Bolivia’s first conservative president-elect in 20 years, Rodrigo Paz, has injected a sharp note of realism into his plan for solving Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in four decades.

Preliminary results show that Rodrigo Paz, a centrist senator who was never a nationally prominent figure until now, has won Bolivia’s presidential election, galvanizing voters outraged by the country’s economic crisis and frustrated with 20 years of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism party.

After nearly two decades of one-party rule and a worsening currency and fuel crisis, Bolivia is shifting to the right.

Centrist Bolivian presidential front-runner Rodrigo Paz is hoping to attract a diverse group of voters with catchall rhetoric to fix Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga was once seen as a sideshow in Bolivia’s presidential races, his pleas for free markets and small government falling on deaf ears in a country dominated by leftism.

Bolivia heads into an Oct. 19 runoff between centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira and right-wing ex-president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga after nearly 20 years of socialist rule.

One candidate is Rodrigo Paz, a conservative centrist senator and son of a neoliberal ex-president who is pitching himself as a moderate reformer.

With the last campaigns only one day in the rearview mirror, Bolivia’s political world has delved into preparations for an unprecedented runoff election that will reveal the extent of a centrist senator’s unexpected traction in the presidential vote.

Early results in Bolivia's presidential election show the country headed for an unprecedented runoff following a vote in which a dark horse centrist, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, drew more votes than the right-wing front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory.

Bolivians have headed to the polls for a pivotal election that could end the long reign of the leftist Movement Toward Socialism party.

Street clashes have erupted in Bolivia's capital of La Paz as hundreds of supporters of ex-President Evo Morales marched toward the country's top electoral court to push for their leader’s candidacy in presidential elections later this year.

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica, a onetime Marxist guerilla and flower farmer whose radical brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died.

A powerful explosion has killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman and 1-year-old baby, during a standoff between rival groups of gold miners in northwestern Bolivia.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been sworn in to serve a third term despite credible evidence that his opponent won the July 2024 election.

Prosecutors in Bolivia are seeking the arrest of former President Evo Morales in connection to a sexual abuse investigation involving his alleged fathering of a child with a 15-year-old girl.

Bolivia is the only country in the world that holds elections for top judicial posts.

Bolivia’s former anti-narcotics chief has been extradited to the United States to face federal drug trafficking charges in a New York court.

In the huddled market stalls, sprawling farms and pulsing parties of Viacha, a scrappy town southeast of Bolivia’s capital, it’s typical for women to sport bowler hats, tiered skirts and fringed shawls.

Bolivia’s transformative and divisive former President Evo Morales has told the Associated Press that he would press on with a hunger strike until the government of his protégé-turned-rival agreed to a political dialogue.

Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claims he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car.

Bolivia’s pro-government supporters and security forces have confronted protesters loyal to former President Evo Morales in a street melee.

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marching in support of Bolivia’s former socialist President Evo Morales were clashing with counterprotesters blocking their way, a stark sign of an escalating power struggle in the volatile Andean nation.

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s former president, has called on supporters to protest against current President Luis Arce.

Bolivia’s socialist President Luis Arce says national referenda will be held soon on the removal of politically combustible fuel subsidies and on the constitutionality of presidential reelections.

Bolivia’s embattled president has announced the discovery of vast natural gas reserves just north of the capital, describing it as the biggest find in nearly two decades that could help the cash-strapped country reverse its falling production.

The Bolivian government has summoned the Argentine ambassador to address the country’s claims that the attempted military coup that rattled Bolivia last week was a hoax.

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales is accusing his political ally-turned-rival President Luis Arce of deceiving the Bolivian people by staging a “self-coup” last week.

Bolivian President Luis Arce says a former general intended to take over the government and become president in a failed coup, and he denies that the Andean nation is experiencing an economic crisis.

Families of the 21 people detained on accusations that they participated in a failed coup attempt appear visibly confused and anxious in the jail where they're being kept.

The man behind the attempted coup that has rocked Bolivia remains a mystery to much of the country.

Bolivian President Luis Arce has denied being behind an attempted coup against him and said the general who apparently led it “acted on his own,” lashing out at accusations that he had asked for the mutiny in a plan to boost his popularity.

Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace as President Luis Arce said his country faced an apparent attempted coup.

The president of Bolivia is a 60-year-old leftist whom many see as an opponent of Washington-backed free-market and neoliberal policies.

Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup and urged people to mobilize.

The Bolivian general who captured Argentine-Cuban guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara has been buried.

Award-winning Bolivian journalist Harold Olmos, who led Associated Press operations in Venezuela and Brazil, has died at age 78.

Peruvian Indigenous activists have gotten a jolt of self-confidence from the movement demanding the resignation of interim President Dina Boluarte.

Trucks are snarled and people in the Santa Cruz region have to find ways to skirt blockades that opposition leaders set up across the area considered to be Bolivia's economic engine to protest the detention of Gov_ Luis Fernando Camacho late last year on “terrorism charges.”.

A Spanish lawmaker says he was formally kicked out of Bolivia as he was getting ready to leave the South American country after he visited to demand the release of opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho.

The head of the Organization of American States is facing a call from the Biden administration for an external probe into possible misconduct tied to his intimate relationship with a subordinate.

The Associated Press has learned that the head of the Organization of American States is facing an internal investigation into allegations he carried on an intimate relationship with a staffer that may have violated the organization’s code of ethics.

President Alberto Fernández has reiterated Argentina’s claim to the Falklands Islands while commemorating the troops who fell in the failed attempt to reclaim them.

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says he will not launch a full investigation into allegations that former Bolivian President Evo Morales and his supporters committed crimes against humanity.

Bolivia’s past interim government came to power by sidestepping constitutional rules for presidential succession and relied on systematic torture to persecute opponents in the tumultuous aftermath of Evo Morales’ resignation in 2019.

A rural teacher-turned-political novice and the daughter of an imprisoned former president have traded the lead in a tight race for Peru's presidency.

Peruvian voters faced a choice between two polarizing populist candidates during Sunday's presidential runoff.

Space-related news is not just flowing from the world’s richest, biggest nations.

As schools across Peru closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pedro Castillo tried to find a way to keep classes going for his 20 fifth- and sixth-grade students.

The United States said Saturday, March 27, 2021, that it is concerned about increasingly anti-democratic behavior and the politicization of the legal system in Bolivia following the arrests of officials from the countrys former interim government. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)LA PAZ – The United States said Saturday that it is concerned about increasingly ″anti-democratic behavior and the politicization of the legal system” in Bolivia following the arrests of officials from the country’s former interim government. He noted that the European Union, the Bolivian Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as Bolivian and international human rights organizations, had also expressed concerns. AdProsecutors accuse Áñez, who assumed the presidency following Morales’ resignation and exile, of terrorism and sedition for unrest that led to his ouster. Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism won last year’s elections with 55% of the vote under Morales’ chosen candidate Luis Arce, who took the presidency in November.

Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Anez is escorted into a police station after giving her statement at the prosectors's office, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, March 13, 2021. “This is not justice,” said former President Carlos Mesa, who has finished second to Morales in several elections. Áñez, a legislator who had been several rungs down the ladder of presidential succession, was vaulted into the interim presidency. It won last year's elections with 55% of the vote under Morales' chosen candidate Luis Arce, who took the presidency in November. New Justice Minister Iván Lima said that Áñez, 53, faces charges related to her actions as an opposition senator, not as former president.

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019 file photo, Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez speaks during a press conference in La Paz, Bolivia. Anez said on Friday, March 12, 2021, that the new government has issued a warrant for her arrest. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)LA PAZ – Bolivia's former interim president said Friday that authorities are seeking her arrest as they move against officials who backed the ouster of former leader Evo Morales, which his party — now back in power — considers a coup. “The political persecution has begun,” Jeanine Añez, who headed a conservative administration that took power after Morales resigned in November 2019, said on her Twitter account. But Morales' party won election again under his chosen successor, Luis Arce, and the former leader has returned home.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)CARACAS – President Nicolás Maduro has cemented formal control over all major institutions of power in Venezuela with authorities reporting Monday that his political alliance easily won a majority in congress. Yet he remains a pariah to much of the world following an election critics called deeply undemocratic. “The results of the election show a discouraged, tired people, the vast majority doing everything possible to survive,” Shifter said. The U.S., Panama, Canada and Germany have repeated their condemnation of the the election by Maduro's government following announcement of the results. "The international community now has to decide whether it wants to live with that or restore the democratic path for Venezuela.

Former President Evo Morales waves during a rally with supporters in Villazon, Bolivia, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, after he walked across a border bridge from Argentina. Morales, who fled into exile after resigning last November, returned to his homeland the day after the presidential inauguration of his former finance minister Luis Arce. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Former President Evo Morales returned to Bolivia on Monday following an election that returned his socialist party to power a year after he fled the nation amid a wave of protests. Indigenous supporters of Morales greeted him at the border with chants of, “Evo! Meanwhile, newly inaugurated President Arce swore in 16 new cabinet ministers who will help him confront the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a sharp economic contraction.

Luis Arce, presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, speaks during an interview at his campaign headquarters in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, two days after elections. Officials have not released a formal quick count of results from Sundays vote, but the MAS party claimed victory in the presidential election as rival candidates conceded defeat. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – A final official vote count released Friday gave leftist Luis Arce a smashing victory in Bolivia's presidential election, a vindication for the Movement Toward Socialism party of ousted President Evo Morales, who was barred from running. Last year's presidential election was annulled after protests broke out over alleged fraud by Morales, who had claimed a narrow first-round victory. Morales, who faces a series of charges lodged by the interim administration, was barred from seeking office.

The leading rival of Morales's handpicked successor, Luis Arce, conceded defeat as did interim President Jeanine Áñez, a bitter foe of Morales. Áñez's government tried to overturn many of Morales' policies and wrench the country away from its leftist alliances. “Arce is not Morales, but the question is, who is going to govern Bolivia facing the approaching crisis," said political science professor Franklin Pareja. He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. When police and military leaders suggested he leave, Morales resigned and fled the country, along with several key aides.

Adding to intrigue, publication of two exit polls were withheld after private pollsters said they didn’t trust their own survey results. Bolivians have long been accustomed to quick preliminary results in presidential elections. He was barred from running for the presidency or even the Senate by electoral authorities following his ouster. He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. She dropped out at as a candidate for Sunday’s presidential election while trailing badly in polls.

(AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)LA PAZ – Even in exile, Evo Morales looms over Bolivia’s election next month. Morales, a 60-year-old former coca farmer and union leader, faces terrorism and other charges in Bolivia and is not an election candidate this year. Its presidential candidate, Luis Arce, is a former economy minister who oversaw a nationalization program when Morales was president. Morales' detractors fear a MAS election victory could open the way to the former president's return to Bolivia and his political rehabilitation. ___Associated Press writer Carlos Valdez reported this story in La Paz, Bolivia, and AP writer Christopher Torchia reported from Mexico City.

MAS is the party of former President Evo Morales who was ousted on 10 November 2019, after 21 days of civil protests amid allegations of electoral fraud. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Terrorism charges against former Bolivian President Evo Morales appear to be politically motivated and are part of a wider campaign by Bolivia’s interim government to use the justice system against political opponents, Human Rights Watch said Friday. A similar pattern of judicial abuses occurred during the administration of Morales, the group said. Officials in Bolivia’s interim government alleged that Morales, during continuing upheaval after his resignation, gave an instruction in a telephone call that followers should surround cities to prevent food supplies reaching the inhabitants. The interim government denied it was using the justice system against opponents and said Bolivia’s judicial authorities were selected by Morales supporters when he was in power.

After 14 years in power, Morales resigned under pressure from the military and police on Nov. 10 amid widespread protests and disturbances alleging he was attempting to fraudulently claim reelection. Morales was the country's first Indigenous president and remains a powerful influence in the country. In addition, the government is also responsible for the massacre in November's protests and doesn't say anything, lawmaker Sergio Choque said. Prosecutors will weigh whether they have jurisdiction and whether the case is admissible under the court's rules before deciding whether to launch an investigation. The sanctions were immediately denounced by the court, the United Nations and human rights advocates.

A nurse attends to a newborn baby in the intensive care unit of the Women's Hospital maternity ward in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Bolivia's political and social crisis is coinciding with the continued spread of the new coronavirus across one of Latin America's poorest countries. Bolivia's political crisis adds to the burden on its health care system, which was already grappling with the coronavirus as it continues to spread across one of Latin America's poorest countries. Now, after about 10 days of blockades, supplies are threatened in some hospitals that are also dealing with an escalating number of COVID-19 patients, according to officials. Hospitals filled up with patients, and funeral homes were besieged by grieving relatives looking to bury their dead.

Police in Bolivias major cities have recovered the bodies of hundreds of suspected victims of the coronavirus from homes, vehicles, and in some instances, the streets. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Bolivia's highest electoral authority on Thursday delayed presidential elections by more than a month due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal moved the election date from Sep. 6 to Oct. 18, the third time the vote has been delayed. Morales has said vote delays would extend the country's crisis of legitimacy, make it even harder to govern, and would worsen the pandemic. Bolivia has more than 64,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 2,300 deaths, a toll that is overwhelming its hospitals and other infrastructure.

Bolivia's Institute of Forensic Investigations said that nationally from April 1 through July 19, its workers had recovered 3,016 bodies of people in possible COVID-19 cases. Police said they have recovered 420 bodies from streets, vehicles and homes in the capital of La Paz, and in Bolivias biggest city, Santa Cruz, in the span of five days. Between 80% and 90% of them are believed to have had the virus. Bolivia has reported nearly 2,300 confirmed deaths from COVID-10, although the real number is believed to be higher. Arce has alleged the government of interim President Jeanine ez is using the pandemic as a pretext to extend itself.Six of the eight parties in Bolivias election race have said they favor a postponement.

According to city officials, ten elders have died in the last two weeks at the care facility after COVID-19 related symptoms. The Health Ministry cannot risk recommending something that doesnt have a scientific basis, said Miguel ngel Delgado, a senior ministry official. However, Bolivias opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide. Many fearful residents in Cochabamba, where opposition support is strong, are giving chlorine dioxide a try. Cochabamba has reported about 440 deaths from COVID-19, or one-quarter of the total number of reported deaths in Bolivia.

FILE - In this May 25, 2020, file photo, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, stands among supporters as he leaves his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Bolsonaro said Tuesday, July 7, he tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus's severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Bolsonaro said Tuesday, July 7, he tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus's severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. And in Venezuela, 57-year-old socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello said Thursday on Twitter that he, too, had tested positive, at least temporarily sidelining a larger-than-life figure considered the second-most-powerful person in the country. An Associated Press review of official statements from public officials across Latin America found at least 49 confirmed cases of new coronavirus in leaders ranging from presidents to mayors of large cities, along with dozens, likely hundreds, of officials from smaller cities and towns. Many leaders have used their diagnoses to call on the public to heighten precautions like social distancing and mask wearing. They have to be responsible.Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei placed his entire Cabinet and their staff in quarantine Thursday after one of his ministers tested positive.

(AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Bolivia said Thursday it will restore diplomatic ties with Israel, a decade after then-President Evo Morales severed relations because of an Israeli military offensive in Gaza. The renewal of ties with Israel was announced by interim Foreign Minister Karen Longaric as part of an overhaul of Bolivia’s foreign policy following Morales’ resignation this month. Many Israeli tourists visited Bolivia before Morales cut off relations with Israel, and the hope is that they will return, Longaric said. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, welcomed the Bolivian announcement. Bolivia’s interim government has also named Walter Oscar Serrate Cuellar as the new ambassador to the United States after an 11-year diplomatic rupture.

Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez, left, sits next to President of the Senate Monica Eva Copa to enact a law to hold new elections in La Paz, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019. Bolivia is struggling to stabilize after weeks of anti-government protests and violence in which at least 30 people have been killed. Former president Evo Morales resigned on Nov. 10 after an election that the opposition said was rigged. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – International experts are in Bolivia to investigate the deadly violence that followed a disputed Oct. 20 vote and the resignation of former President Evo Morales. Morales resigned and went into exile on Nov. 10.

Prompted by the military, Morales resigned on Nov. 10 and went into exile in Mexico, saying he was the victim of a coup d’état. Morales’ supporters then began a wave of protests and highway blockades to demand the return of Bolivia’s first indigenous president and the resignation of self-proclaimed interim leader Jeanine Añez. Sen. Shirley Franco said neither Morales nor his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, would be allowed to run in the new election. But many people became disenchanted by his insistence on holding on to power, seeking a fourth term after 14 years in office. Much of the opposition to Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that upheld term limits that barred him from seeking a fourth term in office.

Officials raised the death toll by eight a day after security forces cleared a blockade of a fuel plant by anti-government protesters in the city of El Alto, near La Paz. The public defender’s office and the state Institute of Forensic Investigations said the latest deaths happened in El Alto. Police and soldiers were escorting gasoline tankers from the Senkata fuel plant to ease food and gasoline shortages in some Bolivian cities. Interim President Jeanine Áñez on Wednesday sent to the legislature a bill that would allow the scheduling of new elections, without providing a date. Bolivia’s constitution says elections must be called within three months of an interim president taking office, which Áñez did on Nov. 12.

Supporters of former President Evo Morales clash with security forces in El Alto, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019. An Associated Press journalist in the area heard shooting near the fuel plant. The military said in a statement that the operation to move the fuel from El Alto to the nearby capital of La Paz was peaceful. Víctor Hugo Zamora, the hydrocarbons minister, told ATB television that 23 tanker trucks were able to load on fuel at the plant. ___Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko reported this story in El Alto and AP writer Paola Flores reported from La Paz.

A woman walks by a closed market in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2019. Bolivia’s interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz faced challenges because demonstrators cut off some transport routes. On Monday, Morales’ supporters in Sacaba threw rocks at police, who fired back with tear gas trying to disperse the protesters. Many shops in La Paz were closed and the few that opened were charging double the normal price, resident Guillermina Chura said. Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, claimed victory after the vote, but opponents alleged fraud and mass protests erupted.

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)LA PAZ – Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales cannot run as a candidate in any new elections, the country’s interim leader said Thursday, as supporters of the ousted president demonstrated for his return from asylum in Mexico. They had come overnight from Chapare, a coca-growing region where Morales became a prominent union leader before he became Bolivia’s first indigenous president. Jeanine Añez, a Senate deputy leader who claimed the interim presidency, was moving to establish authority in the turbulent country. Morales resigned on Sunday at military prompting, following massive nationwide protests over suspected vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 election in which he claimed to have won a fourth term in office. Bolivia’s new interim government has begun winning some international recognition but faced challenges to its legitimacy at home.

A demonstrator fires fireworks at the police during a protest against President Evo Morales' reelection, in La Paz, Boliva, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. The U.N. office in Bolivia called on authorities to investigate in a statement that condemned "intolerance and violence" in Bolivia. Bolivia's first indigenous president said Guzman had been a victim of violence promoted by political groups that encourage racial hate. Opponents challenge an official count that showed Morales winning by a margin big enough to avoid the need for a runoff against a united opposition. A delegation from the Organization of American States is in Bolivia carrying out an audit of the election.

Riot police detain a demonstrator protesting the reelection of President Evo Morales, in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Bolivian President Evo Morales on Sunday rejected opposition calls for him to resign and said the country should wait for an international audit of Bolivia's disputed election. Results from the Oct. 20 election show Morales winning a new term, but the opposition alleges fraud. Opposition leaders say they distrust an election audit being carried out by the Organization of American States and they want a new election. Tens of thousands of Bolivians rallied Saturday in the city of Santa Cruz, demanding Morales resign by Monday.

Activists with their faces painted like jaguars shout slogans that elections were a farce, as they protest the reelection of President Evo Morales, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – At least two people were killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Bolivian President Evo Morales over the disputed presidential election, authorities said Thursday. Violence has escalated since Morales was declared the winner of the Oct. 20 vote amid delays in the vote count. The opposition alleges the outcome was rigged to give Morales enough of a majority to avoid a runoff election; the president denies any irregularities. The Organization of American States sent a team to Bolivia to begin an election audit Thursday, and results are expected in 10-12 days.