Andean Group - September 2026

President Rodrigo Paz suffered his first ministerial impeachment on 18 August, when Bolivia’s legislative assembly approved a motion of censure against his finance minister, José Gabriel Espinoza, who had been in the role since Paz took office in November 2025. Espinoza’s downfall shows that congress is increasingly flexing its muscles despite being dominated by conservative parties that are mostly on board with the government’s economic agenda. He was replaced by his former deputy, Christian Morales, who pledged to maintain policy continuity.

The impeachment motion against Espinoza was filed by the right-wing opposition party Libre and received some support from the centre-right Unidad and left-wing Alianza Popular (AP). It came in response to Espinoza’s failure to attend a congressional summons to face questions on a variety of issues, including monetary and fiscal policy; macroeconomic planning; delays in presenting the 2026 budget; banknotes lost en route to the central bank (BCB) following a plane crash in El Alto in February; and alleged irregularities in bond transactions under the previous government led by Luis Arce (2020-2025). Espinoza said that he was unable to attend due to a prior commitment in Santa Cruz, involving talks with producers regarding the elimination of diesel subsidies for large consumers, as well as onward travel to Brazil for other scheduled meetings. The legislative assembly voted 81 to 43 to reject this explanation, paving the way for the vote on the motion of censure.

The government disputed the validity of the motion of censure, arguing that to be valid it would require approval by two-thirds of the total membership of the legislative assembly (which consists of 36 senators and 130 deputies), or 111 legislators in total, rather than a two-thirds majority of those present for the session. The motion was passed with just 129 legislators present, with 91 votes in favour, 34 against, and four abstentions. In the end, however, the Paz administration grudgingly accepted the impeachment, potentially encouraging further power plays by congress in the future.

By promoting Espinoza’s deputy, Morales, to the role of finance minister, Paz has underlined his commitment to the government’s unpopular economic reform package, which was spearheaded by Espinoza and has included cuts to fuel subsidies, reduced spending, and plans to eliminate lossmaking state-owned companies. It was these reforms that triggered mass protests in May and June, which only ended when the army was sent in to clear roadblocks, resulting in extensive economic damage [EB-26-08]. At Morales’ swearing-in ceremony, the new finance minister spoke of “important progress that we must consolidate and an economic transformation that needs to continue”. He said that “we will continue with the measures that have been implemented and will intensify those which are delivering results”, adding “our commitment will be to preserving stability, strengthening the public finances, generating investor confidence, production, and employment, and continuing to rebuild trust in our economy”.

Going forward, however, Paz will be wary of a new dynamic in his relationship with congress. Despite the largest parties being sympathetic to the government’s economic reform objectives, the massive protests earlier this year may have prompted a recalibration that could hurt Paz when he seeks legislative support on more controversial issues, such as privatisations. The worst-case scenario for the government, although not yet a reality, would be for the fierce opposition he has faced on the streets to spread to congress.

Potential workarounds

The presidential spokesperson, José Luis Gálvez, declared that the government would refer the matter to the constitutional court for consideration, arguing that the threshold for impeachment had not been met. In fact, a simpler workaround may have been available: in 2024 Arce fired and then immediately reappointed his interior minister, Eduardo del Castillo, when he was impeached by congress. Arce’s predecessor, Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020), did the same with her interior minister, Arturo Murillo, in 2020.