Bolivia: Let’s Tell the Truth

By Angel Guerra Cabrera on November 21, 2019

The mainstream media, commanded by the United States, are trying to impose a completely false narrative about the coup d’état in Bolivia. Last Tuesday, together with a group of colleagues, we discussed this problem and the urgent need of counteracting it during an unforgettable and productive encounter with Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera, President and Vice-President of the Pluri-national State of Bolivia.

First let’s make it clear; there was no electoral fraud in Bolivia, especially not the colossal fraud groundlessly commented on by news outlets such as Spain’s El Pais, Argentina’s Clarin, or CNN in Spanish. Some people still regard these companies as serious media when they are in reality nothing more than loudspeakers of the empire’s propaganda ministry. Not even the biased preliminary report released by the Organization of American States (OAS) dares to assert that there was any fraud in Bolivia’s general elections last October 20. They only refer to irregularities in a tally sheet sample whose selection is very suspicious, as noted in a recent report released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). The survey (available at http://cepr.net/), is a thorough statistical analysis of election returns and tally sheets from Bolivia’s elections. It found no evidence of irregularities or fraud affecting the official result in which Evo Morales won in a first round.

Fraudulent and treacherous was the performance of the OAS in Bolivia’s elections, especially its Secretary General Luis Almagro. First, the OAS provided a preliminary report on October 21, a day after the election. Without further evidence of any irregularity and feeling entitled to intervene in Bolivia’s domestic affairs, they advised to hold a run-off. This action emboldened the thief and genocidal opposition candidate Carlos Mesa. It paved the way for the acceleration of the racism and fascism nesting in a significant percentage of the traditional middle class sectors, which was already being gradually unleashed. Mesa called on his supporters to protest against the fraud. Surprisingly, he made his followers burn four regional electoral courts regardless of the alleged fraud —tally sheets included. Strange since no one else would be more interested in having in hand the evidence of the fraud than the one alleging to be victim of it. Not only that, hundreds of indigenous citizens and supporters of the Movement to Socialism (MAS, Morales’ political party), including many women, were harassed, beaten, and their houses were burnt by fascist task forces from Santa Cruz province and later from the cities of Cochabamba and La Paz. The case of a MAS mayor is outrageous. Her hair was cut, she was beaten, dragged barefoot through the streets, covered in urine and red paint.

Amidst this rightist ferocity, Evo Morales, seeking to release tension and pacify the country, called on the OAS on October 25 to go ahead and audit the elections and he committed to abide by its conclusions. When the OAS released its preliminary report advising to convene new elections, a low blow by Almagro, Evo accepted their decision aware that such a document was like a torch. He announced that new electoral authorities would be elected as well.

But fascist mobs were already in a frenzy burning or threatening to burn the houses of government ministers, MAS leaders, governors and legislators with their relatives inside; close relatives were also threatened to death unless these officials didn’t resign their posts. Then came the police mutiny. Police officers billeted themselves inside their headquarters and refused to enforce law and order. But MAS mobilizations seemed to be strong enough so as to tip the scales in favor of the Government. Then the Armed Force commander called on the President to resign in a televised speech, tipping the scales back to the Right again. Evo was forced to resign (though the National Assembly has not voted its approval yet), to hide and request asylum in Mexico amidst a succession of events that put his life at risk, including an ambush attempt by the Army at Chimore airport. He was already inside Mexico’s Air Force aircraft that was supposed to take him to that country and what saved him was the action was the intervention of thousands of supporters who stood in the way between Bolivian soldiers and the aircraft until it took off.

Above all, taking advantage of the power vacuum, always backed by Washington with large sums of money to bribe military chiefs and right-wing marchers, the Right fostered the self-proclamation of an interim president. In order to achieve it, she by passed the entire line of succession established in the Constitution. What is this other than a classic coup d’état?

In the face of a storm of bullets and plenty of blood, the indigenous and popular resistance goes on.

Source: La Jornada, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau