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The swearing in of Iván Arias as Mayor of La Paz marks the end of twenty years of center-left rule of Bolivia's administrative capital. Given that large LatAm capitals are often left bastions, it's worth talking thru how this happened. @noticiasfides/1389279436365828098Permalink On twitter.com
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Bolivia's capital metropolis is no exception to regionwide dynamics of rapid inward migration and informalization, but it has an unusual jurisdictional split between the urban core city of La Paz, and the peripheral city (with airport and gas plant) of El Alto.Permalink On twitter.com
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As the metropolis has expanded outwards, La Paz's population has tilted further towards the middle class, making it a politically different place than, say, Mexico City or Buenos Aires.Permalink On twitter.com
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Nonetheless, the city was governed by an independent left-leaning party since 2000, when human rights lawyer Juan del Granado became mayor on the Without Fear Movement (MSM) ticket.Permalink On twitter.com
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The Without Fear Movement was in a unique arms-length-but-hands-clasped alliance with the MAS during Evo Morales' first term. In 2010, however, the MAS ran its first of three failed campaigns to claim La Paz for itself.Permalink On twitter.com
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The 2010 campaign, which elected Lucho Revilla as mayor marked the beginning of MSM's increasingly harsh critique of the MAS's centralization of power.Permalink On twitter.com
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In 2014, however, there was little market for center-left alternative to the MAS-IPSP. After a fateful decision to not pair up with the Green Party, the MSM lost its ballot line.Permalink On twitter.com
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Revilla re-founded a slightly less left SOL.bo in an alliance of convenience with indigenous leader Félix Patzi. Patzi became governor.Permalink On twitter.com
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Like other megacity mayors, del Granado and Revilla distinguished themselves by investing in populist urbanism. The municipal government built steps in La Paz's steeply sloped hills, built neighborhood centers, attended to local needs, and designed a public bus system.Permalink On twitter.com
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Perhaps uniquely, the national government engaged in a bidding war for urban improvements with a unique bit of infrastructure of its own: Mi Teleferico. This bit of infrastructure redrew the map of the metropolis, rapidly connecting the two cities. (photo CC-BY-NC Alf Igel)Permalink On twitter.com
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Mi Teleferico functioned, didn't fall apart or crash, and connected with Paceños and Alteños. It embodied an ethnofuturism in which indigenous people are central to the future.On twitter.com
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What it did not do was attract votes at the municipal level. Soledad Chapetón (UN) took over as mayor of El Alto, the first Aymara woman to hold the job, and Lucho Revilla continued in La Paz.Permalink On twitter.com
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By 2019, the city of La Paz had tilted away from the MAS-IPSP, something visible in these side-by-side protests against (left) and for Morales after the disputed election.Permalink On twitter.com
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During the protests, Lucho Revilla ran to the front of the parade challenging Evo. Then in January he sealed an alliance with President Jeanine Áñez for the 2020 elections. woborders.blog/2020/01/30/anez-new-ally/Permalink On twitter.com
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The campaign of the interim president who had promised to never run for president, Áñez, never caught on. Her party was one of the few to drop out in the name of anti-MAS unity.Permalink On twitter.com
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Hence the political space opened for Iván Arias, leader of governmental decentralization in the 1990s, and public works minister under Áñez to run for mayor of La Paz.Permalink On twitter.com
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Arias has pledged to put administration ahead of politics, but of course many politicians say that.Permalink On twitter.com
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What is striking about this story is (1) the gradual rightward drag of the upscale half of the metropolis in opposition to a left national government; and …Permalink On twitter.com
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(2) the profound failure of the MAS to use its abundant resources to build a strong base in any large Bolivian city.Permalink On twitter.com
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That was the savvy move in 2006, 2015, and 2021. In the last case, however, the MAS threw away viable candidates in El Alto, Cobija, and Trinidad, preferring to lose to them rather than back politicians who think for themselves.Permalink On twitter.com
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Something more complex happened in La Paz, but it too is a cautionary tale about the failure to build an urban base in a rapidly urbanizing country.Permalink On twitter.com