Editorial, El Diario:

It is astonishing that, after twenty years of MAS governments, headed by Evo Morales and Luis Arce Catacora, the country ended up with a debt of a little more than 14 billion dollars in external debt as of December 31, 2025, that is, an increase of 786 million compared to the 2024 fiscal year, according to data from the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB). The worst part is that it is not known in detail what the destination of that gigantic sum was.

In this regard, let us recall that, during MAS rule in power, billions of dollars received from gas sales to Argentina and Brazil, mainly, were squandered. As if that were not enough, it should be remembered that, by the end of those administrations, the country’s internal reserves had gone from 15 billion dollars to a minimal amount, making it impossible, in one case, to continue maintaining the fuel subsidy. This scandal grows even more with the official news stating that, as of December 2025, internal debt reached 33.25 billion dollars, according to the official exchange rate.

The worst thing about the MAS misgovernments, we reiterate, is that it is not known with certainty where that high sum of money ended up, which did not serve to leave behind well-made and planned works to benefit the majority of the population. Such is the legacy of the time in government of the caudillo from Orinoca and of the irresponsible Minister of Economy and later president, Luis Arce Catacora, who managed that immense quantity of dollars, as the country had never before known.

Not without reason, it is said that the ruling MAS left the country like “a corpse” and that this legacy was received by the Bolivian people and in particular the new government of Rodrigo Paz. It is added that Evo Morales and company governed with other parties, among them the communist one, and other supporters of 21st Century Socialism and the Patria Grande, being the authors of shameful tragedies, such as the case of Venezuela, brought to a critical situation, without mentioning their partners.

The socialist disaster began in Cuba, which lives off international charity and endures famine. It was followed by Argentina with the Kirchners in power, a country that was left in pieces by the socialist project, in addition to Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Colombia, and other satellites of greater magnitude.

Such scandalous failure of these Latin American socialist movements, however, has authors and causes. Apart from waste and corruption, from not producing sufficient food and having to export it to satisfy peoples pushed into hunger, they did not know how to make the driving forces of the economy function, such as industry, agriculture, livestock, and others, which were given a death sentence through statism.

But, in any case, what enters into this balance of losses, in the current Bolivian case, is that its authors are fugitives or evade justice, like Evo Morales, while his partner, Luis Arce, awaits in prison his prosecution for having authorized the squandering of so much money, until leaving the country bankrupt.