RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia’s president Luis Arce criticized the Organization of American States (OAS) and said it “no longer represents Latin America” after taking part in the 6th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
“The OAS no longer represents us. It is other interests and other parties that dictate what happens in the OAS,” he stated, adding that in CELAC “countries feel represented” despite the existing political and ideological differences.
Therefore, he said that an international organization is required that watches over democracy, without “interference.” “In our case we have seen it first-hand. There was a marked interference in the November 2019 elections,” he stressed.
Arce has repeatedly stated that the OAS interfered in the electoral process by publishing reports which were not part of the agreement signed between the organization and the Bolivian government. “The OAS’ interference and involvement in the coup d’état is very clear,” he noted.
“There is a Latin Americanist sentiment. There is a feeling that we should be integrated,” he said in reference to the work performed by CELAC. “On the pandemic issue, had we acted jointly by reopening CELAC, for instance, perhaps we would not have had the results we had as a region in the fight against Covid-19.”
The Bolivian president also addressed other issues, such as vaccination in his country, the alleged coup d’état against ex-president Evo Morales and the OAS intervention. “We were the ones who retrieved democracy from the hands of a de facto government, from a dictatorship in its entirety,” he said.