Source: Cobden Centre
by Elias Sanchez
“This week, Bolivia inaugurated a new president, Rodrigo Paz, whose rhetoric blends nationalism with a market-friendly appeal under the slogan of ‘love for the patria’ and ‘capitalism for everyone.’ The ceremony, held in the Congress of La Paz beneath an Indigenous banner symbolically restored after two decades of hyper-interventionist politics inspired by the Socialism of the 21st Century, marks a rhetorical break but not necessarily a structural one. Labelling Paz as ‘centre-right’ is less an ideological definition than a chameleon strategy emblematic of Bolivian — and increasingly global — populism, where socialist interventionism adapts to the language of pragmatism and inclusivity. Nevertheless, his rise carries a modest symbolic weight: a tentative sign of renewal in a state weakened by decades of extractive statism and institutional decay.” (11/13/25)