Overview
- A presidential decree published Friday formally removed Economy Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza and named Environment Minister Oscar Mario Justiniano Pinto as interim economy minister with no timeline for a permanent replacement.
- Congress voted to censure Espinoza after he failed to appear to answer lawmakers’ questions about the handling of the economic crisis, and under Bolivia’s constitution a censure paves the way for dismissal.
- Espinoza said he will ask the Constitutional Tribunal to review the censure and the Paz administration’s earlier statement that he would remain pending judicial review was superseded by the decree.
- The cabinet change complicates the government’s push to win congressional approval for a package of economic reforms and the IMF financing program negotiated in July that still needs domestic and IMF Executive Board sign-off.
- The political turmoil follows months of unrest triggered when the government removed long-standing fuel subsidies, which doubled fuel prices, drained foreign-exchange reserves, provoked nationwide protests and prompted a June state of emergency.