By Guido Añez, Eju.tv:

I just watched the debate among five presidential candidates, and I’m glad that after so many years, there’s finally a discussion of ideas.

I believe some aspects need to be refined to make the debate less tedious and unproductive.

You can’t group together candidates who, according to the same network’s own polls, are leading, with candidates who have no chance of reaching the presidency. In the case of Jhonny Fernández and Eduardo del Castillo, their percentages could even cost them their legal status as parties.

I didn’t understand Red Uno’s position on this; that decision undermines the seriousness of the debate. It should have been between the top five in the poll, and if someone doesn’t show up, leave their podium empty.

Everywhere in the world, debates are held among candidates who have a real chance of becoming president.

Samuel Doria Medina and Jorge Tuto Quiroga, even though they weren’t sharp and didn’t take full advantage of their time, are the ones with the best sense of statecraft. They have a clearer idea of how to tackle the economic crisis and how to get Bolivian families out of this distressing situation.

Manfred Reyes Villa lacks a sense of state; he’s a good mayor, but if you analyze his remarks and proposals, they are weak, unrealistic, and unsustainable.

Jhonny Fernández is a professional demagogue—aggressive, out of place, waving fake documents. He presents himself as a presidential candidate while being the worst mayor Santa Cruz has ever had, and he talks in total contradiction to what he does in our city’s municipal government.

I was shocked by Eduardo del Castillo’s cynicism. According to him, he has nothing to do with what’s happening in the country. He spoke as if he weren’t part of the worst government Bolivia has had, acting oblivious to all the injustices committed by the administration he is part of. As if he weren’t part of the mafia that rules us.

It’s inconceivable that the enforcer of this government—the one who surrounded Santa Cruz during the census strike, the one who jailed Jeanine Añez, who kidnapped our governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who imprisoned Marco Pumari, who fractured Santa Cruz’s institutions and weakened our civic committee—shows up in our city posing as a great democrat, as if he hadn’t done anything during his repressive and corrupt tenure as Minister of Government.

And it’s very sad that not a single candidate confronted him with this situation. They all come to Santa Cruz to seek votes but won’t go all in for the political prisoners from Santa Cruz, for those in exile, for those being politically persecuted.

There are many issues still pending, it left us wanting more—but it’s a start.