International
Evo Morales assures that he is “the first electoral option” in Bolivia despite disqualification
The former president of Bolivia Evo Morales, between 2006 and 2019, said this Saturday that he is still “the first option” with a view to the general elections of 2025, despite the fact that he is not qualified to run again.
Morales thus reacted to a vote intention survey commissioned and disseminated by businessman Marcelo Claure that shows the former leader of the governmental Movement to Socialism (MAS) tied in first place with the opposition Manfred Reyes Villa, current mayor of the central city of Cochabamba.
“This is the reason why they try to steal the acronym, chase us with about twenty trials, try to disqualify us and try to kill us. We are first in all polls,” Morales said in X.
Evo Morales: “we are the first choice of the people”
“Despite the fact that they always minimize our support in the popular sectors and in the countryside, we are the first choice of the people to save Bolivia,” added the politician, who is distant from the Government of Luis Arce.
He also assured that he will continue to “fight to prevent” Bolivia from “continuing and falling into the hands of those who want to destroy it.”
The survey released by Claure was conducted by the company Panterra from November 2 to 15, with face-to-face interviews with people over 18 years of age in Bolivia and a margin of error of 2.2%.
Among other results, the consultation shows that Morales and Reyes Villa are tied with 18%, followed by the opposition businessman Samuel Doria Medina with 13%, and there are also 21% of respondents who do not know who they are going to vote for.
“Trusted information”
Claure indicated in X that she commissioned the survey to “provide Bolivians with reliable information to understand the political environment and make informed decisions” and justified Morales’ inclusion that “in Bolivia everything can change and nothing is certain.”
The Constitution and the law of Bolivia establish that to win in the first round you must obtain 50% plus one of the votes, or at least 40% with an advantage of ten percentage points over the second most voted.
The Magna Carta also allows only two presidential periods, but Morales was able to run for the 2014 elections in search of a third term and in 2019 in pursuit of the fourth with the endorsement of the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP).
Morales and his lawyers insist that he is qualified to run again in 2025, but the Government assures that it is not basing it on an advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CorteIDH) on indefinite re-election, a ruling of the Bolivian TCP issued in 2023 and the Constitution itself.
Sentence against Evo Morales
Two TCP magistrates recently issued a sentence indicating that the elected authorities in the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches can only exercise for two periods, continuous or discontinuous, which affects Morales’ intentions to be a candidate again.
The same magistrates also endorsed a congress held by the MAS faction related to the Arce Government that elected the peasant leader Grover García as the new president of the party, stripping Morales of the official leadership after almost three decades.
Morales considers the resolutions of the TCP null and void because the current magistrates extended his mandate and that of the judges of other high courts of Bolivia, which was supposed to end at the beginning of 2024, in the absence of the judicial elections that could not be held in 2023.
Arce and Morales have been distanced since the end of 2021 due to differences in the state administration, the need to renew the direction of the MAS and the definition of the candidacy of the ruling party for 2025.
International
Russia and US to Meet in Istanbul for Diplomatic Talks on April 10
The Kremlin confirmed today a forthcoming meeting with the United States to discuss the normalization of diplomatic relations, which will take place in Istanbul.
“Our participation will be through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesperson, during his daily telephone press conference.
Peskov was responding to a question about who would represent Russia in the new round of negotiations, which is supposedly scheduled for April 10.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the delegations will be led by the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Alexandr Darchiev, and the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Sonata Coulter.
These are the same negotiators who met in late February in Istanbul, where the expert-level negotiation format was the same, according to the source.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said a few days ago that the next meeting would be held in the Turkish city, though he did not confirm a date.
Lavrov, who participated in only one of these meetings, clarified that the upcoming discussions would address the issues still dividing Moscow and Washington diplomatically, referring to the operations of both countries’ embassies.
The Kremlin asserted that Washington has not yet responded to Russia’s security concerns, preventing a ceasefire declaration on land, sea, and air.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed discontent with Russia’s recent attacks, including one last week that killed 20 people in Krivi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
So far, Russia has rejected a cessation of hostilities and only declared a 30-day ceasefire on March 18 against attacks on energy infrastructure, which was extended by Kyiv a week later.
International
Transgender Student Arrested at Florida Capitol for Using Women’s Restroom Under New State Law
A transgender student was arrested at the Florida Capitol for using a women’s restroom, in violation of a 2023 state law that restricts the use of restrooms in government buildings based on the sex assigned at birth.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this is the first known arrest for violations of transgender bathroom restrictions in the United States.
Before entering the women’s restroom in March, Marcy Rheintgen warned Capitol officers in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, that she would be violating the law.
Rheintgen was detained and faces a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, which could carry up to 60 days in jail.
The 20-year-old’s hearing, which has reignited the national debate on transgender rights and the enforcement of similar laws in other states, is scheduled for next May.
“Marcy Rheintgen’s arrest is not about security. It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity,” stated Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
International
Maduro Announces Economic Emergency Decree Amid Growing Tensions with the U.S.
Nicolás Maduro, who swore in for a third term after his disputed reelection in Venezuela, announced on Monday that he will sign a decree for an economic emergency, following a proposal from Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez due to the “delicate moments” and “uncertainty the world is experiencing.”
“Tomorrow I will sign the constitutional economic emergency decree to protect and defend Venezuela’s economy, and I will explain it,” the Chavista leader stated in his weekly program ‘Con Maduro +.’
Maduro recalled that he has used this measure in previous years and explained that this decree allows him to assume “special, constitutional, extraordinary powers” for what he considered “the defense of the Venezuelan economy in its push, in its development.”
In the television segment, the vice president handed Maduro the document with the proposal for him to take the “reins of the economy” to “protect national industry, guarantee the provision of essential goods and services for the population, and ensure that the national economic life continues its course.”
Venezuela is facing a 15% tariff increase from the U.S., in addition to other measures such as a 25% additional tariff on buyers of Venezuelan oil or gas and the termination of licenses for oil companies to operate in the Caribbean nation, such as the U.S. company Chevron and the Spanish company Repsol.
Last Friday, Maduro assured that Venezuela would be “the first country in the world to overcome the tariffs and the trade war declared by (U.S. President, Donald) Trump against the world.”
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