said that this is not a right. The situation is clear to us, but go and tell him about it, he is convinced that he is a candidate.
P. If there was an offer of dialogue, would you be willing to meet with him?
R. It’s not just me, here the social organizations, who are the owners of the political instrument. They tell Evo not to take them from them. And I agree with them, because they are the founders. When the MAS was founded, Evo was not there.
Q. What awaits Bolivia now after this failed coup?
R. We have to be alert. Knowing the history of Latin America, we know everything that has happened to weaken popular governments, especially those of us who have natural resources. We have instructed to take measures to take control of all institutions, especially the Police and the Armed Forces.
P. Do you trust the Armed Forces after what has happened?
R. We have coordinated work. The Government has never interfered with the Armed Forces, but only in what is established within the institutional framework.
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