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Social organizations loyal to Morales reiterated that the former Bolivian president is eligible to run for office again. On Wednesday, social organizations loyal to former Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that the leftist leader will participate in the presidential elections in August, but not as a candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).

Farmer leader Pedro Llanque explained that the “Evista” organizations will hold a congress from March 29 to 31 in the Cochabamba department to “refound” their political instrument. “We are forming a national-level alliance to determine with which party we will participate. Once we reach a decision, we will share the proposal with all sectors nationwide,” Llanque stated.

This decision comes after a constitutional ruling ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to recognize Grover Garcia, an ally of Bolivian President Luis Arce, as the president of the MAS party. In practice, this ruling stripped Morales of influence over the party he founded.

The constitutional ruling validated the MAS congress held by “Arcista” sectors in May 2024, disregarding what took place in October 2023, when a congress of social organizations in the Tropic of Cochabamba proclaimed Evo Morales as the “sole candidate” of the MAS party. Llanque said the decision to participate with another party arose from an emergency meeting in which it was unanimously resolved that Morales is the “only legal and legitimate candidate” of the Bolivian left.

Organizations loyal to Morales reiterated that the former Bolivian president is eligible to run for office again, despite a constitutional ruling from December 2023 that states re-election is only permitted once. This provision would prevent Morales from running again, as he governed Bolivia for three consecutive terms (2006-2009, 2010-2014, and 2015-2019).

Meanwhile, Arce-controlled sectors announced that on March 21, they will hold a congress of the ruling MAS party in El Alto City aimed at reforming the party’s statutes to enable its “renewal.” Subsequently, the MAS ticket for the presidential elections will be announced. One possibility is that President Arce will run for re-election as the MAS candidate.

‘What he needs to do is respect the sovereignty of other countries,’ said the Brazilian leader. On Thursday, President Lula da Silva warned that Brazil would respond with “reciprocity” if U.S. President Donald Trump decides to impose tariffs on Brazilian products.

“It’s very simple. If he taxes Brazilian products, there will be reciprocity in Brazil when it comes to taxing products imported from the U.S.,” he said, noting that he expects “Trump to respect Brazil.” “I’m not worried if he’s going to fight over Greenland, the Gulf of Mexico, or Panama. What he needs to do is respect the sovereignty of other countries,” said the Brazilian leader, who reiterated his desire to strengthen cooperation with the U.S., one of Brazil’s main trade partners. “For my part, I want to improve that relationship,” Lula said, emphasizing that his country is interested in exporting and importing more if necessary.

Recently, Trump called Brazil a “tremendous tariff creator” and accused it of trying to harm the U.S. economy. “We will impose tariffs on countries that really want to harm us. They want to harm us, even though they basically want to do good for their country. Look at what others are doing: China is a tremendous tariff creator, India, Brazil, and so many other countries,” the U.S. President said.

China, India, and Brazil are three of the countries that make up the BRICS forum of emerging economies, along with Russia, South Africa, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia. Lula hopes to meet with the Republican leader at the next G7 summit if invited, or during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.