March 28, 2023, 4:00 AM
March 28, 2023, 4:00 AM
Not even two hours reached the debate. Vice President David Choquehuanca declared sufficient discussion and the resolution of the regulation was approved in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly for the pre-selection of candidates for the highest positions of the Judicial Branch. In addition, they did so not by two thirds, as in the case of the Defensor del Pueblo, but by an absolute majority. The roller was applied which, despite a divided MAS, worked again.
David Choquehuanca, born president of the Assembly, gave the thrust. “Neither the law nor the Political Constitution of the State establishes two thirds to approve the regulation, yes for the pre-selection of candidates, but we are not yet at that stage. Any citizen, any person, can go to the Constitutional Court at any stage of that process,” he noted.
He had started the debate a few minutes before, but the cards were already cast. In a contact with WhatsApp with this medium, Deputy Carlos Alarcón (CC) said, “they will approve by majority.”
So it was. In his speech, Assemblyman Alarcón, before the previous explanations of the members of the mixed Constitution commission, who prepared the regulations and indicated that the opposition had been heard, replied that “the road to hell is full of good intentions”. .
In this case, “the road to hell, which is once again a servile justice to the MAS, is adorned with supposed good intentions. We elude and evade the substantive debate”.
In the text of the call for applicants that was distributed to the Assembly members before the session, “There were no defined dates or deadlines. Only ellipsis points had been placed in the text,” Alarcón lamented previously.
Faced with this claim, the vice president clarified. “They just sent me the deadline and presentation. In this document he points out that the presentation of applicants will be made from March 29 to April 15, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. In the mornings on Sunday and holidays.
Deputy Alarcón lamented that “they passed you by below and you put in a document that was not in the original text, and it tells us that the applications begin on Wednesday. That indicates that everything is already defined, prefabricated and assembled. This is the most important act for the life of the country, the issue of justice, and he tells us that this will only be published this Tuesday. We will not even have 24 hours of publication. Even a group of friends who get together to play soccer on the weekend give each other more notice, it’s disrespectful. Everything is already tied up, MAS applicants must have their documents ready.”
“This is the Lima regulation (referring to the Minister of Justice) and the ABC judges (alluding to the case of alleged bribery of Bs 9 million for the award of a road in Sucre), because they will be at the service to cover up corruption, at the service of political persecution and of non-respect for due process”, he distrusted.
The president of the mixed commission, Patricia Arce (MAS), responded that “we are all aware of how these magistrates acted. Therefore, now the people of Bolivia will be able to elect them. Everything must be changed, that is true, but we ask you to Let’s work together for justice in which only the innocent are exonerated and the guilty pay for their actions.”
Deputy Walter Arizaga (CC) rebuked the senator that if “at this time we made a consultation on the continuity of the current magistrates, with the vote, even of all of us who are here, they would kick them out. They are there because of the vote, because of the MAS”, said.
“I would be ashamed to qualify a doctor without having studied medicineand that is what is intended to be done in the Assembly, the deputies and senators do not have that power, and that is what they will do”, said Arizaga.
The vice president of the commission, Juan José Jáuregui (MAS), said that the opposition proposals were not sustainable. “I remind you that the CPE in its article 182, paragraph II, recognizes that the Assembly will pre-select by two thirds of the members present, we do not want to disturb this principle. At this moment we approve a call and a regulation that will start a phase in which citizens present themselves to this call, evaluate it and activate a selection process, where the Assembly must strictly comply with two thirds.
Deputy Miguel Roca asked: “Who are you trying to fool?” He recalled that the ombudsman regulation was approved by 2/3, paraphrased Gabriel García Márquez, to compare Jáuregui with the “wise doctor of law and great alchemist of the law who delves into hermeneutics and syllogisms to deceive. Article 182 says that the Assembly will carry out by 2/3 the pre-selection of the applicants. And what are we seeing here? “He added, raising his voice:” The pre-selection of applicants.
Then the deputy Renán Cabezas, of the MAS, affirmed that “the opponents say that there are political prisoners. They forgot so soon the de facto government. They don’t agree with the elections.”
He also made a self-criticism. “The judicial elections must be carried out by the Legislative and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, here it has nothing to do with third parties like (Iván) Lima. Why does he meddle, why does he not allow us to do our homework, this minister must resign because he contaminated and corrupted this process, and delegitimized it.
He also claimed Choquehuanca. “Corruption is robbery, a long-standing colonial practice. We are at a time when this damages our society, family and values. But when the vice president is not interested in making a legislative agenda, debating codes is also wrong.” However, in the end, the divided MAS voted and approved the regulation.
