Arce, Morales and Choquehuanca, three faces of power in Bolivia

The Bolivian Government is going through an atypical stage with three figures of power, the president louis arce and the vice president David Choquehuanca, in the Executive branch, in addition to the influence of Evo Morales from the presidency of the official Movement for Socialism (MAS), with leadership struggles and dissident views.

The origin of this distribution of commands within the ruling party was the 2019 crisis when Arce and Choquehuanca took over a portion of the leadership that belonged almost exclusively to Morales, who was forced to resign from the Presidency and left the country.

However, Morales’ political activity never ceased as he served as campaign manager for his party for the 2020 general elections, while Arce and Choquehuanca were the candidates of the BUT that emerged from partisan deliberations and related social sectors.

The government spokesman, Jorge Richter, stated that those events meant a “learning” in the ruling party that is now in “a different stage” in which these three leaderships coexist.

Three powers?

Morales embodies the image of the “undisputed leader”, as his supporters refer to him at the rallies in which he participates, in addition to being the country’s first indigenous president and having a respected union history in coca-growing communities.

Arce, apart from being the president of the country, was one of the longest-serving ministers in the Economy portfolio during Morales’ almost 14 years in the Presidency. For his part, Choquehuanca, who is also head of Parliament, is credited with a great indigenist mystique and representativeness in sectors of the highlands.

The president is the one who makes “each and every one of the decisions of the State”, Morales is the “main articulator” with the social sectors in addition to Choquehuanca, which also has a “close relationship” with an important popular sector that feeds the MAS, Richter detailed.

On the other hand, the political scientist and researcher Franklin Pareja considers that there is “a kind of bicephaly” between Arce and Morales, while Choquehuanca “is a leader who seeks to build his space”, but who “does not direct anything”.

Morales represents the ideological position with concepts such as anti-imperialism and anti-neoliberalism, Choquehuanca’s rhetoric points more to identity and harmony, while Arce, who often remains low-profile, is in tune with Morales without completely disassociating himself from the ideas from your vice president.

The influence of the three

Morales has been fundamental in the year of Arce’s administration, since he has called for mobilizations of support and recently met with the president to evaluate his Administration or the joint announcement of the suspension of the massive acts this January 22, Day of the Plurinational State, due to the pandemic.

Richter recognizes a “very active participation” of Morales, but maintains that “the decisions are made by President Arce”, although the latter does not prevent the head of state from collecting “criteria” from the blocks related to the ruling party, something that includes the former president and MAS leader.

Meanwhile, Pareja considers that in the MAS there is an emergence of currents such as that of Choquehuanca, which “is a genuine leadership”, although it is guilty of being “Andinocentric” (a vision centered on the Andean) and without a national projection.

At the beginning of 2021, the MAS showed dissent and requests for renewal, something that later ceased to be visible due to the recurring calls for union that the three leaders requested at different times.

For the political scientist, the former president is “a brake on the renewal” of his party, while Richter believes that the MAS has always “ended up unifying” around Morales, Arce and Choquehuanca.

Pressure to change ministers

In recent days, social organizations related to the ruling party have asked Arce to make adjustments to his team of ministers, which usually happened the day after January 22 when Morales was president, while for now it is uncertain if Arce will do so as well.

Some social organizations that are part of the MAS have questioned the performance of several ministers such as the Presidency, María Nela Prada; Government (Interior), Eduardo del Castillo; Justice, Iván Lima, and Health, Jeyson Auza, and have proposed his removal from office.

The critics’ arguments range from claims for the lack of coordination with the sectors, questioned public policies and low budget execution in the case of the economic bloc’s portfolios.

In this sense, the presidential spokesman points out that “all” the sectors have made suggestions and “also former President Evo Morales”, but that “the final decision belongs to President Arce.”

The political scientist Pareja considers that Morales is seeking to “subordinate” Arce with a clear “interfering stem,” something that is producing reactions within the MAS.

Next Saturday Luis Arce will only give a report on his management at the Government House in La Paz because the usual massive acts such as parades and festivals were suspended due to the fourth wave of the pandemic.