Bolivia's Election and What's Next, with Thomas C. Field Jr.

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Thomas C. Field Jr. of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University joins me for the second time to update us on the situation in Bolivia. Luis Arce, nominee of Evo Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, won a decisive victory in last month’s election, potentially capping a year that saw Morales ousted in a right-wing putsch that then made every effort to stop MAS from returning to power. We look back on what happened to Morales and the destructive legacy that the Jeanine Áñez-led junta has left in its wake, and look ahead to the challenges that face Arce, from a revanchist Bolivian far right, to an economy devastated by mismanagement and COVID-19, to a regional political environment (largely overseen by the Organization for American States) that is designed to undermine left-wing governments.

Thomas is the author of From Development to Dictatorship: Bolivia and the Alliance for Progress in the Kennedy Era and co-editor of the recently published Latin America and the Global Cold War, both of which are available from Powell’s (here and here, respectively) and many other booksellers.

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