Luis Escobar / La Paz
The Municipal Council of La Paz tried for two days to elect the new director, but to no avail. This situation occurs due to the internal conflicts that are registered for the Common Good, the group of the mayor Iván Arias.
Tata Quispe, coordinator of councilor Lourdes Chambilla, yesterday defended the legislator’s self-application for the presidency alleging gender equity and goes against what this alliance determined.
The six councilors of the Alliance for the Common Good – We Are People met last week to elect the new directive. Five of them supported Lucio Quispe, former leader of the Eduardo Avaroa union drivers. Lourdes Chambilla also appeared.
Chambilla, yesterday.
Photo: Carlos Sánchez / Page Seven
Yelka Maric said that Chambilla “had no support.” She “imposed his candidacy, threw down the doors and left. She was not present at the (new) calls for the meetings because she did not want to go and she does all this show to impose herself, ”she maintained.
On Tuesday, the plenary session of the Municipal Council was installed. For the Common Good, he nominated Lucio Quispe. Chambilla presented his candidacy for the same position. The Movimiento Al Socalismo (MAS), noticing a division in the majority party, presented Pierre Chaín as its candidate. As none of the three applicants obtained a majority, the Council declared an intermediate room. Yesterday, at 10:00, the session was reinstated and when the election of the board was going to take place, Chambilla took his cell phone and left the session room.
You can also read: Arias accused Tata of being a traitor and allowing the mayor to “coup”
“I will continue with my candidacy for president. I’m not going to back down. For gender equality, it is my responsibility to be president this year. The previous administration (Jorge) Dulon held that position and (the secretary Óscar) Sogliano”, said Chambilla, after the suspension of the session.
For Chambilla, these people “want to perpetuate themselves”. “I will let the people and God judge each one of them. I ask you to wait and I think our mayor is a father who knows how to put his children in order. That he recognizes that there are six of them and not just five”, he affirmed.
Iván Arias formed his group For the Common Good to run for municipal elections, but he did not have legal status. That is why he made an alliance with Somos Pueblo, by Rafael Tata Quispe. For that election, For the Common Good obtained five councilors and Tata one, “the golden vote”, or as he later said “the conscious vote”.
Today, Rafael Quispe acts as coordinator for Councilor Chambilla with a monthly salary. He is also president of the alliance and yesterday he assured that “it hurts his soul” that the people of La Paz must listen to these contradictions.
“There are principles that we work on such as rotation, alternation and gender equality. In this framework, it is appropriate for a woman to be president of the Municipal Council. What better than a woman in a skirt! That was Chambilla’s sin to run and receive this harassment,” she said.
You can also read: Arias to Tata Quispe: If you retire from politics you cannot eat from the hand and bite it at the same time
The president of the Council, Jorge Dulon, responded: “Internal democracy must be respected. In this case, the alliance voted democratically to nominate the president and secretary. Therefore, there was rotation and internal democracy. I don’t understand Tata why he defends (Chambilla) so much. He should take care of things for the alliance and not just one person.”
The board called a new session of the Council scheduled for today at 10:00. To solve the internal problem, yesterday at noon they set up a meeting of the alliance’s board of directors and Mayor Iván Arias, Tata Quispe and other members participated. Until the closing of the edition, 9:30 p.m., the meeting continued.
Javier Escalier, councilor for the MAS, clarified that “it is not a coup.” “Six councilors who have the majority do not agree with each other, they cannot elect a president. We are five and we cannot vote in favor of any of them. It’s an internal problem,” he said.
Pierre Chaín, also from the MAS, said that the “logical” thing is for Chambilla to support the MAS. “If she supports us, Mrs. Chambilla would be supporting the people of La Paz in search of transparency and control of previous and current efforts,” she said.
Chambilla’s support for the MAS would allow Chaín to be the new president of the Council. “Maybe she could represent the minority as vice president.”
