October 20, 2024, 9:10 AM
October 20, 2024, 9:10 AM
Democracy is under siege in Bolivia. The attack flanks come from two sides: from the justice system and from the street. In the first case, due to judicial rulings that seek to sabotage the election of magistrates and the attorney general. In the second, due to the blockade by supporters of Evo Morales, which has been going on for seven days now and is causing millions of dollars in damage to Bolivia’s economy.
It must be remembered that the judicial elections were to be held in 2023, when the constitutional mandate established for the former judicial authorities was fulfilled. However, due to constitutional protections and sentences, they were postponed until, in December, the members of the Constitutional Court defined the extension of their own mandate and that of the judicial magistrates, above the norms and under the argument that the The country could not be left without the functioning of the high courts. Then they were judge and party and did it again on several more occasions.
The Constitutional Court became a suprapower and tried to crush the Legislative Branch. With successive sentences, he invalidated the ability of senators and deputies to dictate norms and fulfill their powers. Any candidate for a postponed magistrate felt they had the right to file an amparo and the Constitutional Court gave rise to it, causing the elections to be postponed indefinitely and favoring the extension of the self-prorogation. When the parliamentarians agreed to define the list of candidates for the Judiciary, the case went to the Supreme Electoral Court and is now the target of the siege of the constitutional magistrates.
With the intention of paralyzing the judicial elections, a disastrous precedent is set, because in the same way they can act with any of the other elections, even for president and vice president, violating the right of citizens to elect their highest authorities. The issue is so serious that the Electoral Tribunal will file a complaint with the inter-American human rights system (IACHR). Even at this moment there are doubts about carrying out the process on December 1.
On the other hand, militants from the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) of the current similar to Evo Morales are blocking the country at 14 different points. The protest measure was born in an effort to prevent the former president from being brought to justice for a criminal investigation against him for the crimes of aggravated statutory rape and human trafficking. The case refers to the fact that Morales would have had sexual relations with a 14-year-old minor with whom he would have had a daughter. Far from responding and showing that the accusations are false, he has ordered a blockade of the country, without caring about the million-dollar loss that is already caused by the obstacles to transporting all types of products by road and preventing Bolivians from being able to move freely in the country. national territory.
It cannot be forgotten that, a few weeks ago, Morales and his followers marched from Caracollo to La Paz. Then they proposed shortening Luis Arce’s presidential term, suggesting that that is their main agenda. Now the issue is complemented by the statement of Evo Morales’ former minister, Juan Ramón Quintana, who said in an interview that the blockades are crowned with blood and that, to the extent that there are injured or dead, that is the guarantee of the fall of the can.
What Quintana just said is no small thing, because it can be anticipated as the expected result of a protest that can become more violent.
Meanwhile, the country observes with astonishment the impunity with which Evo Morales intends to live, in a case that causes general rejection. In addition, there is economic damage to all Bolivians, since prices become more expensive as a result of the measure.
The Government is called upon to comply with the Constitution, which does not allow the interruption of free movement. At the same time, if Evo Morales intends to win elections and obtain citizen support, he must end the blockade, due to the serious damage it causes to Bolivia.
Bolivians have to respect democracy and stop looking with indifference at its sieges.
