Last week, in a historic event, the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), the party of Evo Morales, was returned to power by the people of Bolivia. Evo Morales was the President of Bolivia from 2006 till 2019. In October 2019, though he had conclusively won the elections, he was forced to flee the country by the military and forces aligned to the CIA and the OAS. They argued that the elections were rigged. But it was nothing but a coup. Morales has been living in Mexico and Argentina since 2019. But the October 2020 elections have shown that the verdict of 2019 was not rigged. Loius Arce of MAS will be the new President and David Choquehuanca will be his deputy. These elections have represented a major victory of the Bolivian people against US-led imperialism.

To speak about the Bolivian elections, we are joined today by Sonya Surabhi Gupta, Professor of Latin American Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Sonya's interests are in the area of contemporary literary and cultural studies of India and Latin America in a comparative cross-cultural context, as well as translation studies. She remains active in her work as a researcher and social activist. In her dual role as a Latin Americanist and a social activist, she is part of the Committees of solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela in India, and is currently one of the General Secretaries of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organization, which is affiliated to the World Peace Council. She has also served as a translator for important Latin American personalities during their official visits to India, such as Nicolás Maduro (when he visited New Delhi as Foreign Minister in 2012), Aleida Guevara and Nora Cortiñas among others.