Presidential hopeful Rodrigo Paz sees 'capitalism for all' as answer to Bolivia's crisis

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Centrist Bolivian presidential front-runner Sen. Rodrigo Paz is hoping to attract a diverse group of voters with catchall rhetoric to fix Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in decades. He's promising both social spending reminiscent of the outgoing left-wing government and an attack on the country's massive deficit.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, the self-styled moderate resisted rising pressure to clarify his policies with only weeks to go before a hotly contested presidential runoff against former right-wing President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga.

“It will be a pragmatic government, as pragmatic and diverse as the Bolivian people,” he told the AP from his art-filled apartment in an affluent neighborhood of La Paz, Bolivia's capital. “That's why my slogan is ‘capitalism for all.’”

After weeks of polling near the bottom of the eight-candidate field, Paz rocketed to first place in the Aug. 17 general election as his cross-party approach met an untapped demand in the Bolivian electorate.

He and his running mate, former police captain Edman Lara, offered a relatively fresh face in an uninspired race otherwise dominated by the same old duality between the governing Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, and traditional conservative parties controlled by Bolivia’s wealthy elite.

Lara lacks political experience but secured widespread fame when he was expelled from the police force after denouncing high-ranking officers for corruption in viral TikTok videos.

Although Paz's father — leftist radical-turned-neoliberal ex-President Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993) — represents the political elite that Lara publicly derides, the rank-and-file congressman had little national profile before he emerged as a leading candidate last month.

Paz and Lara appealed to voters across the political spectrum with a platform that blended economic deregulation and cost-cutting to end fuel shortages and soaring inflation with social programs like pension increases and universal income for stay-at-home wives and mothers.

On Monday, Paz promised his government would end Bolivia’s costly fuel subsidies but maintain the assistance for schoolchildren and older people.

“We’re not going to harm health, education, citizen insecurity or social benefits,” he said, arguing that the elimination of state corruption and waste would restore fiscal order while allowing the government to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable Bolivians.

“We’re going to attack the unbridled spending, hard.”

Paz balked when pressed to get more specific on the affordability of his social spending measures as Bolivia rapidly runs out of hard currency.

“You can’t call health ‘spending,’ you can’t call education ‘spending,'" he said. “It's social profitability.”

He refused to confirm or deny his previous promise to boost a monthly payment to retirees more than fivefold, to the equivalent of almost $300, which critics have derided as reminiscent of the ruling party's populism — and ensuing insolvency.

When asked how much the government would give in monthly support to pensioners and mothers, Paz said he would have to wait until entering office to come up with numbers: “The government has transferred some information to us, but we won't know the reality until we delve into it on Nov. 8 (inauguration day), see the accounts, the papers and find out what's really going on."

He pushed back against those seeking to characterize his more ambiguous promises as populist gimmicks.

“It's not demagogic populism,” he said. “It's national, democratic and popular. That's something else, and the great majority wants those kinds of decisions.”

To those who see his rhetoric as contradictory, Paz pointed to Bolivia's entrepreneurial city of El Alto, the original crucible of MAS that helped fuel the 2006 rise of Bolivia's long-serving charismatic former leader Evo Morales, the country's first Indigenous president.

Paz is hoping that the self-regulated commercial hub home to Bolivia’s largest Indigenous population can also fuel his own rise

The merchants of El Alto cheered Morales’ nationalization of natural resources, generous subsidies and increased rights for Indigenous Bolivians historically excluded from power.

But, as fans of low taxes and small government, they soon soured on his socialism.

“Capitalism is harsh and pure and simple in El Alto, but it also has tenderness, it has love in the middle,” he said, referring to El Alto’s communal traditions in the form of neighborhood councils and workers’ unions. “It has folklore, devotion, the value of family.”

Known for their ethic of self-reliance — "On its feet, never its knees” is the city's ubiquitous slogan — the people of El Alto have been skeptical of Quiroga's proposals to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a massive bailout and open lithium production to foreign investors.

Paz has played to those nationalist sentiments. He said Monday that he would keep strategic state-owned companies in public hands while privatizing only loss-making companies — and restricting those sales to Bolivian buyers.

He has ruled out an International Monetary Fund rescue package but proposed turning to allied countries and development banks for support in managing Bolivia's public debt, which the IMF now estimates to be at 95% of the country's gross domestic product.

“We will turn to anything that helps Bolivia,” he said, signaling he was open to foreign money as long as Bolivia set the terms. "If tomorrow an Arab sheikh comes and says, ‘Rodrigo, I have $1 billion at 0.01% interest so we can pay for anti-corruption technology, sure, let him come.”

The U.S.-educated lawmaker, with little political experience beyond the southern city of Tarija where he served as mayor, appears to realize he risks losing supporters if he spells out his policies any further in the coming days.

Analysts say it’s a tightrope that he just might manage to walk.

“Ambivalence is political capital for this kind of transitional government,” said Bolivian political analyst Veronica Rocha. “That lack of clarity is what made them win, and they’re going to keep betting on that.”

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz gives an interview in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo Juan Karita)

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz gives an interview in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo Juan Karita)

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz gives an interview in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo Juan Karita)

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz gives an interview in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo Juan Karita)

BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.

“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”

Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.

Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”

A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.

“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”

Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.

China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.

Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)