By Carlos Aznárez,on August 25, 2025
Foto: Agustin Marcarian
Were mistakes made? Of course, and of all sizes. Mistakes that did not begin only when Luis Arce Catacora took office, nor when Evo Morales returned to the country and was greeted by crowds of supporters, nor when Arce and his entourage plunged headlong into neoliberalism, bringing a host of misfortunes to large sectors of the population. In fact, already in the latter part of President Evo’s term, shortcomings were also detected, misguided shifts, internal factions that did not help to build, inconclusive struggles that revealed antagonistic ideological vectors between “Alvaristas” and “Evistas,” and which at the time were denounced by those great revolutionaries, the Peredo brothers (Chato and Osvaldo) and Mallku Felipe Quispe.
Is it necessary to listen to self-criticism? Of course, and not just from one side of the counter, because there are many more people to blame for this current difficult episode than those who are usually named. Time will tell. Self-criticism is only useful if there is a desire for profound change.
Is this victory of the two-sided right a tragedy waiting to happen? Of course it is, especially because it is happening in the current continental and global context, where the Western empire is wasting no time in moving its pieces to recolonize by hook or by crook, through the Southern Command.
Could it have been avoided? Of course, but that would have required humility and a strategic commitment to victory, thinking above all of the class that the popular left and the Political Instrument represent. Namely: those most affected by the economic crisis, those at the bottom, those who, thanks to the Plurinational State, were included in the new Constitution for the first time in history, the indigenous people, who proudly waved their whipala and should not have had to take to the streets when a well-dressed (white or ladino) gentleman or lady of the racist bourgeoisie came down the sidewalk. Also the workers and peasants who looked their exploiters in the eye and showed them in practice what their rights were, and did not feel alone in the challenge. There was a popular government covering their backs, and Our America was buzzing with similar experiences. Bolívar was riding again, his hand gripping the sword of emancipation.
All these important questions must not be forgotten, and they must be answered as we build, step by step, the foundation for a difficult but not impossible process of resistance. This is something for which the Bolivian people are prepared, based on their historical experience.
Of course, it is not the same for a popular government to be overthrown by a civil-military coup, such as the one led by Jeanine Añez, as it is for the fall to occur, unfortunately, through a process of implosion. But now we must appeal to the best lessons and courage that the struggle provides and not lose sight of the fact that the road to socialism is not a bed of roses.
There are and will be many questions to ask in these seemingly dark circumstances, where whoever wins in the second round, the people will lose. That is why we must not fall into discouragement, but rather highlight something that is being hidden: there is enough strength to face what is coming, as long as there is political will and a clear understanding that what will intensify from now on is the much-talked-about class struggle. There are many factors in our favor. On the one hand, we must highlight the importance of the null vote called for by Evo and followed with total discipline, both in the country and in the diaspora. A proposal of this kind is not easy, because although it has symbolic meaning, it requires an understanding of how to break with the alienation imposed by bourgeois democracies, which indicate that the only vote that counts is that of a “legally” recognized party. This legality is controlled by those who pull the strings of the deceitful partyocracy, which almost always entangles left-wing parties in order to swallow them up. On the other hand, this null vote achieved resounding victories, for example in Cochabamba, signifying in fact an important rejection—non-binding but rejection nonetheless—of the disastrous administration of the right-wing Manfred Reyes Vila. And the same thing happened in other provinces. In other words, hundreds of thousands of Bolivians, despite the banning of their natural candidate, decided to go out and vote “in resistance.” This was similar to what Peronist militants did in Argentina in the 1950s and 1960s, advocating for blank votes, even disobeying Perón’s own instructions, or the experience of the Basque patriotic left, when, with all legal avenues closed, they also opted for a conscious null vote and obtained truly significant results in the vote count.
But what do we mean when we say that there is enough strength to face this difficult moment? Firstly, because this upheaval must serve to reorganize everything that the fratricidal struggle destroyed in a short time, to restore the political instrument where new generations can come to the fore, which, while recognizing natural leaders such as Evo, can join the future struggle to regain government and not stop until they seize power. Because it has already been proven that administration and management are not enough; we must sink the knife deep. It is also essential to rebuild the Bolivian Workers’ Union, which is mired in a crisis of representation that has led to its total paralysis. The same is true of the other free organizations of the people, which suffered significant attrition in the “internal war.”
Secondly, knowing that whether Rodrigo Paz and police officer Edman Lara (who is being sold as the “lesser evil”) or the ultra-right-wing Tuto Quiroga win the second round of voting, both are committed to neoliberalism in economic terms and authoritarianism in political terms. There is no doubt that they will come out swinging to destroy what has been achieved in recent years, and that they will have to be confronted from the outset. Above all, because these current right-wingers, in their more or less extreme variants, are accustomed to a style that the left or the misnamed “progressives” lack: from the very first minute and during the first hundred days, they destroy everything and impose their political culture. The proof is there for all to see in what the fascist Milei has done in Argentina.
There will be no time to sleep or whine, but rather to return to the streets to show that it will not be easy for our old enemies to return to the past. Oil, gas, lithium, and all the riches whose commercialization has allowed profits to be derived to advance social projects must be defended.
Finally, based on the need to join forces and think in the present, putting aside the differences and grievances of the recent past, it is important that a first demonstration of resistance would be to increase the number of null votes in the second round. This is a way of baring our teeth at those who are today toasting with champagne their return to government and their entry into the lethal foreign policy circuit managed by Donald Trump.
Recognizing that the working classes have suffered a severe blow, just at a time when the political and military right wing aspires to turn the continent into its backyard, all is not lost. If the Bolivian people were able to reverse a coup d’état that threatened to remain in place for a long time in just one year, the current circumstances, however difficult, are not impossible to turn around. And a final red light: it is very likely that the new leaders who arrive at the Presidential Palace will order Evo’s arrest, to get rid of someone they consider a tough nut to crack. In that case, local and international solidarity with the former president must be so strong that it thwarts this revengeful maneuver by the oligarchic sectors.
Carlos Aznarez is the founder and editor of Resumen Latinoamericano.