In the positions of the center of peace, even the bread begins to be rare, a new symptom of an economic crisis in the heart of the concerns of the Bolivians, since the presidential elections could sign a return of the right. Wilson Paz, a 39 -year -old self -employed worker, travels a dozen small stores in the corner of a street, but none has a “marraqueta”, this clear white bread appreciated in the administrative capital.
Food scarcity, but also fuel and dollars, exacerbates the dissatisfaction of Bolivians and, for the first time in twenty years, the left does not seem favorite in surveys for Sunday surveys, where two candidates in the right character.
“We have no hope”
President Luis Arce, very unpopular, does not represent himself, while Evo Morales, at the head of the country three times between 2006 and 2019, is dismissed by the limit of the mandates and is the object of an arrest order in a case of mineral traffic that he denies. Among the leftist candidates, the president of the Andrononic Senate Rodríguez and former minister Eduardo del Castillo are far behind the two favorites in the surveys.
Despite the annual inflation that borders 25% in July, a record since at least 2008, the marraqueta remains one of the rare foods whose price has not increased, thanks to the government control policy that subsidizes the flour used to manufacture it. But, as with oil or rice, it happens that it disappears from the stalls, due to lack of flour.
The Government has almost exhausted dollars to finance its subsidy policy, while natural gas exports, previously the main engine of the Bolivian economy and an important source of currencies for the country, have collapsed since 2017. The shortage of dollars, which has doubled its value in less than a year, has also led to prices.
“Everything has increased: eggs, milk, oil, spare parts” for the car, complains by Manuel Osinaga, a taxi driver, after more than five hours of waiting in front of a service station to be able to repost, a scene that has become ordinary in recent months in the country.
On the edge of hyperinflation
Carlos Tavera, a 65 -year -old retiree who generally votes to the left, says he will vote for the better opposition candidate, even if that means supporting a right -wing candidate.
For the economist Napoleon Pacheco, professor at the University of Elders in San Andrés, the country is “on the verge of hyperinflation.” According to him, this situation, this situation is the result of the mass currency program by the government to try to stabilize the economy. Between 2023 and 2024, the money supply increased by 20%.
The two favorites of Sunday’s elections, the businessman of the Right Center Samuel Doria Medina and the former president of the right Jorge Quiroga, promise to end him. They also plan to close the public in deficit and reduce fuel subsidies, as part of an austerity program. But, according to the Bolivian Jubileo Foundation, poverty would reach 44%, against 36 and 37% depending on the official figures, if the cost of living is taken into account.
“A period of blood, sweat and tears, to paraphrase Churchill, promises to prepare for the worst,” says Napoleon Pacheco.
Source: BFM TV
