WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN BOLIVIA

Far from the propaganda relayed by the television channels and Western newspapers, we received the testimony of an Argentinean living in Bolivia. He tells us about what has happened in the last few weeks, Morales’ record, but also about his disgust at still hearing the lies of the Western mass media. Nothing new, but a wind of anger is blowing everywhere.

On November 11, at 10:30 p.m., in Buenos Aires, where I have lived for 25 years, I saw what the French channel TV5 Monde was saying about the coup in Bolivia. Horrible. It talked about Evo Morales’ « resignation », it spent brief interviews with demonstrators∙e∙s joyous∙x∙ses because the country was finally « liberated »… It is not really fake news (false information, infox) but a vision completely dominated by a press at the service of neoliberalism, in the hands of the big economic groups, reproduced without analysis or criticism.

For me, Morales should have accepted the result of the 2016 referendum on the issue of re-election (51% against, 49% for). Instead, he went to court and was finally able to run again in the October 20 elections. I don’t know why it seems so difficult for social and political movements in the region to prepare other leaders to take over when the time comes. I believe that Evo Morales has not learned the lessons of Venezuela, where the oligarchic right-wing opposition, after losing many (transparent) elections, ended up sabotaging them, following instructions mainly from the US.

It should also be remembered that Morales would end his current term of office on January 22, 2020, in 2 months. This was too much for the Bolivian opposition, which had nevertheless agreed to participate freely in the October elections, which Morales won. And the problem is that the opposition, from the right, only accepts the results if they win…

Bolivia had always been the poorest country in South America, a country that has experienced more than 180 coups since its « independence », which also demonstrates the role of the military. But since 2006, there has been great stability, economic growth WITH an increase in the welfare of the population. To do this, Morales « nationalized » the exploitation of gas, oil and lithium, without seeing foreign companies flee the country, since they continued to make their money. But they (the « real economic power ») have never forgiven him for having to share, even a little.

Poverty has decreased enormously, schooling has increased, access to drinking water, water, gas, electricity has increased greatly as well, and the middle class has grown and since they think that politics has nothing to do with it, they are now in opposition. As the former Bolivian vice-president, « the intellectual of the left » Alvaro García Linares, said a month ago, the middle class has abandoned the union and has turned to Wahtsapp (Brotes Verdes program, C5N channel, Buenos Aires).

Another thing that must be understood is the deep racism that exists in Bolivia. The province of Santa Cruz, one of the richest, was a refuge for Nazis after World War II, a province in which a kind of apartheid exists. This is where Luis Fernando Camacho comes from. He did not run for office but suddenly became the new leader who fights against the « dictatorship » and for freedom, bible in hand. Like the Venezuelan Guaido, who declares himself president of his country one morning and quickly receives the support of Trump and his henchmen of the subcontinent: Macri, Bolsonaro, Piñera, Lenin Moreno, Duque …, nothing but the beautiful world. And it is also the bible that waved Jeanine Añez yesterday, the provisional Bolivian « president », self-proclaimed by a half empty Parliament. The Bible takes over, the Pachamama (Mother Earth) of the 60% of Indians of Bolivia must be forgotten. Racists have never accepted that an Aymara could be president, that Indian∙ne∙s could enjoy human rights…

The presidents of the right and extreme right, Macri, who has just lost the presidential elections in Argentina, Piñera, who resists changing the Pinochet constitution in force in Chile, Bolsonaro, who came to power in Brazil after a pseudo-legal coup against Dilma Rousseff and the illegal detention of Lula, Moreno, who has just had to backtrack with economic measures dictated by the IMF in Ecuador, did not speak of a « coup d’état », even after a Bolivian general announced that, at the request of the police, the armed forces were going to participate in restoring peace.… and that it will take as long as it takes…

This is really scary…

Jean dw