International
Thousands of followers of Evo Morales enter La Paz and demand his authorization as a candidate
The march led by the former president of Bolivia and official leader, Evo Morales (2006-2019), arrived this Monday in La Paz, after thousands of his followers joined him in the city of El Alto, to demand that he be qualified as a candidate for the 2025 elections, despite having a constitutional ban.
Morales, followed by miners and indigenous sectors in the front row, entered the city headquarters of the Government through the main highway that connects both cities on his seventh day of a walk that began on September 17 from the town of Caracollo, in the Andean region of Oruro, and that President Luis Arce described as a “coup d’état” against him.
The day before, there were some clashes in El Alto, between Morales’ followers and sectors that defend Arce, which left at least a dozen injured, according to the report of the Ministry of Health.
Freddy Mamani, a pro-government deputy related to Morales, reported that the demonstrators led by the former president will concentrate at the entrance of La Paz, near the highway, where they will read several petitions they have for the Arce Government.
“We are not going to threaten anyone, we are not going to enter Murillo Square, we are going to concentrate here where it will be a party to defend Bolivia,” he said in a statement on Radio Kawsachun Coca, half related to Morales.
President Arce sent several public invitations to Morales to hold a dialogue, however the former president said he did not receive any invitation.
Morales’ followers maintain that it is a march to “save the homeland” in the face of problems such as the shortage of dollars and fuel and the increase in the price of some basic products, and they also demand that the resolutions of a congress of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) held last year – not recognized by the Electoral Court – in which they defined Morales’ candidacy be respected.
The Arce Government considers that the march promoted by Morales is a “coup d’état” that intends to remove him from power so that the head of the Senate, Andrónico Rodríguez, who is related to the former governor, assumes the Presidency of the country.
Morales and Arce have been separated since the end of 2021 due to differences in the State Administration that were deepened in the face of the need to renew the national leadership of the MAS, still in the hands of the former president, something on which the factions loyal to both have not been able to agree.
International
Paraguay launches dengue vaccination for children in high-risk areas
Dengue fever, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, remains a persistent threat in tropical and subtropical countries such as Paraguay, where it claimed the lives of 132 people among nearly 100,000 infections during the 2023–2024 Southern Hemisphere summer, according to official data. However, that figure was lower than the record set in the 2012–2013 season, when 252 deaths were reported among roughly 130,000 infections.
“Today marks a very important step toward protecting our children and bringing peace of mind to families,” Paraguay’s Minister of Health, María Teresa Barán Wasilchuk, said in a speech on Wednesday.
The vaccine will be administered to children between 6 and 8 years old in municipalities with the highest incidence of dengue cases in the past five years. Authorities will use TAK-003 (Qdenga), developed by Takeda—one of Japan’s largest pharmaceutical companies—which was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2024.
“We celebrate this step, which positions Paraguay as a country with one of the most robust immunization programs,” said Héctor Castro, director of the Acosta Ñu Pediatric Hospital. “We will work tirelessly to ensure this government decision becomes a success in the fight against this scourge.”
Vaccinating children against dengue “is not only a historic and public health milestone, but also a humanitarian one,” Castro added during remarks delivered at the hospital in San Lorenzo, near the capital, Asunción.
International
President Paz dismisses Vidovic Over 2015 corruption sentence
Justice Minister Freddy Vidovic took office on November 9 after taking the oath of peace for a five-year term. However, his tenure was short-lived: he was removed from the position on Thursday after a past criminal conviction came to light.
In 2015, Vidovic was sentenced to three years in prison for bribery in favor of Peruvian businessman Martín Belaúnde, a former adviser to ex-president Ollanta Humala. Belaúnde was captured in Bolivia ten years ago and handed over to Peruvian authorities, who sought him for alleged involvement in a corruption case that also implicated Humala, who later served time for corruption charges.
At the time, Vidovic was part of Belaúnde’s legal defense team. He was accused of assisting the former presidential adviser in a failed attempt to escape while in Bolivia.
Following the revelation of the conviction, President Paz dismissed Vidovic and appointed Jorge Franz García as the new Justice Minister, according to the decree published on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo confirmed the three-year sentence against Vidovic, noting that this background meant he “could not hold public office.”
Before his dismissal was made public, Vidovic acknowledged on his Facebook account that he had been convicted, but claimed he had been a victim of “kidnapping and torture” and argued that the ruling was “invalid and tainted.”
International
International organizations push for expanded kidney transplant access in SICA region
A group of international organizations held a high-level meeting in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, to address transplantation as a key component in the comprehensive management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
The meeting was organized by Spain’s National Transplant Organization (ONT), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic (SECOMISCA). It was conducted within the framework of the Triangular Cooperation Program of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and endorsed by the Ibero-American Donation and Transplant Network/Council (RCIDT).
The purpose of the gathering was to promote kidney transplantation as a priority option for renal replacement therapy, given its superior cost-effectiveness and health outcomes compared with dialysis.
According to a joint press release, the participating organizations also sought to encourage political commitment to advance equitable access to kidney transplantation and to identify common priorities for regional cooperation.
During the event, institutions presented the current status of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and access to kidney transplantation in SICA countries, as well as the 2019–2030 Regional Donation and Transplant Strategy (CD 57R11). The meeting also facilitated a regional political dialogue aimed at incorporating transplantation into the comprehensive management of CKD, with the goal of generating recommendations to ensure equitable and progressive access to renal replacement therapies.
Additionally, the organizations explored opportunities to improve CKD registry systems, including transplantation data.
The meeting was convened in response to the growing burden of Chronic Kidney Disease across the World Health Organization (WHO) regions.
Paraguay launches dengue vaccination for children in high-risk areas
President Paz dismisses Vidovic Over 2015 corruption sentence
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