Humiliating scandals are destroying right-wing leader Luis Fernando Camacho and the right is fracturing as a more militant MAS party readies for an uphill election battle.
by Wyatt Reed
Part 1
Just one month after ruling elites and right-wing politicians seized power in Bolivia with a military coup, the fragile unity they briefly enjoyed has erupted into a bitter public feud.
Local analysts had predicted that coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho and businessman Marco Pumari could unite the right from the country’s east and west, both indigenous and white or mestizo. They were seen as an insurmountable dream team.
Local analysts had predicted that coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho and businessman Marco Pumari could unite the right from the country’s east and west, both indigenous and white or mestizo. They were seen as an insurmountable dream team.
That alliance now lies smoldering, with the two presidential frontrunners openly airing their dirty laundry amid a vicious power struggle.
The battle between the two right-wing heavyweights began when Camacho secretly taped and leaked a conversation in which he accused Pumari of soliciting a bribe of $250,000 and control of two customs checkpoints in return for his spot on the presidential ticket. Camacho fervently denied leaking the tape, which has left Pumari’s presidential aspirations in shambles.
But just days after right-wing CNN personality Fernando del Rincón shared a stage and smile with Camacho, while accepting an award from his far-right Santa Cruz Civic Committee for his part in helping “save democracy,” del Rincón dropped a bomb.
The battle between the two right-wing heavyweights began when Camacho secretly taped and leaked a conversation in which he accused Pumari of soliciting a bribe of $250,000 and control of two customs checkpoints in return for his spot on the presidential ticket. Camacho fervently denied leaking the tape, which has left Pumari’s presidential aspirations in shambles.
But just days after right-wing CNN personality Fernando del Rincón shared a stage and smile with Camacho, while accepting an award from his far-right Santa Cruz Civic Committee for his part in helping “save democracy,” del Rincón dropped a bomb.
In a live December 13 interview on CNN en Español, del Rincón confronted Camacho over sending him the tape.
A flabbergasted Camacho insisted that the hotel in which he and Pumari met must have recorded the audio, because he had actually sent Rincon a different secretly recorded tape of his closest political ally — an accusation which the Hotel immediately and flatly denied.
A flabbergasted Camacho insisted that the hotel in which he and Pumari met must have recorded the audio, because he had actually sent Rincon a different secretly recorded tape of his closest political ally — an accusation which the Hotel immediately and flatly denied.
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