LA PAZ, Bolivia – New leftist President Luis Arce took Sunday in Bolivia, bitterly criticizing the dismissal of his mentor last year, former leader Evo Morales, and called the next conservative interim management “brutal. “
The former minister of economics inherits a deeply polarized country that deals with the coronavirus pandemic and the economic difficulties it has caused – the worst economic crisis in 4 decades – as well as strong divisions of Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader.
Arce promised to “rectify the bad and deepen the good” when he took up the job after an election in which his Party Movement to Socialism won 55% of the vote.
Vice President David Choquehuanca, who will head the national congress, issued a conciliation note in which he said the new government “means a new moment to pay attention and heal wounds. “
Arce, 57, is remembered by many Bolivians for overseeing an era of expansion of Bolivia’s economy while the country benefited from emerging commodity costs, and left-wing government social policies helped poverty.
He promised to adopt this state-led style to rebuild and stabilize the economy.
Morales was not allowed to run for his job a year after he resigned from power, at the suggestion of army and police chiefs, after a wave of fatal protests against his alleged re-election.
The meantime that followed tried to erase many of Morales’ foreign and national policies, and prosecutors filed a complaint against the former leader and several of his assistants, accusing them of encouraging violent protests.
Since his election victory, Arce has downplayed the hypothesis of a leading role in his tenure for Morales, whose popularity has been undermined in his later years as president through a refusal to settle for mandate limits and perceived expanding authoritarianism.
Anti-Morales teams have protested in recent days, especially in the eastern economic center of Santa Cruz, also challenging Arce’s election.
Participants of the inauguration King Felipe of Spain, the presidents of Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay, and the Iranian chancellor, Javad Zarif.
When outgoing interim president Jeanne Ez skipped the ceremony, the finalist appeared in the election, former Centrist President Carlos Mesa.
“We are waiting for signs that he will have a smart government and that he will respect the opposition,” Mesa said, opposition figures abandoned the rite to protest against government movements that will facilitate the transmission of their systems to the legislature.
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