Against the coup d'état and democratic rupture in Bolivia

The members of the BLAC Network (Brazilian Network of Latin American and Caribbean Researchers), we express our most vehement repudiation of the Coup d'état perpetrated in Bolivia by the Armed Forces and police, which culminated in the resignation of President Evo Morales Ayma and Vice President Álvaro García Linera, on Sunday, November 10, followed by the Chamber presidencies e of the Senate and for leadership in strategic areas of the government team.

If there has been evidence of fraud in the presidential elections in Bolivia by trusted international observers (which we doubt to be the case of the Organization of American States – OAS), new elections should be called, managed by a renewed electoral body.

However, we opted for the institutional rupture and the imposition of a framework of barbarism, through violence against Bolivian cities, the looting and burning of government bodies and residences of parliamentarians and two of the president's own and his family, and, finally, the military ultimatum that he forced Evo Morales resigned.

Still, there are waves of attacks, prisons and acts of vandalism against public patrimony and private property in countless localities, with several deaths and hundreds of injuries still being recorded. Furthermore, the parliamentarians supporting the Morales government, in both legislative houses, are under pressure to also resign.

It is flagrant and execrável the protagonism of the opposition to the Morales government in such a context, supported by an international articulation of capillarized direita in the region, notwithstanding the concordance of this in abiding by the recommendation of the OAS to convene new elections.

The objectives of the coup in Bolívia must be tirelessly denounced, from incitement to social disorder and institutional destabilization to the complete deposition of the Morales government, to the continuous dismantling of the political-economic, social and cultural project proposed by the Plurinational State, conceived in the vanguard of global counter-hegemonic, as it has been widely recognized. It is important to highlight the incontestable economic motivation of the coup, to control two mineral resources in the country, especially lithium.

Commemorated by various episodes of violence against Bolivian citizens and their families, the dinners of destruction and burning of Wiphala broadcast on the internet also brutally symbolize the elitism and racism that motivate the ongoing coup in Bolivia. Since its creation, ten years ago, the flag of the Plurinational State has been condemned by the Bolivian elites, dissatisfied with the empowerment and emancipation of the indigenous population and workers in the country and with the limits of neoliberalism and subimperialism established by the Morales government and its regional alliances in favor of a Alternative and sovereign integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Let us unite with the countless demonstrations from Brazil, other Latin American countries and various parts of the world to reject the terrifying escalation of hatred, persecution and violence unleashed in recent weeks, especially against social and union leaders, indigenous people, militants of the Socialist Movement (MAS), students, professionals. printing, health and humanitarian aid, and international representatives.

We encourage our colleagues from the national and international networks and associations to demonstrate solidarity with firm and courageous popular resistance to the racist and fascist coup underway in Bolívia, led by indigenous people and workers, especially in El Alto and Cochabamba.

We urge our colleagues to defend the immediate return to democracy in Bolívia, through the rescue of institutional channels and dialogue with a view to the realization of democratic elections, guaranteeing the participation of all the social and political sectors of the country and monitoring the process among the most diverse sectors of the international community.

Brazil, November 13, 2019

Prof. Adélia Miglievich-Ribeiro (UFES)
Prof. Bernardo Mançano (UNESP, CLACSO steering committee) Prof. Bernardo Salgado Rodrigues (UFRJ)
Prof. Breno Bringel (UERJ)
Prof. Carlos Alberto Steil (UFRGS)
Prof. Carlos Eduardo Martins (PEPI/UFRJ)
Prof. Cesar Barreira (UFCE)
Prof. Danilla Alencar (UFRN)
Prof. Fabrício Pereira da Silva (UNIRIO)
Prof. Flávia Lessa de Barros (UnB, ALAS steering committee) Prof. Gustavo Lins Ribeiro (UnB)
Prof. Irlys Alencar F. Barreira (UFCE)
Prof. Janssen Felipe Silva (UFPE)
Prof. Joana A Coutinho (UFMA)
Prof. Joanildo Burity (FUNDAJ)
Prof. João Colares da Mota Neto (UEPA)
Prof. José Vicente Tavares (UFRGS)
Prof. Lília Tavolaro (UnB)
Prof. Maíra Baumgarten (UFRGS)
Prof. Marcos Costa Lima (UFPE)
Prof. Mônica Martins (UECE, CLACSO steering committee) Prof. Paulo Henrique Martins (UFPE)
Prof. Raphael Seabra (UnB)
Prof. Renata Peixoto de Oliveira (UNILA)
Prof. Sedi Hirano (USP)
Prof. Vivian Urquidi (USP)
Prof. Wagner Romão (Unicamp)

[+] Latin American and Caribbean Front
in the struggle for democracy and the people