How it Looks to Bolivia's New Vice President

On Sunday, Bolivia's Vice-President elect, Alvaro Garcia Linera, was in our offices for a meeting with Bolivian social movement leaders. Just a few months ago he was here with many of the same people, debating the pros and cons of joining the MAS ticket. He pledged then that if he ran and won he would be back to talk again. Sunday was his first step in keeping that promise.

Movement leaders and the new V.P. had a wide-ranging conversation about gas and oil, land issues, education and health reform, and other topics that will be on the new government's agenda. Garcia Linera also offered a detailed and interesting analysis of how he sees the state of Bolivian politics and the plans of the MAS government. Here are some highlights:

The Shift of Political Power in Bolivia is Still in Motion

"We still don't know the significance of December 18th," he said. "What are its possibilities? What are its limits?" In the run up to the election Garcia Linera talked about Bolivia being at the point of "a historic standoff", in which the emerging powers in the country – indigenous communities, social movements, etc. – has achieved power equal to the established powers in the Bolivian elite, transnational corporations, and others who wield so much clout here. The election, Garcia Linera argues, gave the emerging movements one more instrument of power, the presidency, but that political power in Bolivia remains seriously fragmented, despite the election results.

The legislative branch, the judiciary, the business community, the military, the police, social movements, and others, he observed, are also key bases of political power, none of them under MAS control. He noted that the struggle for shifting the balance of power in Bolivia still continues.

Gas and Oil: Playing Skillful Chess

The incoming Vice-President reiterated MAS' campaign commitment to recover national control of Bolivia's gas and oil, privatized into the hands of foreign corporations over the past decade and a half. "What you should know is that in Evo and in me and in many of our Congress people you have people who are dedicated to the people of Bolivia, not to the oil companies, not to the United States or to Cuba."

He then added, "But now we have a responsibility to look at the whole picture. We have to look at all the effects of the actions we take, on funding, on compensation…" He described the path ahead on nationalization to be like a chessboard, in which the government needs to make every move based on the careful anticipation of every implication that can result. He also noted that the battle to get control over the sales side of Bolivia's gas and oil industry will be just as important as regaining control of the reserves in the ground.
His message was clear. This isn't about MAS watering down its position but, rather, acting in a clear and strategic way. Watch for MAS to deal with different oil companies very differently.

Constituent Assembly: Full Power

Commenting on the other big issue dominating Bolivia's political landscape, the V.P.-to-be also reiterated the MAS campaign pledge to quickly convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the country's constitution. He pledged that the assembly would be "sovereign" meaning that it would have full political powers. In Bolivia this means being able to take up the gas issue and any other that the assembly sees fit. He said that MAS would initiative a three-way dialogue to set up the plans for the historic process, involving social movements, the government, and the nation's business leaders.