Brazil’s Lula and Bolsonaro are about to face off again. What you need to know to prepare your defenses
This time, the two men will square off in front of an audience of millions in the Amazon rainforest, but when they meet again, they’ll be in a different place, on the stage of the Bolivian presidential runoff election. They are about to face off for a second time, this time in the city of La Paz, in an election of little to no consequence to the world beyond Bolivia.
The event in La Paz is the culmination of years of controversy, confusion, and sometimes outright animosity. The most recent campaign season saw both men sparring with each other not just for the most part, but on various stages of the campaign itself.
The two candidates have fought over an array of issues, many of which have spilled over into public opinion polls: economic reform, social justice, corruption, the economy, the environment, and LGBT rights (the two men’s names are pronounced “Loo-dee” and “Boos-nay,” respectively).
What began in early 2018 with the candidacy of Alberto Ramos-Horta — a left-leaning party stalwart who spent a fair portion of his campaign railing against the corruption of the government of Evo Morales — has quickly turned into a broader debate about the merits of Bolivian political institutions and what these institutions might look like. In the second half of 2018, both Ramos-Horta and Carlos Mesa-Lago began to distance themselves from the Bolivian president after he was arrested for a crime that he claimed was his, despite the fact that the charges against him were dropped.
In the first half of this year, Ramos-Horta’s campaign was beset with allegations of money laundering, drug trafficking, and influence peddling. That same year, former police commander and current presidential candidate in the second runoff (who currently sits in jail, awaiting trial) Gonzalo Sán
