Long live the Bolivian people!
The Latin American Center for Social Studies (CLACSO) condemns the coup d'état against Bolivian President Evo Morales, perpetrated on Sunday, November 10. It represents a significant setback for democracy and the development of Latin American and global peoples. The political actors responsible for this tragedy acted according to a pre-prepared script imbued with racist hatred and religious fundamentalism. The coup plotters mobilized the political right, centered in Santa Cruz, with its gangs that terrorized the population. They succeeded in instigating significant mutinies in several police stations. The triumphant note was the pronouncement by the Bolivian Armed Forces, which failed to protect the constitutional order.
The main actor in this tragedy was the United States. Neither the dominant groups in the United States nor the neo-fascist perpetrators of the coup in Bolivia could tolerate the Bolivian “bad example.” For powerful geopolitical, political-ideological, and civilizational-cultural reasons, they were always conspiring against the government led by Evo Morales and his aptly named Democratic and Cultural Revolution. For them, it was always intolerable that, for the first time in all of Bolivian history, a genuine representative of the social movements and of one of the 36 existing indigenous peoples should occupy the presidency of Bolivia and institutionalize one of the few plurinational states in the world. The racism and religious fundamentalism of the Bolivian ruling classes, the United States, and their allies are key to understanding the coup.
In addition to oil and gas, the United States has a particular interest in Bolivia's lithium deposits, located on the border it shares with Argentina and Chile. In September 2019, Ivanka Trump, daughter of the US president, visited the province of Jujuy, Argentina, with a delegation comprised of high-ranking officials from the Pentagon, the State Department, and USAID. The group toured lithium fields in northern Argentina, bordering Bolivia. Furthermore, during her visit, she dispatched a plane from Jujuy to Santa Cruz, supposedly carrying "assistance" to combat the fires in Bolivia's rainforests. Coincidentally, it was in Santa Cruz, the capital of the department of Santa Cruz, that the fascist backlash against President Evo Morales erupted a month later.
Bolivian workers, miners, coca growers, and indigenous people came to power in 2006 with the election of Evo Morales as president. It was people's power. Last Sunday's coup revealed that power was, in reality, shared. A dual power structure was being exercised in Bolivia. Seen from the outside, days after the events, everything indicates that Evo Morales's government found itself with its hands tied, unable to react to the pressure from business interests, right-wing extremists, and, above all, the military. The people were unable to mount a counteroffensive. The miners—a traditional bastion of Bolivian resistance—spoke out belatedly, but they are already mobilized and resisting the coup, despite the brutal repression that has already claimed numerous victims.
On the international stage, neighboring far-right countries applauded the change of government. Luis Almagro, head of the OAS, played a lamentable role, demonstrating how that organization operates according to the interests of the White House. The biggest beneficiaries will be the North American corporations that will enter Bolivia to seize the lithium mines and plunder its riches. For them, it will be very easy, since Evo Morales organized the exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of Bolivians. Foreign corporations will only have to redirect the profits abroad. The United States has the long arm of the IMF. Another big winner is the São Paulo bourgeoisie in Brazil, which already has many interests in Brazil.
Other neighbors such as Argentina, Chile and Peru, as well as Paraguay, will be able to take advantage of the situation to "fish in troubled waters" and gain political and economic advantages.
During Morales's nearly 14 years in office, there was economic growth and social development. If the coup succeeds, all of that social development will be eliminated. Poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition were eradicated during his three presidential terms. Material wealth increased almost sixfold, with the gross domestic product rising from $5 billion in 2004 to $30 billion in 2019.
Evo said he was resigning to avoid a bloodbath. What did he mean? A massacre against the people, like the one that occurred on Friday, November 15th, in Chapare. More than 20 people have died in less than a week. The Bolivian fundamentalist right wing intends to wipe out the MAS militants and supporters of President Morales. The fascists, led by Camacho, dream of the 'Christianization' of Bolivia and the extermination of the indigenous peoples.
At this time, we must stand in solidarity with the Bolivian people, its workers, and its youth, whose sovereignty has been violated. We support their struggle to regain control of the country. The Bolivian miners, coca growers, and indigenous people will soon return to government to establish people's power.
Long live the Bolivian people!
November 2019
CLACSO Working Group
Studies on the United States
