MAS/evo: Point of No Return | Punto de no retorno

Editorial, El Dia:

When the country shouted in 2019 that they never wanted Evo in power again, no one could have ever imagined the outcome of that collective desire or how far it would go.

During one of those 21 nights of vigils awaiting the resignation of the coca grower, Luis Fernando Camacho claimed to have great news for Bolivians, and everyone imagined the revelation of some secret of the Chapare overlord, whose background in drug trafficking, murder, and pedophilia had always been public knowledge.

Luckily, nothing was revealed, and the child abuse cases that were opened during Jeanine Añez’s government did not prosper either. Nor would it have been wise for the DEA or any external agent to do something against the former president at that moment. The left is very skilled at playing the victim in any circumstance. We’re seeing this with the terrorists—now they’re considered saints worthy of devotion, with even Harvard defending them.

With such a notorious record, Evo Morales was embraced by Mexico, Argentina, and many others who saw him as a martyr. Arresting him would have been like throwing him a lifeline and wiping clean his fraudulent image—luckily, it was well-documented by the Organization of American States (OAS), which, for the first time in a long while, acted decisively against a leftist dictator.

Internal divisions have always existed in every political party. That’s why autocrats usually crush everything around them to prevent anyone from overshadowing them. Evo Morales not only forgot that lesson, but in fleeing, he left his seat in the hands of Arce, a man who didn’t seem like a traitor at first, but has turned out to be worse (or better) than expected.

We don’t know if Arce will imprison his “boss,” but he has pushed things to such an extreme that there’s no turning back. Either he politically kills Morales, or he’ll be the one to fall. Furthermore, with the rising political profile of Andrónico Rodríguez, another of Morales’ protégés, there’s no way to pretend nothing has happened. At this stage, loyalty no longer matters, and anyone who dares maintain the veil of impunity over the alleged pedophile will pay dearly.

Morales has no excuse left. It’s the knife from his own house that’s at his throat, and Arce will have to use it if he doesn’t want to meet the same fate. If MAS intends to survive, it will have to drop the spectacle and genuinely act according to public opinion, which at this moment is starving for justice and the end of impunity. If they do something right, maybe they can save themselves—provided the crisis doesn’t explode and sweep everyone away.

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