​The Bolivian head of state harshly criticized the coup d'état against Evo Morales in 2019 and pointed out that those responsible will be judged. | Photo: @LuchoXBolivia​​​

La Paz, August 8 (RHC)-- The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, offered his message to the nation before the Legislative Assembly (Parliament) in an honorary session as part of the celebration of the 196th anniversary of the country's independence.

At first, he recalled the heroes and martyrs who led the country to conquer its independence, such as Simón Bolívar, Antonio José de Sucre and Juana Azurduy de Padilla, as well as evoked indigenous leaders who history has left aside.

After reviewing the history of the country and the struggle of social movements, Arce criticized the coup d'état perpetrated in 2019 against former President Evo Morales and the disregard for the victory of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in the elections.

On this aspect, he pointed out that those who were behind the de facto government "only hoped to leave the country without resources, without health, without education, without cultural institutions, without government, in uncertainty, without human rights or freedom of expression, as do all dictatorships in our history."

"We have to close the political crisis opened by the de facto government," the president stressed amid diatribes between pro-government and opposition legislators, who were expressing their views on what happened in the country in 2019.

"They always want to impose with violence what they do not achieve democratically at the ballot box," he pointed out, while saying that the coup was prepared several months before, as opposition leaders made calls to disregard the results and threatened to disrupt with civil disobedience.

"The right wing broke into our constitutional order with the sole objective of assaulting the State", he argued, while announcing that he will demand that the justice system punish the authors of the coup, who violated the principles of democracy and the constitution.

"Memory, truth and justice, that is the mandate of the people that we received in October last year", he added in reference to this issue and to the victory of MAS in the 2020 elections, in which he was elected.

The Bolivian head of state called on people to work without sectarianism or exclusions in the processes of changes that benefit the great majorities of the country.  "The economic crisis left by the de facto government is the main concern of Bolivian families", he added.

Arce made mention of the sustained economic growth during the 14 years of government prior to Jeanine Añez, comparing point by point the behavior of the entire national economy. "The best way to redistribute is to close the gaps between rich and poor."

The Bolivian head of government recalled that on October 18, 2020, the Movement Towards Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP), received the support of 55 percent of voters for "a resounding victory that returned our Homeland to the path of democracy".

Without struggle, resistance and mobilization, democracy would not have been recovered and the de facto government would have continued in its eagerness to extend its power with the pandemic as a pretext to continue violating rights.