Total condemnation of the criminal coup in Bolivia!
Faced with the advance of the coup d'état in Bolivia, which ten days later has left more than 50 dead, hundreds wounded and more than a thousand detained, the CLACSO Working Group, Crisis and World Economy, repudiates the repression and the violation of the constitution of Bolivia.
The coup in the name of racism and Pentecostal fundamentalism, led by police, military and the old oligarchy and instigated by Yankee imperialism, demonstrates that the egg of the fascist serpent remains nested in the sewers and emerges violently, by all means, to stop the advance of the popular struggle and, in particular, in Bolivia, against the native peoples.
In the face of the economic and social progress achieved by the democratic, popular, and anti-imperialist government of President Evo Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera, stemming from the restoration of indigenous dignity through the constitutional recognition of the country's plurinational identity, the old de facto powers orchestrated a coup to reverse the recovery of strategic natural resources for the nation (gas and lithium). It is worth recalling that the Evo Morales government nationalized gas, water, electricity production, and mining, which enabled the country's unprecedented economic growth, far exceeding the regional average.
Bolivian territory is home to one of the largest reserves of Lithium, a mineral used to manufacture batteries for cell phones, electric cars, drones and other electrical devices.
The Morales government recently signed a multi-million dollar agreement with China to exploit lithium and launched a Bolivian-made electric car, the "Quantum." This has put US and Canadian mining companies, which are also vying to exploit the lithium deposit, on alert.
US imperialism is attempting to regain control of Latin America's "natural resources"—that is, the plundering of our common goods—within the context of the trade war with China and the global capitalist economic crisis that has been ongoing since 2008. In this geopolitical dispute, Trump is increasing the Pentagon's presence in the region and strengthening ties with local armed forces to enforce the economic interests of multinational corporations in our countries.
We also denounce and reject the servility of Luis Almagro, president of the OAS, that old colonial ministry of Yankee imperialism, who fails to condemn the coup and the repression in Bolivia, and who has not only violated the sovereignty of our peoples, Venezuela first and foremost; he has attempted to invoke the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) to militarily invade Venezuela, and has recognized the self-proclaimed presidents, the illegitimate ones, yesterday in Venezuela and today in Bolivia. We demand his resignation.
We stand in solidarity with the Bolivian people in resistance and with the struggle of our brothers in Haiti, Chile and Ecuador.
We call on everyone to increase solidarity with the struggle and resistance of the peoples of Bolivia and Our America.
Total condemnation of the criminal coup!
Long live the popular struggles of Our America!
November 2019
Statement from the CLACSO Working Group
Crisis and the global economy
