It was only a matter of time before the sheep took off its disguise and revealed its true claws, nothing has changed since Evo Morales' resignation, his political heir is finishing what Evo couldn't, getting rid of all traces of opposition and perpetuating himself in power as many times as he wants. There is nothing stopping the current government, it controls all the powers of the state and the media. Arce seems to have a script that he must follow to the letter, the question is whether the political prisoners in his power are by his will or by much higher orders. Who is truly governing Bolivia?
Why is Arce Catacora a dictator?
The term dictator is defined when a government authority concentrates power in an authoritarian or totalitarian way for their own political purposes, but these dictators are not like the military dictators of the 20th century that ravaged Latin America. These new dictators act in a more passive way, first winning over a large majority of the country as a result of populism, and then knocking down each of the state's public institutions and manipulating them at will. When the tyrants have carried out their plans, the last thing on the list is to get rid of opponents, in Nicaragua and Venezuela the iron hand has prevailed in their rulers, the rest of the way is simply looking for any excuse to perpetuate themselves in power. The government of Arce is the first government in Bolivia to have dozens of political prisoners in less than a year, cowardly hiding behind his social organizations to pressure judges.
In a country like Bolivia, it has been easy to impose totalitarianism, as its democratic institutions were very weak, in addition to being corrupted, any government with a majority would take control of the powers of the state, and that's how it has worked long before Evo Morales became president, that weakness has been very well exploited. Arce Catacora didn't need to control anything else because he inherited the same autocracy from Morales. Time will tell what kind of dictator Arce wants to be, one like his friends in the Caribbean or a new model of silent dictatorship.
2023 will be the worst year for Bolivian opponents.
2023 will be the worst year for Bolivian opponents. What the Arce government seeks is to eliminate all the big heads of the opposition, they want to make it very clear that prison is the only place where they will end up facing the government. Arce has invented a Coup d'etat as an excuse to end the main leaders and civic leaders whom he accuses of coup plotters when in reality it was Evo Morales himself who signed his resignation voluntarily.
Justice in Bolivia is quite deficient, when it comes to a crime the victim must seek out the aggressor and must go through a calvary of years to bring the aggressor to justice, but when it comes to the government's political opponents, Bolivian justice acts in record time with immediate sentence in some cases without the right to defense. It is lamentable how justice depends on a call from the president.
The year 2023 is shaping up as one of the worst years for the opposition or for anyone who faces the caudillo of Plaza Murillo, there is already a precedent, when Evo Morales was president with the help of justice, governors were dismissed to be replaced by officials of the ruling party. Arce is doing the same, he will slowly end the opposition governors, they have all the power and the evidence can be easily interpreted or manufactured. Arce has already sent the message, he has given the opponents the opportunity to flee the country because he knows that in that way he will give the government the reason.
