International

Evo Morales will participate as a candidate with a new party after losing the leadership of the MAS

The social organizations loyal to former Bolivian president Evo Morales (2006-2019) confirmed on Wednesday that he will run in the national elections in August with a new political party, after losing the leadership of the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS), and indicated that at the end of March the “relaunch” of a new political option will be made.

The peasant leader Pedro Llanque explained at a press conference that the sectors related to Morales will meet in a congress on March 29, 30 and 31, in the central department of Cochabamba, to “publicize the refoundation of the political instrument.”

This after Morales lost the leadership of almost three decades of the governmental MAS, the party that led him to the presidency, due to a constitutional ruling that ordered the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) to recognize as the new president of the party the leader Grover García, who is close to the Government of Luis Arce.

This constitutional ruling gave for valid the congress of the government party that the “Arcista” or related sectors held at the beginning of May last year.

That congress was held after another one held by the ‘evista’ faction, so called the loyalists to Evo Morales, in October 2023 in the Tropic of Cochabamba (center), the political and union bastion of the former president and in which they proclaimed him as the “sole candidate” of the MAS.

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“We are making the alliance at the national level to see with which acronym we are going to participate, once we have the acronym defined we are going to launch at the national level so that we can start a socialization of all sectors,” said Llanque.

The determination arose in an “emergency” meeting held on Monday that “unanimously” resolved that the “only legal and legitimate candidate for the left-wing political instrument of the popular bloc for Bolivia is brother Evo Morales Ayma.”

Llanque also mentioned that this bloc will bet on forming a political alliance since there is no time to create a new party to replace the MAS, now led by Grover García.

On this day, organizations loyal to Morales reiterated that the former president is qualified to be a candidate again despite the fact that there is a constitutional sentence of December 2023 that establishes that the re-election in Bolivia is for “a single time” is continuous and discontinuous.

This would prevent Morales from being a candidate since he ruled Bolivia on three consecutive occasions (2006-2009, 2010-2014 and 2015-2019).

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For their part, the sectors that respond to President Arce announced for March 21 and 22 the holding of a congress of the official MAS, in El Alto, neighboring city of La Paz, which aims to reform the statutes of the party to give way to the “renewal” of it.

Some leaders said that in that meeting the lines will be set to choose the candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency of Bolivia for the MAS, to later in a “cabildo” or assembly announce the binomial that will be presented in the presidential elections that will take place in August.

One possibility is that President Luis Arce will compete for his re-election and be the MAS candidate, although so far the president has not confirmed it.

The differences over the control of the MAS and the presidential candidacy for this year’s elections have distanced President Arce from former President Morales, a situation that divides the ruling party in the midst of an economic crisis in Bolivia due to lack of dollars.

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International

Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.

The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).

“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.

Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”

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International

Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.

Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.

A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”

According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.

International

Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.

Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.

“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.

“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.