Rodrigo Paz was sworn in as president of Bolivia, ending almost two decades of leftist rule, DPA reported.
"God, family and homeland - yes, I swear", said the 58-year-old Paz during his official inauguration.
"Today begins a new era of independence in the service of the people," he said. "This is the new Bolivia that opens up to the world," the country's new president added.
Paz, a former senator from the centrist Christian Democratic Party, won the second round of last month's election against conservative Jorge Quiroga, who was president from 2001 to 2002.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, a prominent figure on the Latin American left, was barred from running again under the constitution.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric congratulated his new counterpart – the first meeting between the heads of state of the two countries in 19 years, a gesture that marks a change in relations marked by the severance of diplomatic ties in 1978 and decades of tension over Bolivia's claims to access to the sea, EFE reported.
Boric stressed the "importance of deepening ties and strengthening joint work" between the two countries.
The tension between them reached a critical point in 2013, when Bolivia filed a case against Chile at the International Court of Justice demanding sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean – a claim that was rejected in 2018.
In a press release, the Chilean government noted that Boric “held a protocol meeting with President Paz to congratulate him and wish him success in his administration, as well as to discuss the importance of deepening ties and strengthening cooperation in areas such as border control and the Bilateral Chilean-Bolivian Business Council“.
It also highlighted that “for 19 years, a Chilean head of state has not attended a change of power in Bolivia – since President Ricardo Lagos attended Evo Morales' first inauguration in 2006.“
The Chilean government also indicated that cooperation between the two countries “has strengthened in recent years“ with a series of agreements signed between 2023 and 2024 to strengthen “actions against transnational organized crime“.
The inauguration ceremony of Paz was also attended by the presidents of Argentina – Javier Milley, of Ecuador – Daniel Noboa, of Paraguay – Santiago Peña, and of Uruguay – Yamandu Orsi, as well as the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States Christopher Landau.
The Deputy Secretary of State of the United States Christopher Landau announced that his country will restore diplomatic relations with Bolivia at the ambassadorial level. He made the statement after attending the inauguration of the new Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira, EFE reported.
Landau said that in recent weeks he had had very close contacts with Rodríguez Paz. "Now that he is president, we will restore relations at the ambassadorial level, as it always should have been", the deputy secretary of state said at a joint briefing with Paz. "Diplomacy is ultimately about communication. Without an ambassador in the capital of the other country, that is very difficult to do", the American added.
In turn, the new Bolivian president told Landau to convey "a message of cordiality and brotherhood" to US President Donald Trump and his entire government. Paz stressed that the presence of the American representative is a sign of his intention "to open Bolivia to the world and for the world to come to Bolivia". "This means renewing relations with the United States, as we will do with other countries from which we have isolated ourselves due to ideological dogmatism" of the previous government in Bolivia, Paz said.
Former leftist President Evo Morales, who ruled from 2006 to 2019, expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg from Bolivia in 2008, along with U.S. counternarcotics and counterterrorism agencies, over an alleged plot against the government, which the White House denies.