October 15, 2020
Statement from the Network in Defense of Humanity
The general elections of October 18 in Bolivia are going through an extremely difficult and sensitive time. The systematic statements of threat and hate made by officials of the de facto government of Jeanine Áñez, force us to be alert. There is not a day when the government spokespeople do not call, openly and covertly, for the deployment of state and paramilitary violence against the social movements, the leadership and militancy of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and its presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca.
At present, there are few countries in the region where the proximity of general elections is marked, as in Bolivia, by the threat of the use of force and by undisguised pressure on the Public Prosecutor’s Office to arrest union and political leaders. Even in countries with old internal armed conflicts, truces have been declared for moments like these.
This is not the case in Bolivia, where the government minister, who actually holds the power, after returning from a meeting at the State Department and with the OAS Secretary General, has suspiciously engaged in bullying and threatening social movements and MAS by revealing that he went to buy arms from the US.
He has been suspiciously intimidating and threatening the social movements and the MAS by revealing that he went to buy arms from the US to “defend democracy at any price” or to say that the government will be handed over to the one who wins the general elections, “except if it’s the MAS,” which is a savage proscription and a pre announcement of a new coup d’état in view of the MAS’ victory at the polls.
Also of concern are the reports from newspapers and agencies known for their seriousness in the informative treatment of plans to unleash violence before, during and after the elections, the authorship of which would be assigned to MAS with the sole purpose of annulling the elections and unleashing a relentless persecution of the popular majority.
The return of democracy is seriously threatened and we are in a position to ensure that any serious acts committed by the police, military or paramilitary forces will be the full responsibility of the de facto government, the OAS and the EU, and the hegemonic media that manipulates and hides the great abuses that are committed.
From the Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity (REDH) we call upon the democratic forces of the world and in particular of Latin America and the Caribbean, to follow daily the events in Bolivia, to denounce the dictatorial intentions of the de facto government and to call for nothing to interrupt Bolivia’s return to democracy, which is the aspiration of the immense majority of Bolivians.
Our America, October 15, 2020
Source: Network in Defense of Humanity