Five Myths About the Crisis of the Left in Bolivia

By Sacha Llorenti  –  Aug 19, 2025

I have read with great attention many comrades, people whom I love and respect a lot, simplifying the situation of the crisis of the left in Bolivia. I know that these criticisms come from honest people, born out of genuine concerns and solidarity with the Bolivian people.

However, a series of common points emerge that deserve an explanation, given the unique characteristics of Bolivia, its social movements, and its left.

1. The fracture of the left is a struggle of personal ambitions
It is not egos, lack of generosity, or meanness that marked the break between the social movements and the government of Luis Arce. This is a reductionism that hides a lack of understanding of what the MAS, the political instrument of the social organizations that came to conquer political power in Bolivia in December 2005, means.

That instrument is the sum of the largest Indigenous and peasant organizations in the country, in a country—it should be said—that is predominantly Indigenous.

These organizations are structured into unions, subunions, provincial centers, departmental federations, and national confederations. It is these structures that debate and decide the course of the instrument. They are not personal decisions or whims; they are organic decisions that traverse Bolivian territory.

These organizations were systematically attacked by the government of Luis Arce, who, as a result of manipulations by the justice system, managed to seize their party affiliation.

So, the break with Arce, among many other reasons, is due to his decision to banish the entire movement organized around the political instrument, his catastrophic economic administration, and the serious corruption allegations.

Moreover, those organizations decided that their candidate should be Evo Morales. The mobilizations and protests against the proscription were met with repression, an assassination attempt on Evo’s life, and the violent takeover of several union offices. While these lines are being written, dozens of Indigenous leaders are still in prisons or in hiding.

2. No one sought unity
Despite the fact that Luis Arce’s government used Lenin Moreno’s entire repertoire from when he proscribed Rafael Correa, Evo Morales and the social organizations of the political instrument proposed several alternatives to prevent the implosion. First, the holding of closed internal primaries was proposed, with the participation of the MAS membership, which exceeded one million registered members. Then, in response to its rejection, he proposed holding open primaries in the Argentinian style. That proposal was also rejected. Finally, Evo Morales proposed conducting opinion polls in the Mexican style for the designation of the candidate, with the commitment of full support for whoever was favored by the people. That proposal was also discarded because the intention was always the political annulment of Evo Morales at all costs and, therefore, of the organic decisions. Andrónico Rodríguez also did not want the primaries to be held.

3. The candidacy of Andrónico Rodríguez represented the popular bloc
Andrónico was the young politician who could best represent the interests of the Bolivian popular bloc. Indigenous, union leader, political scientist, and president of the Senate, he was seen by everyone as the natural heir to Evo Morales’ political legacy.

However, he committed the political crime of launching his candidacy behind the backs of the social organizations that constitute the political instrument. It was through a press conference that the Indigenous and peasant leadership learned that Andrónico had made the individual decision to launch his candidacy, without it being the result of a decision by the structures of those organizations.

It was a personal candidacy that dealt one of the hardest blows to the political instrument because it usurped a representation that was not conferred to him, legitimized the proscription of the popular movement, and broke with the logic of collective decision-making. Rodríguez was expelled from his union and his federation of farmers. His very low percentage in the elections is proof that his candidacy did not have popular support. To make matters worse, his bloc’s candidate lists included people who were clearly right-wing.

The Dreadful Division of the Left in Bolivia Paves the Way for the Right

4. The null vote is useless
The decision to campaign for the null vote was not an individual or whimsical decision by Evo Morales. It was a collective decision that took time to make and was based on the logic that these elections are illegitimate because they were held by banning the largest political movement in the country. Despite the brevity of the campaign, the null vote reached nearly 20% of the votes, when the average of all previous elections was around 3.5%. It was a protest vote, a disciplined vote, a vote that shows that social organizations remain the soul and essence of the Bolivian left.

5. It is the twilight of Evo Morales and the Bolivian left
The electoral results show that the Bolivian left is based on Indigenous and peasant social organizations and that the undisputed leader remains Evo Morales. This is the true opposition to the right-wing parties that will assume political power in November.

Just as it happened after the coup, it was those organizations and their leadership that were able to restore democracy. After the series of blows that this time came from the Arce government and Rodríguez’s exit, it will be those organizations that set the course for the popular and revolutionary movement in Bolivia to follow.

Final note on equidistances
A call to the Latin American left: there can be no equidistance between those who betray and those who are betrayed, between those who try to destroy our political organizations and those who defend them, between those who proscribe and those who are proscribed, between those who attempt to assassinate our comrades and those who are the victims, between those who imprison Indigenous leaders and those who are imprisoned. Our equidistance in the face of injustices is a weapon for our enemies.

As José Martí rightly said: “Men cannot be more perfect than the sun.” The sun burns with the same light with which it shines. The sun has spots. The grateful see the light. The ungrateful see the stains.

 

Sacha Llorenti is a Bolivian lawyer and politician, former minister of Evo Morales’ government, and former president of ALBA-TCP.

(NODAL)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/SF