Juan Perez Munguia / La Paz
Leaders of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) agreed that there is a current within that party that wants to remove former president Evo Morales from the leadership. They added that similar attempts were made in the past, but were unsuccessful.
Yesterday, Morales, from Paraguay, through his Twitter account, asked President Luis Arce not to pay attention to the “small group” that intends to change the course of the process of change.
“A small group intends to distance our revolution from other revolutions on the continent. Our essence is twinned with those revolutions. We know and are sure of brother Luis Arce’s conviction that he does not and will not listen to that group,” he tweeted.
Photo: APG
MAS deputy Héctor Arce stated that these minority groups are the blocks that support the current president, Vice President David Choquehuanca and the President of the Senate, Andrónico Rodríguez. The legislator added that those who make up these factions will be sanctioned, in accordance with their statutes.
“I know of groups that are Shock Huanquistas, Luchistas, even Androniquistas. What has been determined in the last congresses is that no type of bloc that tries to divide the MAS will be allowed, but, in addition, these people must be identified and they must be sanctioned. These groups will fail in their attempt to fight for the leadership of brother Evo Morales,” he said.
The pro-government senator Leonardo Loza pointed out that there have always been some sectors that tried to fragment the MAS in order to gain space and put their personal interests before the collective good of the party. “The indigenous movement led by our brother Evo has always had internal enemies, groups that had private, personal, political and economic interests. There will always be these groups, now there are with other groups, but they will not be able to face the leadership of brother Evo”, he asserted.
Former Minister Carlos Romero maintained that this issue of interests of groups within MAS also occurred in other political acronyms of the past. He added that the internal debate should not be reduced to a struggle for spaces of power.
“The MAS faces the challenge of projecting a new historic strategic agenda for the State. It has to recover its capacity for internal programmatic debate and not allow it to be subalternized by small groups, whose only interest is in capturing a few quotas of power in the state apparatus”, he explained.
Arce, Loza and Romero assured that these blocs that are trying to divide the MAS will not be successful and that currently that political organization is united and the factions are minorities.
A call for help?
Last Tuesday, President Arce and the Unity Pact gave themselves a break until February to discuss a possible adjustment in the ministerial cabinet. After that, Morales asked the head of state not to let “a small group” change the course of the revolution.
Political scientist Hugo San Martín stated that Morales calls for Arce’s help because there are groups that question his leadership. He added that this happens in “two-headed governments”, as is the particular case and that of Argentina, with Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández.
“Evo Morales little by little sees that his power is being limited, to the extent that the administrative part gains more strength over the political. This tends to further weaken the caudillista and charismatic leadership of Evo Morales. Things are not easy for Morales, when he is already outside the direct management of the government”, he emphasized.
