Eva Copa

In 2014, the FUL, as a member of the Regional Workers' Center (COR), submitted Copa, as a student representative, and Edwin Callejas, as a teacher representative, to the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP)'s list of pre-candidates for deputies, in preparation for that year's general elections. Though she was initially ruled out from consideration as either a deputy or substitute deputy, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE)'s decision to instruct parties to apply the principle of gender parity and alternation in candidacies led the MAS to revise its lists. As its candidate for first senator for La Paz was José Alberto Gonzales, the position of second senator corresponded to a woman from El Alto or one of the department's provinces. Despite being thirty-seventh on the list, Copa was ultimately selected as the MAS' candidate in representation of the UPEA, a fact she only learned by reading her name in the local newspaper.[3][7] Her nomination was atypical as the registration of candidates for Senate under thirty years of age was uncommon. It indicated that, within the MAS, access to legislative positions relied less on strength in party leadership and more on the occupation of positions relevant to related social movements.[8] Her campaign recruited the support of seventeen of the twenty-six student centers to participate in marches, paint murals, and accompany the candidates.[3]

Elected in the MAS' overwhelming 2014 victory, Copa was sworn in on 18 January 2015.[9] Despite being senator for one of the MAS' major bases of support, her lack of a close relationship with party boss and president Evo Morales led her to keep a low profile for the majority of her senatorial term.[10] This situation changed in the final months of her originally set term, when, after the resignation of Morales and much of his government in the midst of the 2019 political crisis, the remaining senators of the ruling party and the opposition unanimously elected her president of the Senate on 14 November. She succeeded Jeanine Áñez, who two days prior had briefly assumed the position before becoming president.[11][12] Due to the vacancy in the vice presidency left by Álvaro García Linera, who abdicated in tandem with Morales, Copa's position also correlated with the presidency of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and left her next in line for the presidency.[13]

Copa and President Jeanine Áñez promulgate a law to convoke new general elections, 24 November 2019.

Despite the confrontational stance of the more radical sectors of the MAS, Copa took a conciliatory position towards the interim government. In her opening speech, she called on Bolivians to "divest [them]selves of colors, of radical positions", and stated that "what our country is looking for at this moment is peace".[14] In the early days of the transitional government, she pushed against demands by some members of her party for the assembly to reject Morales' resignation and worked with Áñez to enact the law that facilitated the convocation of new elections.[4][15] Finally, in January 2020, the assembly voted to definitively accept Morales' resignation.[16]

Due to her stances, some MAS groups supporting Morales demanded Copa's removal from the presidency of the Senate. At a rally that ratified the former president as the MAS' campaign manager, leaders of the power plants in Cochabamba proposed replacing her with Senator Pedro Montes of Oruro.[17] At a press conference held in December 2019, Copa denounced harassment from these MAS groups and targeted her colleague, Santa Cruz Senator Adriana Salvatierra, whom she labelled a "radical".[18] By the time of the renewal of the Senate directive on 21 January 2020, efforts to replace Copa had failed to come to fruition, and she was ratified as president of the Senate by a vote of thirty-three to zero with two abstentions.[19]

At the same time, Copa remained critical of the interim government's actions throughout her term. In particular, she affirmed that the government had mishandled its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and had used the health crisis as an excuse to postpone general elections and prolong its mandate. Additionally, she accused Áñez of "breaking her word" by presenting herself as a presidential candidate instead of maintaining neutrality in the transition.[20] Her relationship with Áñez's minister of government, Arturo Murillo, was also one of animosity and included accusations that he had waged a campaign of persecution against members of the MAS.[21]

After almost a year in office, Copa formally closed the 2015–2020 legislative term on 3 November 2020. In her final address, she affirmed her satisfaction with the assembly's work and highlighted that, as president of the Senate, she had succeeded in promulgating "twenty-eight laws in favor of the Bolivian people".[21] She added: "We are not perfect, we could have made mistakes, but we leave with a clear conscience".[22]

Shortly after the completion of her parliamentary term, Copa was presented among a broad list of sixteen pre-candidates for the MAS' nomination for the El Alto mayorship. Aside from Copa, the list included former parliamentarians, former ministers, and leaders of social movements and unions.[23] Despite being one of the main frontrunners for the nomination, with wide civic support,[24][25] it was ultimately decided that former interim mayor and union leader Zacarías "Ratuki" Maquera would be the MAS' candidate. Though Rodolfo Machaca, leader of the party's national directorate, stated that Maquera's nomination had been reached with consensus from the primary pre-candidates, including Copa, the Great General Headquarters of El Alto, a collective of local trade unions, rejected the candidacy. Union leader Bernardo Huanca accused Evo Morales of interfering in the designation of candidates and affirmed that Maquera's candidacy would entail a repeat of the 2015 election, in which then-incumbent mayor Edgar Patana was presented, only to lose to Soledad Chapetón. Víctor Tarqui, executive of the El Alto drivers' union, further asserted that Copa had the support of all twenty-one of the union's member organizations, as well as ninety percent of the population.[26]

Copa at the civic parade for the 35th anniversary of El Alto.

In the following days, Copa received multiple invitations to be the candidate of various opposition civic groups and political parties. Despite this, she stated that she "waited until the last moment" for the MAS to reconsider its decision. Finally, on 28 December 2020, Copa was proclaimed as candidate for mayor of El Alto on behalf of Jallalla La Paz, the civic group of Leopoldo Chui.[27] In an interview with La Razón, Copa asserted that she had not endorsed Maquera's nomination, as indicated by Machaca, but rather had committed to communicate the nomination to MAS bases in the city for them to accept or reject. At the same time, she stated that she had not renounced her membership in the MAS and left to it the decision whether or not to.[28] Shortly thereafter, on 1 January 2020, Marco Antonio Poma announced that the party's regional leadership in El Alto had chosen to expel Copa from the MAS for violating its organic statute. Copa responded to the party's decision by stating that "[the] MAS will always be in my heart". Moving forward, she stated that she would "continue to be on the left" and pledged to "build a new political project where young people have opportunities to emerge".[29]

After leading in polls with broad margins over her electoral rivals, Copa won the race with nearly seventy percent of the vote, with Maquera failing to crack twenty percent and the remaining twelve candidates trailing behind with between two and less than a percent. The Copazo highlighted a fracture in the ruling party's historic bases of support, dubbed "Eva vs. Evo". Political analysts pointed to discontent within MAS bases, particularly younger generations, who took issue with Morales' handpicking of political candidates as a primary reason for his party's disastrous defeat in the city. Other factors included Copa's ability to connect with Aymara voters, through a platform that offered a combination of modern management with an indigenous communitarian system.[30][31]

On 3 May 2021, Eva Copa was sworn in as mayor of El Alto. At her inauguration, she pledged to visit the various city districts in order to hear the concerns of Alteños and find popular solutions.[32] Copa highlighted education, public health, and jobs as the top priority for her administration and stated that the biggest challenge would be to manage the numerous financial and income issues inherited from the previous government.[33] With the end of the campaign season, the new mayor called for unity and reconciliation with the elected MAS councillors, whom she hoped would participate in the city's administration.[34] In keeping with her promise to promote the political participation of youth leaders, Copa announced that twenty-year-old councillor Iris Flores would head the Municipal Council as its president.[35]

Copa in traditional cholita garb, 6 March 2022.

In the first month of her management, Copa met with numerous social organizations to discuss the implementation of biosecurity measures to combat the ongoing pandemic. The parties ruled out the implementation of a quarantine but agreed to apply the mandatory use of masks and maintenance of social distancing. Additionally, Copa introduced a bill that would authorize the use of chlorine dioxide as a treatment for COVID-19 "voluntarily" and "with informed consent" in order to prevent the unsanctioned sale of the substance.[36] These rules went into force through the enactment of Laws 685 and 686 promulgated by the Municipal Council which, from that date, began a citywide awareness campaign promoting vaccinations and compliance with health measures.[37]

Composition of the El Alto Municipal Council: six Copa allies and five opponents from Jallalla and the MAS.

Less than a year into her term, on 26 August 2021, Jallalla leader Leopoldo Chui announced that the civic group had chosen to expel Copa from its ranks for her "betrayal" of the city and the political organization. According to Chui, Copa's candidacy was predicated on the agreement that her administration would coordinate all management aspects with Jallalla, a promise she had failed to comply with.[38] Chui went on to instruct the city's councillors and assembly members to withdraw their support for the mayor. Rury Balladares, secretary of Institutional Management of the El Alto Mayor's Office, affirmed that Chui's true motivation was to deflect focus from the internal conflicts among the members of Jallalla, especially after Santos Quispe, who was elected governor of La Paz as a member of the group, was expelled just a week into his administration. Copa's spokesperson, David Apaza, agreed with Balladares and added that the administration was not concerned about her expulsion because, of the eight Jallalla councillors, six maintained their support for Copa, while just two sided with Chui.[39][40] Shortly after, Daniel Ramos, president of the MAS in El Alto, ruled out the possibility of Copa rejoining the party because its statutes prohibit it.[41] Copa similarly rejected a return to the MAS, stating that she would "never again" be a member of the party, despite the rapprochement between herself and President Luis Arce through their collaborations in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. "I have other projects", she affirmed, indicating that she would look into forming her own bloc.[42] Apaza confirmed this, stating that her campaign slogan RenuEva "is already there" and that she would seek to register her political platform with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal under that acronym.[43]

Fulfilling a previous campaign promise, Copa convened the Alteñidad Assembly on 7 May 2022 at the Villa Ingenio Stadium of District 5. The event was attended by a majority[lower-alpha 2] of the city's most significant social organizations, institutions, and national and regional authorities, all of whom approved the so-called Alteñidad Manifesto. As described by El Deber, the seven-point document was the "fruit of the democratic will of the social organizations of El Alto". A significant portion of it focused on El Alto's identity as a city, expressing support for expanding its Municipal Organic Charter in an effort to deepen decentralization in all districts. The end goal of such a project would be social self-management through agreements between the city's political institutions, neighborhood leaders, and organizations. Likewise, the manifesto's charters declared an emergency in defense of encroachment on the city's jurisdictional limits. In economics, the Alteños demanded that the national government allocate more educational and health aid and that public companies contribute more to development within the city. Finally, the city's social organizations agreed to cooperate with the Census Driving Committee to guarantee the participation of the entire population in the 2022 census.[45]