Statement denouncing the coup d'état and supporting the voices calling for the restoration of constitutional order and democratic processes in Bolivia

In light of the serious events taking place in the sister republic of Bolivia, CLACSO Working Group on Political Philosophy: Thinking about Latin America, Reinventing Utopia, indicates the following:

For several decades, substantial changes have been evident in Latin America, demonstrating the strengthening of the political and social consciousness of its people. During this time, broad sectors of the population have mobilized and won rights for the most vulnerable sectors and for citizens in general. In almost every Latin American country, including those without a clearly progressive orientation, significant and important rights have been achieved; Bolivia is one of the best examples of this. But today we are witnessing the dismantling of a regime that has been considered the one that has brought the most development and progress to its people.

It is clear that the government's mismanagement of the recent general elections has been exploited by far-right groups who, in collusion with the police and the army, have fractured the constitutional order, effectively constituting a coup d'état that some refuse to acknowledge. What has followed are episodes of brutal repression, resulting in the deaths of dozens of people who were protesting against the coup in the cities of El Alto and Cochabamba.

We are facing a government that, in fact, does not recognize constitutional rules or the existence of political parties; proof of this is its repression of thousands of opponents and of the MAS party, which it refuses to recognize as the constitutionally recognized governing party. But not only that, it also attempts to silence the media, encourages the most virulent racism and religious intolerance by trying to impose the Bible in a state that has constitutionally enshrined independence from religion and respect for different religious practices.

As a Political Philosophy Group, we denounce the coup d'état and join the voices calling for the restoration of constitutional order and democratic processes in Bolivia. We call for the upholding and preservation of the banner of the Plurinational State, perhaps the most significant achievement of the diverse Bolivian peoples, and for an end to the violence, torture, and murder. We demand that multilateral organizations monitor these crimes and investigate and subsequently punish those involved.

We call upon the international philosophical community, and intellectuals and academics in general, to exert pressure based on the rights of free inquiry and criticism that can contribute to the restoration of the Bolivian constitutional order.