A time overshadowed by the health emergency due to the crisis of the new coronavirus, political tensions soon re-emerged in the Andean country between supporters of ex-president Evo Morales – forced to leave power on November 10 2019 after disputed elections – and the transitional government of Jeanine Añez.
The health crisis has turned into political settling of scores. Some criticizing the former administration for having left a weakened health system, others accusing the government "De facto" to mismanage the epidemic. Since his Argentine exile, Mr. Morales has criticized the "improvisation" of the current government and its authoritarian practices: "Bolivia is the only country fighting the pandemic with rifles and war tanks", he wrote on Twitter on April 26.
The date of the next general elections, initially scheduled for May 3 and postponed because of the pandemic to an indefinite date, crystallized the tensions. Supporters of the Movement to Socialism (MAS, Evo Morales' party), whose current presidential candidate Luis Arce is leading the polls, are pressing for them to stand as soon as possible. Clashes erupted Thursday evening in the town of El Alto, adjacent to the capital La Paz and in other localities of the country. Supporters of the MAS, who had called for "confined" demonstrations with the aid of pots and pans, but ultimately took to the streets, demanded that the elections be held quickly. The 2020 election postponement law was finally approved during an emergency session by the Legislative Assembly – dominated by the MAS – late at night from Thursday to Friday 1er may. It provides that the poll must take place within a maximum of ninety days.
Extremely fragile health system
Bolivia, a country of 11 million people, is one of the least confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Latin America (1,167) and also the least dead (62). However, very few tests are performed. Less than 500 per million people, according to government figures, which acknowledged a shortage of equipment, Bolivia having not ordered on time stocks which are more difficult to obtain today. A miss that he is trying to make up for with an order of 250,000 tests.
Virgilio Prieto, the head of the epidemiological unit at the Ministry of Health, nevertheless assures that the figures are reliable and tries to reassure: "We have a small population and we systematically test suspect cases, he argues. That is to say the patients who have symptoms, and we isolate all the people with whom they have been in contact. " He said "drastic" containment measures, taken early enough when there were very few cases, helped contain the spread of the virus. Quarantine was decreed on Sunday March 23.
You have 53.12% of this article to read. The suite is reserved for subscribers.
