00:00You have met with President Trump, members of his administration, and I'm curious what expectations the U.S. has of
00:07you and of Bolivia.
00:08You've signed this memo of understanding on rare earths, for instance.
00:11Is the U.S. saying effectively, look, you've done business with China and Russia and India in the past.
00:17Now we would like you, Bolivia, to prioritize your relationship with the U.S.,
00:21or is that a simplistic read of sort of what the U.S. expects of you at this moment in
00:25time?
00:25I met with President Donald Trump and also with Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
00:33and Undersecretary Landau, with whom especially Mr. Rubio and Mr. Chris Landau,
00:41there is alignment regarding geopolitical and geoeconomic vision for the continent.
00:50Days later, I sat at the table with President Lula.
00:56Bolivia's vision is very clear.
00:58It is pragmatic.
01:00Anything that serves the development of our economy
01:03and the economy of the people,
01:06we will sit down to collaborate and be part of the global vision.
01:11But from Trump to Lula, there is a wide distance in political vision.
01:20But for us Bolivians, there are two strategic examples for developing Bolivia.
01:30So our logic is highly pragmatic and based on needs.
01:37Ideology does not put food on the table.
01:40What puts food on the table is employment.
01:44What puts food on the table is legal certainty.
01:48What puts food on the table is having a state that facilitates
01:51the entrepreneurial initiatives Bolivia has.
01:54And for that reason, we will be very pragmatic
01:57when making decisions in favor of the Bolivian people.
02:00My last question just has to do about the importance of this moment,
02:03the difficulty that you're going through right now.
02:06I'm curious how you see it in the long sweep of Bolivian history.
02:10I was in Bolivia in 2005 when Carlos Mesa stepped aside.
02:14As Evo Morales came to power,
02:16it seemed like an important transition moment for the country.
02:18Do you see this moment in a similar light?
02:22How are you thinking about you and your position
02:23over the course of this weekend and into the coming week?
02:26You say, dialogue is going to be the solution here.
02:28How worried are you that that might not lead to a peaceful solution?
02:35Bolivia recognizes itself through its difference
02:38at a historic moment during the Chaco War,
02:43a war we fought with Purawai.
02:47My grandfather gave orders as a second lieutenant
02:52and was part of the troops.
02:55He did not fully understand it was because there was a Yemira world
02:59and a Chiqua world, different cultures.
03:03The Chaco War brought together a Bolivia made up of its different cultures
03:08and from that came a process of growth
03:12that was consolidated.
03:15And concrete results through the 1952 revolution,
03:20that is when a Bolivia merged
03:24that has gone through different moments,
03:27different moments.
03:30The most important moment we are living through now is democracy.
03:35And democracy has established a series of periods
03:45in which Bolivia was able to understand itself.
03:48And it has always been through democracy
03:51that Bolivia managed to resolve its differences.
03:55There are anti-democratic movements
03:57that seek to interrupt this process of transformation
04:04that began with the Chaco War
04:07and was consolidated later on.
04:12And with democracy comes a new stage,
04:15a new era within democracy.
04:18Our government represents the closing of a cycle,
04:21a cycle defined by the management of the last 20 years
04:24and by a national popular vision,
04:28what is known as the national popular model.
04:32And we are adding a democratic,
04:35national popular dimension to it.
04:38The deepening of democracy during this period,
04:41this closes a cycle,
04:42a cycle managed by a single party,
04:45a single leadership,
04:49and a state serving the party
04:51and the leader, not the people.
04:56This transition will not be easy.
04:59It will not be easy.
05:01But it is clearly the right path
05:03to unleash Bolivia's productive forces,
05:08to unleash the country's intellectual forces,
05:12its capacity for growth and development.
05:14This is very important.
Comments