La Paz: Despite the prolonged impact of Covid-19 and the constant onslaught of politicians and opposition movements bent on destabilizing the country, 2021 meant for Bolivia the return of hope, stability and democracy, Prensa Latina publishes.
Led by President Luis Arce, representative of the Movement for Socialism and elected by a large majority in October 2020, Bolivians this year traveled the path of the search for Living Well, which in the words of the president supposes ?democratic coexistence and respect for the national will to defeat hunger and poverty?.
Precisely the first promise fulfilled by his government as of December 2020 was the payment of the Bond against Hunger.
Official data show that between December 2020 and May 2021, four million 35 thousand 773 people received this benefit, whose total cost amounted to four thousand 36 million Bolivians (more than 576 million dollars).
“The Bolivia of Vivir Bien will synthesize the anti-colonial, independence, nationalist and socialist ideals for which generations and generations fought, ending the character of a capitalist, dependent and backward country,” Arce remarked on November 8 when reporting to Parliament on its first year of management.
In that period, he stressed, “walking together with the people, we have returned hope, certainty and stability to Bolivian families.”
Heir to a deep economic, social, political and health crisis left by the de facto regime of Jeanine Áñez (November 2019-October 2020), the current executive promoted projects and transformations in all sectors: from culture and tourism, even sports and health.
RETURN TO THE INTERNATIONAL SAND
In the field of foreign policy, the Áñez government isolated the country, because without legitimacy and in the face of international questions, it opted for disqualification and verbal aggression, deteriorating relations with countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Cuba, Russia, China and others , a situation that is gradually being reversed.
Recent reports speak of progress in the negotiation of a wide-ranging Brotherhood Agreement with Argentina, which will frame all the dimensions of a new relationship based on complementarity.
The 2021 Roadmap was established with Chile to address various issues, with special emphasis on economic, commercial and consular issues.
Important bilateral instruments were also signed in the context of the Presidential Meeting and VI Meeting of the Bolivia-Peru Binational Ministerial Cabinet.
“This is a moment where Bolivian diplomacy, where the country’s international relations are taking off,” said on that occasion the Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Diego Pary.
In his opinion, during Arce’s first year in office “we have once again begun to have a presence in international organizations, to reestablish bilateral relations.”
The facts confirm this: at the UN, Bolivia was elected as a member of the Economic and Social Council and the Human Rights Council for the period 2021-2023, and of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (2022-2024).
In addition, it had an active participation in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, establishing the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency.
On the multilateral stage, he resumed his participation with his own voice, highlighting the presence of the Bolivian delegation at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
30 bilateral agreements were worked with different countries on social issues, cooperation and infrastructure, among them the one referred to International Adoption with France.
RIGHT ARREMETE, THE PEOPLE LEAN FOR MAPLE
Meanwhile, the right wing does not give up its intention of delegitimizing the government and destabilizing the country; For this it uses subterfuges, such as misinformation, lies and false arguments on sensitive issues, such as the content and scope of legislation.
This happened recently with Law 1386, of the National Strategy to Combat the Legitimation of Illicit Profits and the Financing of Terrorism, and the Bill Against the Legitimation of Illicit Profits.
The first of these legal regulations was repealed and the second withdrawn in order “not to give rise to confrontations between Bolivians and, even less, to destabilization,” according to the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada.
They were used as excuses by opponents such as the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, and the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Rómulo Calvo, to call for strikes that damaged the economy of the country and the families that live from day to day .
Such tricks pursued political ends and coup attempts that failed, among other reasons, due to struggles for power among their instigators.
Despite this, more than half of the Bolivian population (55 percent) positively values ??the president’s management after a year in office, according to a survey by the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (Celag).
The study was based on 2,000 computer-assisted telephone interviews conducted between October 18 and November 10 in the nine departments of the country, with both urban and rural representation.
According to the survey, the image of the Bolivian head of state has a very high positive assessment, 47 percent, well above the majority of presidents in the region.
This value is largely explained by the confidence it enjoys among citizens to resolve the economic situation: 62 percent trust that with Arce it will improve it in the short and medium term.
Meanwhile, six out of 10 interviewees assign a negative role to the governor of the Santa Cruz department for generating division in the Bolivian people (44 percent) or seeking to destabilize the executive (16 percent), Celag stressed.
In this context, the Bolivian government is clear about its projection, and this was endorsed by President Arce in his speech on his administration: ?Our political horizon is to reach the celebration of the Bicentennial (2025) with a Homeland from which each and every one let us feel proud, inside and outside of our country ?.