While voters in the USA gave the boot to a racist autocrat, in Bolivia, voters ousted a racist autocratic government installed in a coup a year ago. Luis Arce of the MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) party won a landslide victory.
Arce won 55% of the votes against six rivals on the ballot, easily avoiding the need for a runoff. The runnerup was centrist former President Carlos Mesa with just under 29%. Conservative Luis Fernando Camacho, one of the leaders of the coup against President Evo Morales, received only 14% of the vote. The MAS is the party of former President Evo Morales, who remains the head of the party though he will not have any official role in the new government.
There was the threat of a military coup in Bolivia once the election results were announced. But the plotters failed to be able to win the support of senior military officers. The year of rampant corruption and violence against indigenous peoples and activists in Bolivia is coming to an end. Several of the current government ministers in fear of prosecution for corruption have already fled the country.
In recent elections in Argentina leftists ended the one-term rule of a Conservative government. In Mexico leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador won in a landslide. Chile and Ecuador look like they will follow this trend in upcoming elections. With the election of President Biden, and a wave of Progressive victories in Latin America we can look forward to better pan American relations and a strengthening of democracy and economic security across the Americas. It’s a new start for democracy and progress.