The LatinNews Podcast is a fortnightly deep dive into key developments from across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Real insights from the region’s sharpest minds.
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Season 1 | Episode 59
Following the historic defeat of the MAS in the first round of presidential elections in August 2025, Bolivians are left with two options to vote for, both to the right of centre. Former president Jorge Quiroga will face Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira in a run-off set to take place on 19 October 2025.
On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we take a look at the results of the first round and explore some of the reason for the total collapse of the MAS party, we discuss the legacy of former president Evo Morales, who ruled Bolivia from 2006-2019, and his current predicament in Chapare.
And what of the potential winner? Whoever wins in October will be faced with Bolivia's precarious economic situation, legal and political disorders and the always unpredictable subnational elections in 2026.
Our guest this week is Dr Angus McNelly, lecturer in International Development at Kings College London and author of: " Now We Are in Power: The Politics of Passive Revolution in 21st Century Bolivia."
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In this episode we discuss:
• Rodrigo Paz’s shock win
• MAS decline & Evo’s role
• East–west political split
• Gas, lithium & economic crisis
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Dr. Angus McNelly
Angus is an interdisciplinary scholar interested the politics of transformative change and twenty-first century capitalism.
He joined the Department of International Development at King’s College London from the University of Greenwich in 2024. His research examines the Left in Power, state-social movement relations, the political economy of development in Latin America, natural resource-led development and extraction and energy transitions.
His first monograph, Now We Are in Power: The Politics of Passive Revolution in Twenty-First Century Bolivia, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2023. He is currently writing a book on the economic history of Bolivia and has three research projects addressing meat planes in Bolivia, finance, extraction and the green transition and the politics of knowledge production across postcolonial spaces respectively.
The LatinNews Podcast is hosted by Richard McColl, a foreign correspondent in Colombia. Having first travelled to Colombia in the late 90s, McColl made the move to Bogotá in 2007. He holds a Diploma in Conflict resolution and a PhD in Social and Human Sciences both at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. He has worked as a journalist across Latin America.
Political Analyst, Richard McColl