A surprise result in the Bolivia election put progressive Luis Arce way out in front of the right-wing candidates supported by the police-military coup of 2019. As the economic minister for more than a decade under President Evo Morales who was forced to flee the country in 2019, Arce was deemed to be the mastermind behind Bolivia’s rapid economic resurgence with a three-fold GDP increase and extreme poverty reduced from 38% to 15%.
After the 2019 coup, security forces massacred dozens of unarmed supporters of Morales/Arce’s party and charged regime opponents with “terrorism” and “sedition”. Racism against the indigenous majority became overt. The transitional government cosied up to the Trump administration, deported 700 Cuban doctors who were providing public healthcare, and signalled its intention to pursue the old policies of privatisation and austerity.
Bolivia, 6 August 1825, will face considerable financial headaches in 2021 extending into 2022 with its Leo Sun catching the economically unstable tr Saturn square tr Uranus. It looks fairly log-jammed at the moment with tr Pluto opposition the Mars until late this December with a panicky, uncertain tr Neptune square the Saturn in early 2021.
The Bank of Bolivia, 20 July 1928, looks on high alert and nervy in 2021 with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Bank Mercury; but it is 2022/23 which will be the major challenges with a testing tr Pluto opposition the Cancer Sun in 2022/23 and an insecure and ‘shocking’ tr Saturn square tr Uranus hitting its Mars in 2022 as well.
Luis Arce, 28 September 1963, in addition to grappling with multiple political problems ahead is also recovering from severe kidney cancer so may have health worries on top. He’s a charming Sun Venus in Libra with a pro-active Jupiter in Aries; and a used-to-hardship Saturn in Aquarius square Mars Neptune in Scorpio. His 2021 looks confused and uncertain with tr Neptune opposition his Mercury; and the tr Uranus square tr Saturn is rattling up his Mars Neptune which looks highly stressed; with a dead-halt Solar Arc Pluto square his Mars in 2022 at the same time as a confidence-dampening Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Jupiter.
He’ll have his work cut out
Thank you for turning your attention to Bolivia and its struggles. Evo Morales is reportedly soon returning to the country from Argentina.
Marjorie,
Thank you for writing about this. Bolivia is the only sovereign state in the Americas where Indigenous peoples make up an overall majority of the population (they make up an overall majority in Greenland too. However, Greenland isn’t a sovereign state). So, I’m glad the Bolivian people elected a political party (Movement for Socialism) that will help them.
Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America experience more racism, persecution, oppression, and discrimination than any other ethnic groups in the region. Bolivia is no exception.
For example, in previous censuses, more than 60% of Bolivians identified as “Indigenous.” However, in 2018, only 20% of the Bolivian population identified as “Indigenous.” Many believe thousands of full-blooded Indigenous Bolivians are deliberately hiding their ethnicity (which is common in many Latin American countries) and identifying as “Mestiza / Mestizo” (someone of mixed Amerindian and European heritage) in order to avoid discrimination and elevate their socioeconomic statuses.
All in all, there was been too much destructive right-wing populism here in the Americas in recent years…and it’s been tearing the Western Hemisphere apart. I do hope the progressive movement in Bolivia works in favor of people and will set an example for countries in this part of the world.
Chris Romero
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Thankyou for that interesting article Marjorie
The press is so full ot Covid, Brexit and Trump that we rarely hear whats going on in the rest of the world.
That’s a good deal going on – in Nigeria, Thailand etc. Trump & Brexit do tend suck the oxygen out of attention and they are a monumental waste of space.