Despite the signs, the opposition does not dare to talk about a single candidate

Although the traditional leaders of the opposition show signs of rapprochement and accept that the only way to confront the MAS is in unity, They do not dare to talk about a single candidate or possible leader to represent the entire bloc in the 2025 general elections.

Of course, two political analysts see that these signs of rapprochement are an implicit recognition that No opposition leader has enough strength to confront the MAS, even if this party is fractured and at its worst moment. Furthermore, with the visits to the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, imprisoned in Chonchocoro, they identify the politician as a symbol of the resistance against the MAS and the strongest figure in Santa Cruz that can articulate the east with the west.

Meanwhile, the Government does not care about the meetings of the opponents, which it describes as a “coven”, some opposition actors see these approaches as “sterile attempts” since The unity factor that they proclaim is around one of them ruling out other options with real and concrete possibilities.

What draws the attention of experts and legislators the most is that the three most visible heads of the traditional opposition: Carlos Mesa, Jorge Tuto Quiroga and Samuel Doria Medina, are looking for Governor Camacho to talk about unity and this is no coincidence because according to the analysts Carlos Börth and Gregorio Lanza, The leader of Creo is a symbol of resistance and a “hostage from Santa Cruz” to Masismo, which makes him a figure and a symbol that can achieve unity in the opposition and build an instrument to defeat the MAS in 2025.

“This explains that some of the leaders of traditional organizations have begun to activate using the figure of Luis Fernando Camacho who is detained in prison, and Through it they try to reach citizenship in Santa Cruz that sees its leader in a situation of repression,” Borth told this medium.

Doria Medina was the first to visit Camacho on June 1. The second was former President Quiroga who visited him on October 1 and even took a photo with Camacho in prison. And the third was former President Mesa, on October 8, but While he met with Camacho, Doria Medina was presenting his “government plan” to get Bolivia out of the crisis.

“It seems very counterproductive that you go to visit Fernando Camacho in prison on the same day as the supposed unit “He is presenting his candidate,” deputy Marcelo Pedrazas told EL DEBER, who doubts this speech of unity.

Beyond that reading, for analyst Lanza, the approach of the three politicians to Camacho shows that The imprisoned governor “becomes the articulator of unity” because Masismo itself turned it into a political symbol of resistance since 2019.

“In addition, he represents the bulk of the opposition in Santa Cruz and it has a significant electoral base and that makes it an articulating axis of that unity,” Lanza told EL DEBER.

For the experts and legislator Pedrazas, it is not strange that no one launches a name that represents them, because everything is a matter of a political calculation where at least three axes are seen: the visits to Camacho, the plan that Doria Medina presents in her personal capacity and what impact both actions can achieve.

In this scenario, the name of Manfred Reyes Villa, leader of “Súmate Bolivia,” also arises. While Deputy Pedrazas sees it as the only real option with popular support to confront the MAS, Analyst Borth sees him with a visible inclination towards the Government, especially since the criminal proceedings against him were annulled. That factor plus his “silence” in the face of the Government’s mistakes, and his advance refusal to approach the traditional ones, puts him in a not very credible option to form a single opposition bloc.

In the MAS, arcistas and evistas, they see the opposition’s attempts to unite as just another anecdote and make fun of those meetings. “It’s a group of witches… coven. All the witches are going to get together, no one agrees and everyone is going to participate“said Vice Minister Gustavo Torrico.

For Evista Senator William Torrez, opposition meetings “are desperate measures”they do not have a concrete proposal to present to the country and they do not enjoy the trust of the population.

“The people call them political corpses because they have already completed their cycle,” Torrez told EL DEBER, and this medium asked him if Evo Morales, a politician with more than 30 years of experience, is not along the same lines, to which he responded that The MAS has other figures beyond the coca leader.