Velasco: 'Milei solved what hurts Bolivia the most today: the fiscal deficit'

In this exclusive interview for La Derecha Diario, Juan Pablo Velasco, technology entrepreneur and vice-presidential candidate for Bolivia on the ticket led by Tuto Quiroga, shares his vision for the country's future and the challenges it faces. Throughout the conversation, Velasco addresses key topics such as the need to modernize the State, reduce bureaucracy, attract technological investments, promote merit, and restore hope to young Bolivians. He also expresses his commitment to a liberal economy, the defense of the right to life, and a deep transformation of the Bolivian political system.

Velasco also reflects on his transition from the private sector to politics, his relationship with figures such as Samuel Doria Medina and Tuto Quiroga, and his admiration for the results of Javier Milei's government in Argentina. Throughout the dialogue, he refers to the issues of drug trafficking, youth migration, the role of justice, and the institutional collapse he attributes to "masismo" and the legacy of Evo Morales. With a direct and emphatic tone, he raises the need for a deep change of course and a break with the structures that, according to him, have led Bolivia to one of its worst crises.

The full interview with Juan Pablo Velasco

Negre: Good afternoon, dear readers, we are here with Juan Pablo Velasco, candidate of the Free Alliance Party for the elections in Bolivia, a beautiful country that is going through its worst moments because of communism, because of "masismo," because of Evo Morales and all his heirs. Now Bolivia is facing its last days in this first round of elections and we have the vice-presidential candidate of Tuto Quiroga, who represents, who reflects entrepreneurship, that success he achieved with digital companies from a very young age, a self-made man, and also the contrast to the classic politician, the establishment. We would like to hear what you propose for this Bolivia that deserves to recover its pride, its national identity, and to return to the place it deserves, as in other countries where we have been able to be, like the player with Novoa, Javier Milei in Argentina, El Salvador with Bukele, young, eager and with first political experience, unlike other candidates who deny being politicians, like Samuel Doria, and it turns out that one gets into Norteca and, apart from being vice president of the Socialist International, he has a lot of political positions and denies them.

He is going to tell us now how he is experiencing these elections, this electoral campaign, and who Juan Pablo Velasco is.

Velasco: Javier, how are you? Thank you very much for this space. Well, here is Juan Pablo Velasco, technology entrepreneur and now vice-presidential candidate with Tuto Quiroga.

We are very happy and basically one of the roles we have here is to bring young people back to public service, for young people to see with meritocracy, with passion and with the desire to work for their country, to work for their State, which has already been lost. Yesterday I was at the University of Oruro, in the Faculty of Architecture, and I asked a question: "Raise your hands if you want to work in the State."

Nobody raised their hand. Maybe there was someone working in the State and did not raise it. Then I asked: "Raise your hands if you want to work in a technology company."

And everyone raised their hand. That is what is happening and that is what we have to change, and surely together we are going to achieve it.

Negre: What makes you take the leap into politics? Because it is clear that money doesn't. You made your money in your companies.

It is clear that fame and ego, because you are a discreet person in your world, in your social networks. You have social networks now because you are campaigning, but you are not the typical one.

He likes to show his life. Why and for what?

Velasco: Honestly, I want to give back to my country some of what my country gave me. That is the main reason. Another reason, of course, is that I want my son to have a country where he can work, where he can be an entrepreneur, where he can be happy.

And, of course, that he never thinks about leaving Bolivia, except maybe once for vacation. That is the most important thing. The Bolivian diaspora is growing a lot.

We were in Cochabamba, at Bolivia Digital, on Sunday. Meanwhile, part of the speech we have is that we want to prevent young Bolivians from going to do jobs perhaps not desired by the people who live in the countries where they go. A lady approached me at the end crying.

I am not one to cry much, but the lady really made me tear up because she told me she had lost her two sons, one 21 and the other 23 years old, because they went to Chile to work. She has not seen them for a long time and doesn't know if she will see them for Christmas. She had never spent a birthday without her children and now she spent the first birthday without them.

The lady crying really affected me, I really felt it. That is what I want to change.

Negre: Why Tuto Quiroga and not Samuel Doria?

Velasco: Well, because everyone knows that Tuto Quiroga is the most capable and most experienced person to move Bolivia forward. Bolivia needs a liberal economy. Bolivia needs to open up to the world.

Bolivia needs to be a benchmark in foreign investment, in technology, in innovation. The only person among the qualified candidates today who proposes that is Tuto Quiroga. That is what Bolivia needs right now.

Why am I accompanying him? I am accompanying him because he gave me his trust and gave me a great responsibility and the opportunity to be by his side. I take it with great pride and also with great responsibility.

It will not be easy, it will be difficult, but I have no doubt that Bolivia in the next five years will become a regional benchmark in technology, in innovation, in entrepreneurship. We are going to stop hearing the international press talk about Bolivia as a country of dictators, about Evo Morales, about narco-states, about political prisoners. We are going to hear totally different news about Bolivia in the next five years.

Negre: You know Samuel Doria well, right? Did you have any business relationship with him? What happened?

Velasco: Yes, well, in the technology company we co-founded in 2012, it is a food delivery company. The first one that was very successful, that did very well. Later it was acquired by PedidosYa and that is where the story of professional success begins.

He has a very large restaurant, a very large hamburger chain and we have always worked with him. More than eight years working with him. The truth is that we have grown a lot with them and surely their restaurants have also grown with us.

What happened the day after the presentation of my vice-presidential candidacy is that we received a note that we could no longer work together. The truth is that it was a low blow, it was a hard blow because personal matters are being mixed with politics, with private matters. That should not happen. We have to change that kind of politicking that affects the opponent.

At the end of the day, we all want the common good, we all want Bolivians to have a dignified life, we all want to have jobs, for people to stop leaving, for prices to go down. These mechanisms or these tricks to hurt the temporary opponent in this electoral period seem like a low blow to me and I think it is not good to show young people and it is not good for him either because, if he does that as a presidential candidate, imagine what he could do if he becomes president. So, it is really a bit sad and we hope he can reconsider and we are open to working together again.

Negre: Do you think he has removed, for example, candidates like Jaime Duhn? Has he also collaborated with a lawyer from Cochabamba who openly claims he was removed?

Velasco: I think that in Jaime Duhn's candidacy there were bad things there, because Jaime Duhn is a person of great value. I believe that he has to be part of the next government in one way or another. He is a person who really has very clear ideas, very good, very close to my own, very close to Tuto's, and he is an important person and I am very sorry that he can't be a candidate.

It seems that there was something else, but I do not... I do not know exactly, I do not want to speak, but something strange happened.

Negre: You are not a politician, Samuel Doria is a politician, he has a political tradition, but he denies it as he denies being a socialist, being vice president of the Socialist International, friend of the president of my country, of a corrupt government like Sánchez. Why does he not tell the Bolivian public the truth? Why does he hide?

Velasco: I do not know why he hides. There is a very important saying that I always say: "Do not arrive at the future with shame." I am, of course, not a politician. Now I am exercising, holding a political position, now I am entering politics, but all my life I have been in charge of developing technology products that have brought investment, have caused jobs and, of course, have boosted economies, which is exactly what we need today.

He can't say he is not a politician. That seems to me to be lying to people. Let us be serious. He was a leader of the MIR in the 80s, he was vice minister or minister, he has been a presidential candidate three or four times, he was a vice-presidential candidate in the previous election —we are talking about five years ago—. He is a politician. He is a good businessman. Unfortunately, he doesn't say he is a politician because things did not go well for him. What I can tell you is that I am not a politician, I am not here to engage in politicking, I am here to change politics from within. I am coming with new ideas. I hope to change everything, because as a country we are where we are, perhaps, because of some politicians in the last 15 years. That is what I want to change and I want people to hear it, to understand it, to get to know me. I am a young Bolivian, 38 years old, some things have gone very well for me, others not so much, but as in life, the things that are perhaps more successful are the ones that are best known. So, basically, that is it. We want to propose a radical change for the country. The country is going in the opposite direction to where it should go. We are going to the left, we have to go to the right. That is what we propose. We are the only government plan and the only candidacy, the only ticket that is really proposing a radical change and a liberal economy for Bolivia.

Negre: How close are we to being like Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia?

Velasco: One election away. If in this election we do not make a radical change, unfortunately the near future is that. The most serious thing is that the Bolivian diaspora and young people are going to leave, and social unrest is going to grow. If people are not in the streets right now —because there is no gasoline, prices... we have 5% monthly inflation, everything is more expensive—, if people are not in the streets it is because they have hope that in 33 days they will be able to choose a new change and a new direction for the country.

Negre: Right to life. You are a family man. One reads Samuel Doria's program and he supports legal abortion. In contrast, you always publish and say the opposite. Which should one believe?

Velasco: No, let me tell you what I think. I do not know what he thinks, because he says one thing and in the government program he says another. Apparently, he did not make the government plan. That happens with many politicians, who have a couple of paid advisors and they make the government plan, and they read it, and they launch it. They have campaign slogans that are totally false. What I can tell you is that I believe in life from conception. For me, a person who is in the mother's womb has rights. The most important right is the right to life. Of course, in our Political Constitution of the State it is stated that abortion can only be performed for two reasons, which are, of course, rape of the mother and when the mother's life is in danger. Beyond that, no. I totally agree with that and I totally agree, of course, with the mother law, which is the Political Constitution of the State. But I believe in life from conception.

Negre: Do you believe in God?

Velasco: Of course I do, I believe in God. Many people are approaching me, many people are praying for us, and that really moves me. Of course, I pray every night and I ask every night for my family and for Bolivia as well. Surely, with God's blessing, Bolivia will have a future, a prosperous future, and a future for all the young people who today want to leave the country.

Negre: Evo Morales. How many years has he served? What do you think of a child abuser? He is still trying to run for office, a protégé of the narco-state, a person who has led Bolivia to its absolute ruin.

Velasco: It can be said louder, but not clearer. Yes, he is the past. The justice systems have to work. If there is a Bolivian with two arrest warrants, what has to happen?

The justice systems have to work. With Tuto Quiroga, what I can tell you is that justice will work, both justice for those who have to be in prison and justice for those who do not have to be in prison, of whom there are many in Bolivia.

Negre: What will you do with the cocaine plantations? There are airports in Chapare that are directly dedicated to drug trafficking and the government looks the other way. There is no police, nothing. How are you going to fight government drug trafficking?

Velasco: Eliminate absolutely all coca leaf that is not the ancestral one from the Yungas. Eliminate all coca leaf destined for drug trafficking and, of course, invite all our friends from abroad who can come to help us. Today, the DEA is not in Bolivia, the FBI is not in Bolivia either. Invite everyone to come, of course, to help us because this is everyone's job. At the end of the day, it is a regional problem. The cocaine that leaves all of Latin America goes to the United States, to Europe. That is what has to change.

What would I do with the "white elephants," the Chapare airports that have no use? We turn them into digital centers, attract foreign investment and say: "You have this building, fill it with databases, fill it with computers, mine cryptocurrencies here." We give them, of course, tax benefits as long as they invest in Bolivia, as long as they provide jobs in Bolivia and leave taxes in Bolivia, of course.

Negre: How do you plan to bring those companies to a country where the tax system is not clear, where labor laws protect employees much more than employers, where the minimum wage is being raised above the capacity of the companies themselves and where there are no dollars, where moving money between countries is complicated?

Velasco: What do I intend to do? Look, it is exactly what I have done in the last 10 years of my life. The two largest technology companies that have set foot in Bolivia and have invested more than 60 million dollars in Bolivia in the last seven years came through me.

The first to buy my company and the second with the first hire in Latin America. That is what we know how to do, that is what we have done. Imagine what we have done in the private sector, we have impacted the lives of millions of Bolivians. Imagine what we can do in the public sector.

That is what I think, that is the dream we have and that is what we are going to do in the next five years.

Negre: What message do you send to those people who work 16 hours a day in Bolivia in very humble jobs, in the informal sector, who have to chew coca leaf to not feel the pain, and who out of ignorance, out of lack of judgment, because there are left-wing parties that buy their vote, continue to support the left and do not see the possibility of change nor know your message?

How would you comment to them?

Velasco: I would tell them that this August 17 we have a unique opportunity in our history for a total change of cycle, a total change of direction. Be patient, have faith, hope is coming, a different country is coming, a country where you will not need government handouts to get ahead, because you will be able to have a decent job and because you will generate much more money on your own than waiting for a government handout. Government handouts are mistakes, they are mistakes of the State, and that has to change.

We have to provide the conditions for all young people, for all adults, so that they can become entrepreneurs or so that they can work formally, as employees, and, of course, stop being in the informal sector, which is what is hurting Bolivia so much. It is a message of hope. We really have a unique opportunity to get out of a crisis, the worst in the last 40 years. If we do not take this opportunity seriously, a very dark future awaits us, which is what we are here trying to avoid with everyone's support.

Negre: Is Milei's government an example for you? Because I have walked the streets, through poor neighborhoods, and people talk about Milei's chainsaw.

Velasco: Of course it is an example. Above all, it is an example because they attacked and solved the biggest problem Bolivia has today, which is the fiscal deficit. Today Milei's government has a positive fiscal balance.

We have a negative 10% of GDP. Imagine how serious that is. That is the main problem Bolivia has.

Thanks to that problem, the consequences follow: shortage of dollars, shortage of fuel and inflation. Inflation keeps going up.

What has Milei done? He eliminated the fiscal deficit and now inflation is at historic lows. Last month Argentina's inflation was 1.5%. Of course, some left-wing journalists in Argentina say: "But yes, there was inflation." But this is not... inflation can't be stopped overnight. This is like you are driving a car fast at 200 kilometers per hour but you stop accelerating and it will slow down. So, Milei has shown that, he has shown that it is really possible, in a country that was so complicated with the fiscal deficit and with inflation and with monetary inflation, that in Bolivia we can apply the same techniques and similar techniques as well.

Of course, all countries are different, but by applying similar techniques we can surely achieve the same results, and even better ones.

Negre: Will there be a "chainsaw" in Bolivia?

Velasco: We are going to cut absolutely all more than 45,000 bureaucrats who have a position in the government and are not doing anything. We are going to reduce the ministries from 17 to 12 in the first stage. We are going to reduce the vice ministries from 60 to 20 in the first stage.

What is happening here is that we have almost 500,000 public employees, of whom 10% are not doing anything. They are bureaucrats sitting at a desk with nepotism, who are friends of some, cousins of others. What are we going to do?

We are going to put the best people to work with meritocracy and we are going to put young people. In the next government, the protagonists have to be young people at all levels.

Negre: People who want to participate in this change, who want to be part of your team, who are talented in different professions or even people who have not been able to work at the university. How could they join your team?

Velasco: I have come up with a very good idea that we want to implement soon. We are going to set up a WhatsApp line and an email address so that all young people who do not have a job or who want to change jobs can join the next government. We are going to call all of you: professionals, technicians, non-professionals as well, young people, adults.

We want people who are most eager to work with us, most eager to make an impact on their State, on their country, to join us, and together we are going to achieve it. So soon you will see on my social networks the announcement of this: the WhatsApp and the email address, where you will write to me personally, you will send your resume, and we will be interviewing all the people who want to join, who will undoubtedly join the next government.

Negre: Andrónico, who is he to you?

Velasco: I just met Andrónico. He seems to me to be a person who doesn't want to be where he is. I feel that he is there as if he were forced. He is a person with political experience because he has been president of the Senate, an almost absent Senate, and I think he has not yet found the narrative or the image he wants to show.

He is young, he is my age, but I think he is not what Bolivians need, and even he knows it.

Negre: Who is the person who inspires you the most? Who is the person who has most influenced your personal and professional career?

Velasco: My grandparents, both: Jorge and Nancy. Well, I was raised by them. My grandfather is a person who is not of few words, but who said what he had to say to you and it stayed with me forever.

My grandmother, who was like a mother to me, is the person who has shown me the most love, real love. They are, of course, always with me, they are accompanying me. I would like them to see what we are doing now, in the project we have undertaken now, and surely they will be with me as well on August 17 and November 8.

Negre: What did your grandmother say when you told her: "Grandma, I am running as a candidate"? What advice did she give you?

Velasco: Unfortunately, she was not with us when this was decided, but she was present at many victories. When I sold my company, to a public company, at 27 years old, she was there and was really very proud. They are the people who show you real love.

I was raised with love. I was raised, of course, I never lacked anything. I always had perhaps much more than I needed, much more than young Bolivians, today, have as a reality.

But, aside from that, a person who raised me with a lot of love and who will always be in my heart, and is one of the most important people in my life.