By Gustavo A Maranges on March 20, 2022
Bolivia’s Former President Evo Morales announced last week he would not claim the compensation granted by the Plurinational Constitutional Court. Evo was banned as a Senate candidate for the province of Cochabamba during October 2020 general elections in the Andean country.
This illegal ban was a judicial maneuver promoted by the then-Vice President of the Bolivian Senate, Carmen Eva Gonzales Lafuente, who was in charge of preventing Evo’s re-entry to any of the State’s governing bodies. According to the legal team representing Morales, the regulations to list a candidate were changed three times during the election campaign.
Morales the legally elected President of Bolivia had to resign after a coup d’état led by the Bolivian right-wing politicians, who were backed by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. government. It forced Evo to leave the country to Mexico and then moved to Argentina to seek asylum, meaning he had a legal residence in La Paz and was out of the country. Based on these criteria, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) prevented his registration as a senatorial candidate for Cochabamba.
Despite the continued protests of political and social movements, the sentence of the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (TSP) declaring unconstitutional Evo’s disqualification came two years late. Likewise, it urges the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to comply with its obligations before the law and publish its regulations on the registration of candidates with enough time in advance.
So far, the compensation amount has not been disclosed. However, Evo’s dignified position on the matter shows he is a true politician of the people, who is guided by the desire for social justice and not by economic or material interests. Consequently, Evo assured he will not stop legal actions until he brings to justice those who betrayed democracy by deciding to disqualify him.
Evo Morales’ position is based on the fact that disqualifying him as a senatorial candidate violated his political rights, but more importantly, it was a direct attack against Bolivia’s democracy and electoral transparency, something which cannot be unmade with money.
The decision to refuse compensation only concerns Evo, since it tries to repair the damages he suffered. However, the worst damage remains unpunished. That is why the former president has demanded to take legal actions against the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s spokespersons from that time and the members of the Second Constitutional Chamber of La Paz who ratified the TSE sentence banning him. Those involved not only failed in their duty to guarantee electoral transparency and watch over democracy and the constitution, but also betrayed it by taking an active role in an unconstitutional and politically motivated action.
While all these attacks against Evo Morales prevented him from being elected as Senator, they were not enough to nullify him as a political leader. Since his return to Bolivia, Evo has been fully engaged in political activism working together with social and union movements and demanding justice to be done for the thousands of families that suffered the social and military violence of the right-wing sector.
Evo has also become one of the loudest and consistent Latin America voices condemning the warmongering stance of the United States and NATO in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Bolivia’s former president has emphasized that the world would never reach the current level of tension if NATO had dropped its interests in using Ukraine as a spearhead against Russia.
Evo Morales’ political clarity is undoubtedly one of his greatest virtues as a political and social leader. It has earned him strong internal and international respect and recognition, which is one of the reasons why he has survived as a political actor after being demonized so viciously by the media and overthrown by a coup d’état.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English