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?
