Fighting erupts as Bolivian congress approves multilateral financing

Tensions in Bolivia’s congress continued to escalate as the lower house sought to approve five multilateral loans worth around US$700mn. 

Brawls erupted in the house while legislators were discussing the financing that is eagerly awaited by the government. The commotion was caused by a bitter division within the ruling left-wing MAS party between supporters of former president Evo Morales and those siding with President Luis Arce.

On Friday, the Morales camp pushed hard to prioritize a bill that would void a term extension for several judges. The session had to be interrupted several times because of physical altercations.

“The deterioration of the political climate affects future loans,” Gonzalo Chávez, head of the productivity and competitiveness school at Bolivia’s Universidad Católica (UCB), told BNamericas.

Private sector loans, which is what Bolivia needs the most, will be affected more by political volatility than the multilateral financing, said Chávez. 

Loan approval amid strong accusations 

The multilateral loans were finally approved by the lower house on Friday and Luciana Campero, from the center-left Comunidad Ciudadana opposition party, accused the pro-government faction of the MAS to bribe right-wing legislators to pass the financing bills.

“The loans were approved without quorum via a secret vote, and forcing us to remain on the floor,” local daily La Razón reported Campero as saying.

BNamericas previously compiled a list of the projects affected by the legislative deadlock, of which all but one are now in the senate.

The bill related to the judges’ terms was scheduled for a vote after the loans, but had not been approved at the time of publication. 

The Morales camp claims the judges’ terms were illegally extended after congress was unable to agree on lists of potential candidates for the election of new judges.

This situation affects the judges from the constitutional court who, in December, ruled that Morales cannot run in next year’s presidential elections.

Following a two-week road blockade by Morales supporters, which generated an estimated US$1bn in economic losses, the rival camps agreed to passing a bill to pave the way for judicial elections this year, but some in the Morales camp have demanded that the current judges be removed first.