Rejection of the interference of the armed and security forces in the resolution of conflicts in democratic systems  

El CLACSO Working Group on the Political Economy of Information, Communication and Culture We condemn the coup d'état in Bolivia that forced the resignation of President Evo Morales Ayma and Vice President Álvaro García Linera. We reject the interference of the Armed Forces and security forces in the resolution of conflicts in democratic systems.

The violent civic-military and police coup perpetrated against the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the brutality of the security forces against the people who demonstrate and exercise their right to protest in the streets of different Bolivian cities have resulted so far in dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries, mistreatment and outrages of all kinds, expulsion of foreign journalists, media blackout and in general a situation of extreme violation of the human rights of Bolivian citizens.

This coup has been justified with flimsy arguments such as alleged irregularities in the electoral process. The absolute truth value assigned by some to the OAS audit report analyzing the processes related to the presidential election and vote count obscures, conceals, and chooses to forget the power dynamics orchestrated by this organization and the United States government, whose interference in the region has historically sought to impose economic and political models that subjugate our countries. 

At this historical moment, this abrasive geopolitical force has sought to retain spaces of power that challenge the models of a neoliberal and despotic Political Economy of subjects with alternative models of redistribution, good living, vindication of original identities, construction of citizenships based on new agendas and new media that produce socially necessary information for the daily construction of inclusive democracies.

In this understanding, the EPICC Working Group points out the urgency of ending this escalation of violence, restoring constitutional order and allowing the resolution of conflicts through a peaceful means already under the responsibility of the elected constitutional government whose legal mandate was interrupted. 

November 2019
CLACSO Working Group
Political economy of information, communication and culture