Statement in support of the popular victories in Bolivia and Chile

El CLACSO Working Group Critical Studies of Rural Development, expresses its deep joy and recognition to the Bolivian and Chilean peoples, who have recently achieved important victories in the recovery of their sovereignty and in the construction of societal alternatives.

With a resounding victory of 55.11% of the valid votes and a massive turnout of 88.42%, the MAS-IPSP won the presidential and legislative elections decisively and irrefutably. Luis Arce was elected president and David Choquehuanca vice president, and the party secured a majority in both chambers of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. This result reaffirms the electoral victory of 2019 and dismantles the fraud narrative used to justify the coup d'état orchestrated by the bourgeoisie and its political and military representatives, with the approval of the United States.

The Bolivian people, communities, and social movements, in a democratic, organized, and heroic manner, have resisted the onslaught of the de facto government for almost a year and regained political control, which will allow for the expulsion of the fascist and neoliberal forces led by the coup leader Jeanine Añez and prevent them from regaining their political power. This victory rekindles hope and reopens the path to continue the process of transformation that began in 2006 when Evo Morales Ayma won the presidency.

The Chilean people, for their part, have achieved a historic step. With 78,91% of eligible voters participating in the plebiscite, they approved the opening of a new constituent process to replace the constitution imposed by the criminal dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet. With this victory, elections must be held to elect the members of the Constituent Assembly, whose mandate will be to draft the proposed new constitution, which will then be submitted to a popular referendum. We hope that this new constitution will reflect the demands of Chile's defiant peoples and recognize Indigenous territories and autonomy.

This victory of the Chilean people is the result of the great anti-neoliberal mobilizations initiated by their rebellious youth and indigenous peoples, which resulted in a new conjuncture that opens the possibility to bury the remnants of the dictatorship, banish neoliberal policies and initiate changes towards resolving the historical problems faced by the people and the great social majorities who, after the coup against Salvador Allende, were affected by the deepening of dispossession, exploitation, marginalization and criminal repression.

These victories in Bolivia and Chile open new hopes for the historically excluded and oppressed peoples, classes, sectors, and social movements. In this regard, we must intensify our struggles throughout Latin America and strengthen our bonds of solidarity and internationalism, especially against the local and imperial powers that continue their policies of interference, aggression, and blockade against the peoples who have decided to advance in their pursuit of independence and sovereignty. Likewise, it is fundamental to build and strengthen articulated political forces oriented toward achieving dignified, just, and sovereign societies, which simultaneously entails building the Greater Latin American Homeland of the 21st century, Our United America, the dream of the liberators of the Americas at the beginning of the 19th century.

November 2 Monday of 2020
Abya Yala, Planet Earth
CLACSO Working Group
Critical studies of rural development

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Critical studies of rural development  and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.