The majority of the Bolivian Legislative Assembly approved a law that suspends the magistrates of all the high judicial courts of Bolivia. The plenary session, in which 106 of the 130 parliamentarians that make up the Assembly participated, was considered illegal by the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP) for having not been called by the ex-president of Parliament, Vice President David Choquehuanca, but by the opposition president. of the Senate, Andrónico Rodríguez. This mutual lack of knowledge between the Legislative and Judicial bodies has brought to its highest point the conflict of powers that had already paralyzed the approval of laws since February and that had prevented the holding of the judicial elections scheduled for 2023.
In this battle, the Government of Luis Arce is aligned with the Judiciary, which it resorted to to try to stop the June 6 session. Its 24 parliamentarians did not attend. In addition, the ruling party cut off the electricity, ordered the fumigation of the parliamentary chamber on the same day of the meeting, disabled the electronic passes of the opposition parliamentarians and threatened Rodríguez with having him arrested. This, for his part, based his right to convene the plenary session on the absence of David Choquehuanca, who was replacing Luis Arce in the presidency of the country while he was on an official visit to Russia. Substitutions of this type are established in the regulations for parliamentary debates. The TCP ruled that Rodríguez’s call implied “usurpation of functions.” In the end, the session was held with the limited daylight that filtered into the chamber and with megaphones to be able to hear the speakers.
It is expected that Arce will not promulgate the law on the suspension of magistrates and two other regulations approved in this session, despite the fact that these are of interest to the Government. In that case, there would be a complete divorce between the Executive and the Legislative and a generalized institutional conflict.
What happened has brought to light the existence of a largely majority opposition front between the representatives who follow former president Evo Morales and the members of the center-right parties. “Arcismo” has denounced this “spurious alliance” between former rivals. For the traditional opposition, it is just a tactical move. A party from this current congratulated “the rebellion of the parliamentary majority against the judicial dictatorship implemented by the Government of Luis Arce.”
Andrónico Rodríguez had been unsuccessfully pressuring Choquehuanca to bring together the full Assembly. The issue he intended to debate was particularly sensitive: the suspension of the judges of the country’s high courts. These should have been replaced at the end of last year, but they remained in their positions by order of the TCP. That is why the opposition calls them “self-extended.”
The Constitutional Court thus resolved the emerging situation of the suspension of the judicial elections scheduled for 2023, which could not be held due to the lack of a clear parliamentary majority and due to the actions of the TCP itself, which declared two attempts by the Legislative Assembly unconstitutional. to summon them. According to former president Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, who was also former president of the Supreme Court of Justice in the 90s, with these rulings and with the extension of its own members, the TCP “failed to comply with the ethical and legal norm of not ruling on issues that represent a conflict of interest.”
The law that approves the suspension of the magistrates also makes illegal all the acts that they carried out from January 1 until now. A source from the Choquehuanca office who wanted to remain anonymous told this newspaper that “the annulment of the dozens of sentences that have already been approved during the magistrates’ extension would bring chaos. “That’s what they want: to cause chaos to justify an early election.”
On May 26, President Arce asked the Armed Forces to defend him from the “soft coup” that, according to him, the opponents “of the old and new right” intend to give against his Government. On the other hand, defenders of the law, such as the constitutionalist Israel Quino, consider that, although there is a cost for the annulment of the legal acts of the magistrates after the completion of their constitutional period, it is worth it, “because in this way the country returns to the rule of law, which was violated.”
Paralyzed elections
Bolivia is the only Latin American country that forms its high judicial courts through popular vote. Until now there have been two elections, in 2011 and 2017. On both occasions a strong pro-government parliamentary majority made the electoral calls viable, despite resistance and criticism from various political groups. This changed in 2023 due to the division of the MAS. With the displacement of former President Evo Morales’ faction to the opposition against Arce, he lost control of Parliament and the judicial elections became an opportunity for his rivals to nominate judges close to them to the Constitutional, Agro-environmental, Justice, and in the Judicial Council.
At that time, a legal battle began with a large number of lawsuits against the parliamentary chambers and commissions to hinder the process of selecting candidates and calling the population to the polls. These lawsuits continue until now. In 2023, judicial harassment and parliamentary fights prevented the elections and the so-called “self-prorogation” of the magistrates ensued.
The permanence of the judicial authorities until a way is finally found to call judicial elections, which is unlikely to occur in this legislature, has very important political implications. Without a prompt renewal of the TCP, it is impossible for a ruling from this Court that disqualified Evo Morales to participate in the 2025 elections to be reviewed in time. According to the official we consulted, this is the motive of the “evism” for what has happened. fact, despite the fact that Morales’ disqualification sentence is prior to the extension. “We are suffering the consequences of the former president’s fight to return to power,” he said. On the other hand, the permanence of the magistrates also prevents the criminal situation of Luis Fernando Camacho from being reconsidered, leader of one of the groups of the parliamentary majority, who has been detained since the end of 2022 for his participation in the overthrow of Evo. Morales in 2019.
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