September, the month of Santa Cruz, is beginning. It does not arrive with the festive air of other years. Nor does it bode well for the region and its people. There are reasons that have, to a large extent, soured the mood of the people of Santa Cruz. One of these reasons has to do with the disconcerting and unreliable results of the Population and Housing Census carried out last March and which the National Institute of Statistics (INE) recently released.
The data provided by the INE in a pompous presentation, -set up as if to massage the ego of its loquacious Director,- contradict their own projections, causing surprise and rejection in the country. Two years ago, these projections assured that Bolivia would have more than 12 million inhabitants in 2024, but the recent population count revealed a figure below the official estimates with 11.3 million. For a similar reason, the census count in Santa Cruz is not convincing either, although it has become the most populated department with 3.1 million people in its territory.
In the face of the rejection and the demand for an audit of the results of the Census, President Arce did not hide his anger and described the barrage of criticism and demands from different national actors and sectors as ‘political and demagogic’. A reaction caused, fundamentally, by the low credibility of the Government and the growing citizen distrust in its actions. Such is the result of the wear and tear and the recurrent ‘blunders’ of the MAS in the long and all-powerful exercise of power.
