Bolivia: Luis Arce and Evo Morales begin 200-kilometer-march in defense of democracy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “The people always have the word and we said it: if they do not want to respect the vote in the ballot boxes we will make them respect it in the streets,” warned a euphoric Bolivian president. For his part, the ex-president of Bolivia assured that the right-wing “wants to return to the colonial state.”

Among multicolored flags, music and Andean rituals, Bolivia’s president Luis Arce, and ex-president Evo Morales, on Tuesday led the first part of a massive mobilization in favor of the government that will cover almost 200 kilometers.

“The Bolivian people are marching to vindicate and say that their focus is democracy. Those who have lost at the polls want to win another way,” Arce said, in reference to the right-wing opposition, which held a 9-day strike in rejection of an anti-money laundering law promoted by the government.

Thousands of Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) supporters, led by Morales, began the so-called “March for the Homeland” in the town of Caracollo, in the west of the country, and hope to reach La Paz next Monday. With the Andes mountains in the background, members of pro-MAS unions and other social organizations set off at a brisk pace on the long walk along the route, waving Bolivian flags and “wiphalas”, the banner of the highland peoples.

They wore typical costumes of colorful fabrics, ornate hats, miners’ helmets and the traditional woven sacks where Aymara and Quechua Indians carry their belongings and even their babies. Huge banners, some with images of Arce and Morales, stood out in the one-kilometer-long caravan, while the crowd cheered their leaders.

Arce, who led the first kilometers of the march, called for strength and unity to demonstrators recalling past mobilizations between Caracollo and La Paz that were milestones in the construction of democracy in Bolivia, including those that overthrew the dictatorships in the past century and that created the current Plurinational State little more than a decade ago.

“The Bolivian people always have the word and we said it: if they do not want to respect the vote at the polls we will make them respect it in the streets,” Arce warned, stressing that “the Bolivian people are wise” because they solved the 2019 crisis at the ballot box.”

The president said that “those who have lost at the polls, those who have failed to create a majority want to win it another way, that is why the Bolivian people are marching today to vindicate” and to say that its “focus” is on “democracy.” Amid applause and cheers of “Lucho is not alone,” Arce said that “he did not feel alone” because “the people were with him.”

Ex-president Morales, also present at the event, recounted a long list of facts with which the right-wing opposition first tried to prevent Arce’s presidential inauguration, and then insisted on destabilizing him. “The underlying issue is that the right-wing does not want the Plurinational State, it wants a return to the colonial state,” Morales said.

“They will never forgive us, that small oligarchy, for having nationalized, recovered our natural resources,” warned the ex-president of Bolivia between 2006 and 2019, adding that the march was a sort of “warm-up” for the November 29 rally in La Paz, which he expects to be so large that it will “make the country’s political capital burst.”

“This march is for the homeland, those of us who love Bolivia are making an effort to march for 7 days, all for the new Bolivia we are going to rebuild,” he said and stressed from a platform, visibly moved, the “great surprise of seeing thousands and thousands of brothers and sisters gathered.” Morales ended his speech saying that “thanks to your vote I am here again, alive” and invited the “Bolivian people” to support President Arce.

In a pause of the long walk, oil worker union leader Rolando Borda said that the beginning of the march “exceeded expectations” and that more people joined than initially planned. Indigenous leader Flora Aguilar assured that “today more than ever we are united” in “defense of democracy” and that now the “fundamental task” is to also protect the government.

From the early hours of Tuesday thousands of people moved to Caracollo summoned by the MAS and related organizations such as the Bolivian Workers’ Union (COB), which ordered all farmers, indigenous and civil organizations to join the march.

The distance between Caracollo and La Paz is typically covered in about 7 days, so reaching the seat of government is planned for next Monday, making stops in intermediate towns that organized to cook communal meals. The march in support of Arce’s administration was called by Morales last November 12, after a strike of almost a week promoted by the opposition against am anti-money laundering law which the government eventually repealed.

Bolivia has been in a deep political division since 2019, when Morales was forced to resign from the presidency after losing the backing of the Armed Forces and the police, amid massive protests against him and accusations of electoral fraud when seeking reelection to a 4th term. Back in power since 2020, MAS considers that the latest opposition protests were a “pretext” and that in reality what was being sought was a “second coup d’état.”