A Divided MAS Roils Bolivia

Luis Arce, the President of Bolivia, is no longer responding to the demands of his ex-boss, former President Evo Morales.  The struggle for control of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and the presidential candidacy in 2025 is taking place in a country ravaged by fires, droughts, and as economic crisis looms large.  Morales enjoys strong support from the six coca growers’ federations in the Chapare, but appears to be losing the support of social organizations.  Arce’s event had the support of the most important rural organizations in the country, including the Union Confederation of Bolivian Peasant Workers, the Bartolina Sisa Peasant Women’s organization, and the Bolivian Workers’ Central.  Beyond its revolutionary leftist discourse, MAS politicians forged alliances with the new and old ruling classes of the country and with transnational capital, giving continuity to an economic model based on extractivism.  The Bolivian government has been granting gold mining rights in national protected areas. Not only does this generate serious environmental consequences, but gold mining is virtually tax exempt, so it does not even benefit the country economically.  All of this has turned Bolivia into the country with the highest per capita loss of primary forest in the world. The MAS does not respond to the needs or demands of the population. It is not anchored in class contradictions, nor does it have to do with expanding social justice.  The key challenge today is to minimize the impacts that this conflict —and the decomposition of the MAS— will have on the rest of the Bolivian population.