Luis Alberto Arce Catacora[b] (Latin American Spanish: [ˈlwis alˈβeɾto ˈaɾse kataˈkoɾa]; born 28 September 1963), often referred to as Lucho, is a Bolivian banker, economist, and politician serving as the 67th president of Bolivia since 2020.

For over ten years as Morales' longest-serving minister, Arce was hailed as the architect behind Bolivia's economic transformation, overseeing the nationalization of the country's hydrocarbons industry, the rapid expansion of GDP, and the reduction of poverty.

During this period of political instability, Arce was forced to announce the government's suspension of various social benefits in some regions, including retiree pensions and school vouchers, due to the ongoing strikes and blockades and the seizure of national tax and customs offices.

Though the Áñez government assured that he would be allowed to conduct his campaign "in tranquility", Arce was immediately met with a summons to testify before the Prosecutor's Office for alleged irregular financial acts authorized by him while he was on the board of directors of the Indigenous Fund.

[31] Bolivian newspaper El Deber called Arce's victory "clear and crushing" and praised him for his conciliatory statements after the result, while also stating that the new president will have to appease MAS's radical wing.

[46][47] Chilean President Sebastián Piñera declined his presence in order to focus on urgent government matters after initially having announced that he would attend; Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand arrived in his stead.

Writing for InSight Crime, journalist Parker Asmann stated that Arce's administration would need to "strike a balance between supporting traditional uses of coca and curtailing drug production and trafficking".

He denounced the "hegemonic pharmaceutical industry" for, in his view, harming "billions of human beings" by maintaining patents on life-saving medication and demanded that they release their anti-COVID drugs into the public domain for use by all nations.

[64] At the initiative of the Arce government and the United Nations Development Programme, Bolivia convened the forum "Release of patents and intellectual property considerations in the context of COVID-19", hosted by the Public University of El Alto on 13 May.

[67][68] The policy came into effect despite the lack of a negotiated agreement with the country's public health sector, who on 5 February declared the entire content of the law to be in violation of the Constitution at an emergency meeting in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

[70] In response, Arce issued Supreme Decree N° 4542 on 14 July, which regulated the original law by allowing the government to impose sanctions and administrative measures as well as criminally prosecute those who suspend or interrupt health services.

[86][87][88] To mitigate the effects of the pandemic and reactivate domestic markets, Arce enacted a "Bonus against Hunger" totaling Bs1,000, benefiting some four million unemployed Bolivians above eighteen and below sixty years of age.

[95] On 18 February 2021, Arce announced that he had ordered the Central Bank to return an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan totaling US$327 million previously granted to the Áñez government as aid for the economic crisis.

The Central Bank justified that the government's decision was "in defense of [Bolivia's] national sovereignty", as the loan was conditioned on certain economic policies, and the Constitution prohibits the acceptance of such impositions by foreign institutions.

[97] Writing for Americas Quarterly, Richard Lapper stated that the determination seemed "[more] influenced by the need to discredit the previous government, rather than any kind of broader economic logic"—on 28 June, Carlos Schlink, former vice minister of the treasury, was detained as a result of a criminal investigation into the loan.

[101] In a speech commemorating Plurinational State Day on 22 January 2022, Arce lauded his economic achievements, pointing out that Bolivia was the third fastest-growing economy in the region and highlighting that the country suffered the lowest inflation rate in South America at just 0.9 percent.

Choque had been sentenced to thirty years in prison for one such femicide in 2013 but was revealed to have been released in 2019 by Magistrate Rafael Alcón, who granted him house arrest on the grounds of good behavior and alleged incurable illness.

On 31 January 2022, a popular mobilization of women marched through La Paz demanding justice and denouncing several other judges and prosecutors accused of releasing individuals who faced criminal processes for femicide or rape.

[108] In a meeting with Minister of Government Eduardo del Castillo and Presidential Spokesman Jorge Richter, María Galindo, representative of the Mujeres Creando collective, issued a letter to Arce calling on him to form a "high-level" commission to review cases of femicide and rape for possible instances of corruption, interference in investigations, or dubious delays of justice.

[111] Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, who presided over the now-defunct Supreme Court, stated that the "population expects solutions, not commissions" and implored Arce to "summon the organs of power"—including the opposition—in order to achieve popular consensus on structural reform of the country's judiciary.

In Bolivia, where eighty percent of the economy is predicated on commercial transactions carried out outside of the financial system, the bill's view of such dealings as especially vulnerable to criminal organizations aroused concern and suspicion.

On 11 October, trade unions, civic committees, and other groups demanding the law's repeal instituted blockades on transit routes in the cities of Cochabamba, La Paz, and Santa Cruz.

The United Nations has condemned the "unacceptable" violence, acts of racism against indigenous Ayoreo women attempting to picket in the east of the country, a case of gang rape, and attacks on pro-government peasant and worker social organisations.

In the energy, Arce and Fernández took steps to conclude negotiations surrounding a Bolivian natural gas supply contract and agreed on the potential to advance electrical integration and interconnection between Yaguacuá in Tarija and Tartagal in Salta.

The second and third points regarded generating a "climate of peace and mutual trust" between the two countries, while promoting free transit and decreasing trade barriers faced by exports and imports in Chilean ports.

[148][149] Arce and the MAS celebrated the victory of left-wing former student leader Gabriel Boric in the 2021 Chilean general election, with the president affirming that "Latin American democracy is strengthened" by his win.

[151] The president personally attended Boric's inauguration on 11 March 2022, in which they discussed pending bilateral issues regarding visas for senior government officials, shared use of the Silala aquifer, and Bolivia's maritime claim.

A central point of discussion surrounded the Bioceanic Corridor, an international railway project connecting the Brazilian Port of Santos, on the Atlantic Ocean, with Chilean terminals on the Pacific, through Argentine and Paraguayan territory.

Apart from their shared cooperation in the procurement of Sputnik V vaccines, Russian companies such as Gazprom and the state atomic consortium Rosatom conducted numerous public works in Bolivia relating to the extraction of natural gas and lithium and the expansion of the use of nuclear energy for medical, industrial, and agricultural purposes.

[170] The Arce administration, through the Foreign Ministry, maintained a neutral stance, reaffirming the country's position as a "pacifist state" and calling on the warring parties to "seek [peace through] political-diplomatic solutions".