Bolivia, between subsistence, survival and indoctrination

By: Hugo Marcelo Balderrama - 24/03/2024

Guest columnist.
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It is evident, even though it is a decade late, that the story about Bolivia's economy is becoming very difficult for the dictatorship of the Movement Towards Socialism to sustain. It happens that, contrary to what happened between 2006 and 2014, there are no longer resources for waste, and without accounts the story cannot be maintained.

However, as Fidel Castro did after the fall of the USSR, the regime is seeking to survive, because the bosses know that if they leave power, justice awaits them. In fact, the fight between the MAS factions does not respond to a difference of ideas, but to a simple dispute over the loot of the State, over who controls the drug trafficking and corruption networks, but, especially, the "aid" that may be come from the autocracies of Russia, China, Iran and their gangster partners of 21st Century Socialism. In this regard, Mauricio Ríos García, in his article, Arce embraces Putin's Russia in the midst of the search for international financing, states the following:

Bolivia is experiencing a moment that will probably mark history again with fire, given the dramatic crisis of multiple dimensions in which it is immersed and that will continue to worsen as time passes without harsh adjustments and structural reforms being undertaken. Worse still, the regime that governs the country shows more and more signs of desperate need to obtain financing to overcome its main problems, humiliating itself before regimes as dark as Putin's in Russia; among the few and first governments that rushed to congratulate the first Russian authority after an election that gave him victory with 87% of the votes a couple of weeks after the main opposition, Alexei Navalny, was found dead, It was that of Luis Arce Catacora.

On the other hand, Iran, the Islamic theocracy that Andean leftists admire, also has its eyes on Bolivia. However, a clarification is in order here: Muslims and socialists have nothing in common, some pray five times a day, the others are divided between atheists and lovers of Pachamama. They are united, of course, by a huge hatred of Western culture, liberal democracy and the capitalist system, in this case the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" applies.

The rapprochement between these two groups is, basically, a temporary alliance: The ayatollahs need nuclear resources and Bolivian drug money. The others, a partner that provides them with logistical support in state terrorism, the only way they know to "govern."

The submission of international politics to 21st Century Socialism and Islamic fundamentalism has negatively affected Bolivia's business capacity, since it has discouraged international trade and has removed us from the list of major businessmen and investors. Regarding the latter, Karen Longaric, former foreign minister of Bolivia, in an article titled: Foreign policy that isolates and impoverishes Bolivia, argues:

Data from the INE show that in the last 17 years, Bolivia's exports to Venezuela represented 1.5% of Bolivia's total exports in the same period, while exports to Nicaragua and Cuba represented 0.1% in both cases; to Russia 0.9% and to Iran practically non-existent. In the same period, exports to the US – despite having lost the ATPDA – represented 8.5% of total exports between 2006-2023, but with a clear decline since 2012. Exports to other countries such as Japan o Korea also far exceeded exports to the allied countries of the MAS governments.

Furthermore, contrary to Arce Catacora's delusions, Bolivia does not have a strong economic backbone. Indeed, the country occupies the last places in the economic freedom indices and in the competitiveness rankings.

In conclusion, Bolivia moves between a dictatorship that tries to survive by handing the country over to China, Russia and Iran; a population that no longer even seeks to develop its life potential, but rather to survive, as shown by the data on poverty (40%) and the informal economy (80%), and new generations subjected to the most horrendous indoctrination.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».