Almost thirty years ago, an indigenous Andean farm laborers' unionist and cocolera (coco leaf farmer/activist, grown for precisely what you think) was elected to the Bolivian Congress, and became leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS). A short decade later, Juan Evo Morales, a fierce critic of the U.S. as well as its 'War on Drugs,' and ardent socialist, would become the first indigenous president of Bolivia.
He and his group of land reformers and income equity crusaders would go on to rule the country for the next twenty years as a grand socialist experiment.
Morales' attempts to waive the presidential term limits aside, between him and his successor, the mish-mash Marxist, socialist, and anarchist blended ideology of MAS held the reins of power in La Paz from 2006 until Sunday night, when it was decisively rejected by the very peasants it had once seduced with promises of 'Living Well' through socialism.
...“The beginning of the 21st century is a time of great opportunities for our country. The capitalist model of accumulation and the consumption patterns of "western civilization" have entered into crisis. Against this backdrop, Bolivia emerges with a new political and philosophical proposal, the Democratic and Cultural Revolution, which is aimed at forging a just, diverse, inclusive, balanced and harmonious world with nature for the "Living Well" of all peoples worldwide....
In a run-off election two days ago, Bolivians chose a center-right new president. One who is open and looking actively forward to working with the United States to rebuild his tottering country.
Congratulations to President-Elect @Rodrigo_PazP who ended 20 years(!) of socialist rule in Bolivia last night.
— HoCStaffer (@HoCStaffer) October 20, 2025
He campaigned on a moderate conservative platform, pledging to tackle inflation, corruption, & to restore Bolivia's international reputation.
His slogan: Capitalism… pic.twitter.com/3QySZbA7Ec
...His slogan: Capitalism For All.
Were New York City denizens savvy enough to pay attention to yet another example of the old and never disproved adage that 'socialism has never worked,' this would be a real-time example of the collapse of a country built on plenty (since they don't seem to be bothered in the least by the ruin that is Chicago).
Rodrigo Paz will be the next president of Bolivia and has one helluva job ahead of him trying to resurrect the country from the ashes of the plundering it's been through. As is so often the case, though, the new president is going to be hampered by the need to form alliances. We wish him the best of luck.
Centrist Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential runoff on Sunday, defeating conservative rival Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, as the country's worst economic crisis in a generation helped propel the end of nearly two decades of leftist rule.
Paz, a senator from the Christian Democratic Party, won 54.5% of the vote, beating Quiroga's 45.5%, according to early results from Bolivia's electoral tribunal. But Paz's party does not hold a majority in the country's legislature, which will force him to forge alliances to govern effectively.
...Paz's moderate platform, pledging to maintain social programs while promoting private sector-led growth, appeared to resonate with left-leaning voters disillusioned by the ruling MAS, founded by former President Evo Morales, but wary of Quiroga's proposed austerity measures. He is the third member of his extended family to be elected president of the landlocked nation.
Support for MAS cratered in the August first round amid a deepening economic crisis.
"This election marks a political turning point," said Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche, analyst for the Southern Andes at International Crisis Group. "Bolivia is heading in a new direction," she said.
Bolivia, at one time, was sitting fat on the profits from exporting its natural gas reserves, thanks to Morales' renationalization of the hydrocarbon industry. This gushing 2014 article waxes poetic over all the wonderful advantages of a socialist government dictating the ebb and flow of an industry.
...Nationalization of the gas industry allowed the state a bigger role in determining the industry’s broader impact in Bolivia. The government renegotiated supply contracts with Brazil and Argentina, significantly raising the export price of gas and thus bringing them closer to a fair market value. With nationalization, local content commitments were suddenly a part of negotiations for gas industry contractors, consultation periods with local communities could be better enforced, and technological transfer agreements could be arranged to increase the benefits accrued to Bolivians. For example, in 2013, Morales inaugurated the country’s first natural gas liquids separation plant, as part of a program to increase the value-added of the gas industry in Bolivia, and thus the rents accrued from exploiting the country’s natural gas.
Higher revenues allowed the government to increase spending on social programs. Over 11 percent of the government’s revenues from the hydrocarbon sector are earmarked for universities, indigenous groups and the Renta Dignidad grant, a monthly payment to low-income residents over the age of 60 which has provided support for more than one million people. Overall, public spending on health, education, pensions and poverty alleviation programs rose 45 percent in real terms from 2005-2012. Although this increase did not keep pace with the fast growing economy, it helped lower poverty from 60.6 percent of the population to 43.4 percent over the same period (2005-2012), thus lifting about one million people out of poverty (from an initial population of 9.4 million).
In addition to spending on social programs and infrastructure, some of the resource earnings were directed to Bolivia’s Central Bank where they helped grow the country’s stock of international reserves. International reserves, mostly U.S. dollars, act as a buffer against external shocks, preventing balance of payments crises by ensuring an adequate supply of U.S. dollars for importers to exchange for local currency. In 2005, Bolivia’s international reserves could cover 6.9 months of imports, while in 2013 the country’s international reserves could cover 15.9 months.
Bolivia’s more than adequate level of international reserves is one of the main factors that has allowed the country to avoid resorting to loans from the IMF. For the 20 years preceding the Morales administration, Bolivia was operating continuously under successive agreements with the IMF (with the exception of one 8-month period). Agreements with the IMF were a de facto condition for funding from other sources, especially the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and high-income governments. Neoliberal policies were imposed on Bolivia by this creditors’ cartel, who among themselves “collaborated extensively on fiscal and financial sector reforms as well as other structural reforms [for Bolivia],” though the World Bank “took the lead in advising the authorities on capitalization (privatization),” including the gas privatization of 1996. Nationalization of Bolivia’s hydrocarbons sector in 2006 went against the recommendations of these international development institutions and the Washington Consensus. In 2006 the World Bank even wrote that with nationalization, revenues to the government “could diminish due to a fall in [natural gas] production.” The actual result was very different, as predicted by many who supported the re-nationalization decision.
Pay particular attention to those paragraphs touting Bolivia's extraordinary international reserve balance, something which the authors laud as allowing Bolivia to operate independently of the influence of the United States. Because, obviously, the U.S. is kryptonite to socialists.
Morales also forged strong ties with various other regimes in the region, becoming especially close with Chavez, Maduro, and the Castros.
But the boom times didn't last, and, consequently, neither did the pot of nationalized carbon black gold.
And what the article above didn't mention was the inflation rate for the average Bolivian as Morales' government was packing in and handing out petro dollars. The government then instituted a fixed exchange rate in an attempt to keep inflation under control.
...Between 2004 and 2014, the Bolivian economy expanded at an unprecedented rate. This was driven by a ‘super-cycle’ (e.g., a prolonged period of growth) in commodity prices and a natural gas export boom (primarily to Brazil). This sustained decade of high export revenues enabled both a trade surplus and a fiscal surplus. This is because the state, through its national oil company (YPFB), was the principal beneficiary of the fossil fuel glut. The resulting massive inflow of foreign currency was bought by the central bank, allowing it to accumulate a historic level of reserves, peaking at nearly $14 billion – equivalent to a record 51% of GDP in 2012 (Loza and Morales, 2018).
The massive acquisition of foreign currency through these central bank exchange operations led to a significant increase in the domestic money supply (i.e., the amount of Bolivian bolivianos circulating in the economy). This, in turn, drove up prices, with inflation peaking at 17.32% in June 2008. This inflationary surge was short-lived, however, sliding back to 0.08% by January 2010. When price pressures began to mount again later that year, the government, seeking a tool to stabilise prices, moved decisively to a de facto fixed exchange rate, setting the official parity at 6.96 Bolivian bolivianos per US dollar in November 2011.
In point of fact, the glowing 2014 article was published just as the super-cycle ended, and the Bolivian economy switched almost overnight to a deficit cycle.
...To defend the peg and maintain the fixed exchange rate, the central bank began drawing down its international reserves. This defense mechanism proved unsustainable: as the portion of the NIR held in cash approached depletion, the central bank lost the capacity to supply the foreign exchange market. Consequently, in March 2023 the parallel nominal exchange rate began to increase, signaling the policy's failure....
Socialists have always been lousy economists and are never prepared for a rainy day or the inevitable lack of resources. Long story short, when the international reserves began showing serious signs of depletion, the next step was borrowing, and the next step after that to 'finance the deficit and increase the monetary base' was printing money.
CHECK CHECK CHECK
Hello inflation.
And a country that once exported the hydrocarbons needed to provide the national treasury with a surplus of funds has now become a net importer of fuel, with gas lines and shortages.
...Annual inflation has since surged to 25.15% (as of August 2025). While this number includes components of imported inflation, as the de facto currency depreciation makes imports more costly, the primary driver is the government's reliance on increasing the monetary base to finance its chronic fiscal deficit. This unsustainable monetary financing highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive stabilisation programme.
An additional critical factor is Bolivia's structural shift to becoming a net importer of fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) since 2022. During the commodity super-cycle, gas export revenues were sufficient to finance these imports. But as those revenues fell and foreign reserves dwindled, covering these necessary fuel imports has become increasingly untenable. Consequently, severe fuel shortages have become a recurring problem, forcing people living in Bolivia to endure long lines to resupply – often waiting several hours for petrol and even days for diesel.
Another socialist paradise proves the axiom.
A week or so ago, our tremendous Secretary of State noted that both of the candidates in this run-off were basically conservative choices. After almost thirty years in politics and almost twenty in power, the MAS hadn't made the cut at all.
POTUS is aligning the international community with America.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 14, 2025
"There will be an election in Bolivia after 25-30 years of anti-American, hostile governments. Both of the candidates running in that election...want strong, better relations with the United States." — @marcorubio pic.twitter.com/CsR3HrJsi1
The more conservative of the two was the victor on Sunday, and is it any wonder?
🇧🇴 | Rodrigo Paz dio un discurso a favor de la propiedad privada tras consagrarse como presidente de Bolivia: "Lo que da de comer es el derecho al trabajo, instituciones fuertes, seguridad jurídica y el respeto a la propiedad privada". pic.twitter.com/HoGcWZyHeF
— La Derecha Diario (@laderechadiario) October 20, 2025
... Rodrigo Paz gave a speech in favor of private property after being consecrated as president of Bolivia: "What puts food on the table is the right to work, strong institutions, legal security, and respect for private property.".
What is a wonder is that there was an election, and we can be grateful for that.
The shift in the region is palpable as sentiment moves away from the failed ruins of Marxist and socialist experiments.
🚨🌎 | SUDAMÉRICA GIRA A LA DERECHA: Tras la histórica derrota del narcosocialismo en Bolivia y el triunfo del centroderechista Rodrigo Paz, la mitad de los países de Sudamérica tienen presidentes de derecha. pic.twitter.com/io3GZUC6Lu
— La Derecha Diario (@laderechadiario) October 20, 2025
...SOUTH AMERICA TURNS TO THE RIGHT: Following the historic defeat of narcosocialism in Bolivia and the victory of centrist-right Rodrigo Paz, half of South America's countries now have right-wing presidents.
The Maduros, Petros, Ortegas, et al, have to be feeling that warm eagle's breath on their necks and be terrified that the claws are next.
Oh, New York. I know, I know - no one's done socialism right, and Mamdani's the guy who finally will.
*sigh*
Congratulations and much success to President-Elect Paz and Bolivia.
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