Luis Arce assumes the presidency of Bolivia: ‘New stage in our history’ | World

Arce, former Minister of Morales and considered the “brain” of the economic reforms, obtained 55.1% of the valid votes. His main rival in the race, former president Carlos Mesa, won 29% of the vote and refused to admit defeat.

The inauguration ceremony took place a year after the resignation of Evo Morales, who spent almost 14 years in power.

The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Legislative Assembly. In his inaugural speech, Arce spoke about the triumph of democracy through voting and highlighted that voters chose peace and stability.

“As of November 10, 2019, after 21 days in which the popular will expressed at the polls was concealed, Bolivia was the scene of an internal and systematic war against the people, especially the most humble,” he said.

“Death, fear and discrimination have spread. Racism has deepened and the pandemic has been used to spread an illegal and illegitimate government,” Arce said.

“It is not hatred that drives our actions, but passion for justice,” he said.

“This November 8, 2020 we have started a new stage in our history, and we want to create a government that is for everyone and for everyone, in discrimination of any nature,” said the president.

Arce cited the pandemic and said that the country has regressed in relation to recent achievements, with a drop in Gross Domestic Product of 11%. He then accused the provisional government of mismanagement during the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.

Vice President David Choquehuanca spoke to Luis Arce.

Choquehuanca summoned the indigenous peoples of Bolivia and the native peoples and preached unity, speaking of “reconciling ideas of the right and the left.”

Before taking office, Arce said that Bolivia “begins a new era” and thanked voters in a post on a social network. “#Bolivia begins a new era. We are grateful to the Bolivian women and men who from all over the country accompany us in the rise to the presidential command,” he wrote.

In a social network, Evo Morales, exiled in Argentina, wrote that today “is a historic day.”

“Today, November 8, is a historic day for the possession of @LuchoXBolivia and the recovery of democracy exactly one year after the police riot of November 8, 2019. We won the battle only with the conscience of the people, without violence” , wrote.

The former president declared that he will return to Bolivia on Monday (9), hoping that there will be no legal problems when entering the country. Morales’ resignation came in the midst of a social mobilization that, added to the mutiny of the majority of Bolivian police officers and the request for the resignation of the Armed Forces, ended up removing him from power.

The ceremony was attended by several heads of state, such as the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, the foreign minister of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, as well as the foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad Yavad Zarif, who has already met with Arce and Choquehuanca, according to the network. Telesur news.

The Spanish king Felipe VI is also in La Paz, along with the vice president and leader of the Pode, Pablo Iglesias. Also present at the ceremony was a delegation from the United States (USA) led by the Undersecretary of Finance for International Affairs, Brent McIntosh.

Iván Duque, president of Colombia; Mario Abdo Benítez, President of Paraguay; and the former president of Panama, Martín Torrijos, as well as Wálter Martos, head of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Francisco Carlos Bustillo and Andrés Allamand, foreign ministers of Uruguay and Chile, respectively, were also expected.

Before the formal opening ceremony, ancestral ceremonies were held. A group of “amautas” or Aymara indigenous spiritual sages prepared an altar with offerings for the “Pachamama”, or Mother Earth, in the Plaza Murillo in La Paz, where the Government Palace and the Bolivian Legislative headquarters are located.

The ritual of gratitude to the “Pachamama” was to ask the Andean deity to give strength to the new ruler, according to Telesur.

Last Thursday (5) Arce suffered an attack in La Paz and dynamite exploded in front of the headquarters of the party’s campaign committee, according to the spokesman for the Movement for Socialism (MAS), Sebastián Michel.

Arce was on the committee when a stick of dynamite was thrown at the property’s gate. There were no injuries or property damage.