Elections in Bolivia: who is Luis Arce, former minister of Evo Morales designated by projections as the country’s new president | World

According to the preliminary result, Luis Arce Catacora, who is a former Minister of Economy, would have obtained a wide advantage, with more than 52% of the votes compared to 31% of his main opponent, former President Carlos Mesa.

“All Bolivians have taken important steps, we have recovered democracy and hope,” said Arce, after hearing the first projections of results.

“For our part, our commitment (is) to work, fulfill our program, and we will govern for all Bolivians.”

One of the key figures for years in the different governments of Evo Morales, Arce is seen as the architect of the reforms that led to Bolivia’s economic take-off during the years of the Movement for Socialism (MAS).

In the management of MAS, the South American country achieved not only reduce inflation and experience an economic boom, but also significantly reduce poverty.

Born in 1963 in La Paz into a family of teachers, Arce studied economics in Bolivia, obtained a master’s degree in the United Kingdom and upon returning to his country began working as an official at the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCP), where he held different positions .

He also devoted himself to teaching and taught several courses at universities, including Harvard, Columbia and the University of Buenos Aires.

On different occasions, Arce pointed out that throughout this period, between the 1980s and 1990s, he maintained his socialist ideas, despite the prevailing neoliberal consensus in Bolivian politics and academia.

For this reason, the academic was part of political analysis groups, with various publications in specialized magazines.

Although it was declared abandoned at the time, was not considered an orthodox Marxist or a traditional communist militant. During these years, he gave more and more importance to the study of macroeconomics.

Later, he would put that experience and ideas into the party’s governing program, which in 2005 placed a coca grower in the most important position in the country.

After the rise to power of Evo Morales, Arce was appointed in 2006 to head the Ministry of Finance, which was renamed three years after the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance..

At the head of the ministry, Arce promoted measures to encourage the domestic market, exchange stability and promote policies for the industrialization of natural resources.

In a government that had many politicians, the economist was concerned about macroeconomic stability, the fiscal deficit, and the expansion of international reserves. His officemates, on the other hand, were dedicated to the political crisis that Evo Morales faced during his first years in office.

But perhaps one of its most important and controversial measures has been the series of “nationalizations”, mainly in the hydrocarbon sector, the recovery of which Arce considered one of the pillars of the Bolivian economy in all these years.

The increase in international reserves, the expansion of the middle class and, above all, the fact that the country is among the fastest growing in the region, led the Morales government to promote the idea of ​​the “Bolivian economic miracle “.

This narrative was rejected by the opposition of the time and now by the transitional government of Jeanine Áñez, who says she doubts that poverty has really been reduced. The opposition says that Arce wasted the moment when there were greater inflows of resources into the Bolivian economy, when the prices of hydrocarbons and minerals were on the rise.

Another question is that the previous government did not fulfill its promise to diversify the economy and industrialize natural resources, but after almost 14 years it left the country equally dependent on exportable raw materials.

On the way to the presidency

After suffering kidney cancer, he resigned as minister in 2017 and, after a long recovery in Brazil, returned to Bolivia to resume his post, until Evo Morales resigned last year.

In January, the MAS named him as its presidential candidate (and former Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca as a running mate) for the elections that were initially scheduled for May and then postponed to October due to the coronavirus pandemic.

His appointment raised questions even within the party, due to the fact that Arce came from the urban middle class and not from the union and peasant organizations that make up a large part of the MAS bases.

When the moment came to announce the candidate, Evo Morales – who has lived in Argentina since the crisis that forced his resignation – pointed out that Arce was the man capable of “guaranteeing the national economy.”

The former president recalled the achievements he attributes to the ex-minister’s management, such as economic growth, to support the decision taken.

As a government plan, Arce has defended state companies, the country’s natural resources, and says he wants to return to the growth rates that Bolivia had when he was Minister of Economy.

However, his profile is quite technical and he has made his career in the shadow of much more charismatic characters such as Morales and former vice president Álvaro García Linera. This, according to his critics, may weigh against him.