[rad-green] When the US Supports It, It's Not a Coup

*https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/when-us-supports-it-its-not-coup
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/when-us-supports-it-its-not-coup>Fairness
and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)          November 12, 2019When the US
Supports It, It's Not a CoupThe media message from the Bolivia case is
clear: A coup is not a coup if we like the outcome.by Alan MacLeod*

[image: His policies drew the great ire of the US government, Western
corporations and the corporate press, who function as the ideological shock
troops against leftist governments in Latin America. (Photo:
CBS/Screenshot)]

*His policies drew the great ire of the US government, Western corporations
and the corporate press, who function as the ideological shock troops
against leftist governments in Latin America. (Photo: CBS/Screenshot)*

Army generals appearing on television to demand the resignation and arrest
of an elected civilian head of state seems like a textbook example of a
coup. And yet that is certainly not how corporate media are presenting the
weekend’s events in Bolivia.
[image: NYT: Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down]When the military
forces the elected president to “step down” (New York Times, 11/10/19),
there’s a four-letter word for that.

No establishment outlet framed the action as a coup; instead, President Evo
Morales “resigned” (ABC News, 11/10/19
<https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-bolivias-military-morales-resign-66894544?cid=clicksource_4380645_null_headlines_hed>),
amid widespread “protests” (CBS News, 11/10/19
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ShBju8Ubhc>) from an “infuriated
population” (New York Times, 11/10/19
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/americas/evo-morales-bolivia.html>)
angry at the “election fraud” (Fox News, 11/10/19
<https://www.foxnews.com/world/bolivia-president-evo-morales-resigns-election-fraud-allegations>)
of the “full-blown dictatorship” (Miami Herald, 11/9/19
<https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article237168994.html>).
When the word “coup” is used at all, it comes only as an accusation from
Morales or another official from his government, which corporate media have
been demonizing since his election in 2006 (FAIR.org, 5/6/09
<https://fair.org/uncategorized/press-ignorance-competes-with-distortions-on-bolivia/>
, 8/1/12
<https://fair.org/home/the-threat-again-of-left-wing-latin-american-democracy/>
, 4/11/19
<https://fair.org/home/dictator-media-code-for-government-we-dont-like/>).

The New York Times (11/10/19
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/americas/evo-morales-bolivia.html>)
did not hide its approval at events, presenting Morales as a power-hungry
despot who had finally “lost his grip on power,” claiming he was “besieged
by protests” and “abandoned by allies” like the security services. His
authoritarian tendencies, the news article claimed, “worried critics and
many supporters for years,” and allowed one source to claim that his
overthrow marked “the end of tyranny” for Bolivia. With an apparent nod to
balance, it did note that Morales “admitted no wrongdoing” and claimed he
was a “victim of a coup.” By that point, however, the well had been
thoroughly poisoned.

CNN (11/10/19
<https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/10/americas/bolivia-new-election-audit/index.html>)
dismissed the results of the recent election
<https://fair.org/home/media-conceal-chiles-state-criminality-delegitimize-bolivian-democracy/>,
where Bolivia gave Morales another term in office, as beset with
“accusations of election fraud,” presenting them as a farce where “Morales
declared himself the winner.” Time’s report (11/10/19
<https://time.com/5723562/evo-morales-bolivia-resigns/>) presented the
catalyst for his “resignation” as “protests” and “fraud allegations,”
rather than being forced at gunpoint by the military. Meanwhile, CBS News (
11/10/19 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ShBju8Ubhc>) did not even
include the word “allegations,” its headline reading, “Bolivian President
Evo Morales Resigns After Election Fraud and Protests.”

Delegitimizing foreign elections where the “wrong” person wins, of course,
is a favorite pastime of corporate media (FAIR.org, 5/23/18
<https://fair.org/home/media-delegitimize-venezuelan-elections-amid-complete-unanimity-of-outlook/>).
There is a great deal of uncritical acceptance of the Organization of
American States’ (OAS) opinions on elections, including in coverage of
Bolivia’s October vote (e.g., BBC, 11/10/19
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50365340>; Vox, 11/10/19
<https://www.vox.com/world/2019/11/10/20957613/evo-morales-bolivia-president-resigns-protests-report>
; Voice of America, 11/10/19
<https://www.voanews.com/americas/oas-finds-irregularities-disputed-bolivia-vote-calls-new-elections>),
despite the lack of evidence to back up its assertions. No mainstream
outlet warned its readers that the OAS is a Cold War organization,
explicitly set up to halt the spread of leftist governments. In 1962, for
example, it passed an official resolution
<https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/intam17.asp> claiming that the
Cuban government was “incompatible with the principles and objectives of
the inter-American system.” Furthermore, the organization is bankrolled by
the US government; indeed, in justifying its continued funding, US AID
argued
<https://thegrayzone.com/2018/06/01/oas-anti-venezuela-pro-us-bias-right-wing-hypocrisy/>
that
the OAS is a crucial tool in “promot[ing] US interests in the Western
hemisphere by countering the influence of anti-US countries” like Bolivia.

In contrast, there was no coverage at all in US corporate media of the detailed
new report <http://cepr.net/publications/reports/bolivia-elections-2019-11>
from
the independent Washington-based think tank CEPR, which claimed that the
election results were “consistent” with the win totals announced. There was
also scant mention of the kidnapping
<https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1193730263924256768> and torture
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/11/07/bolivian-opposition-carries-out-racist-misogynist-attacks-against-government-supporters/>
of
elected officials, the ransacking
<https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1193696946961211393> of Morales’
house, the burning of public buildings
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/11/02/bolivian-right-wing-activates-electoral-fraud-contingency-plan-against-morales/>
and
of the indigenous Wiphala flag
<https://twitter.com/The_Red_Nation/status/1193690391372955648>, all of
which were widely shared on social media and would have suggested a very
different interpretation of events.
[image: CEPR: What Happened in Bolivia's 2019 Vote Count?]Corporate media
ignored CEPR’s finding (11/19) that “neither the OAS mission nor any other
party has demonstrated that there were widespread or systematic
irregularities in the elections.”

Words have power. And framing an event is a powerful method of conveying
legitimacy and suggesting action. “Coups,” almost by definition, cannot be
supported, while “protests” generally should be. Chilean President
Sebastian Piñera, a conservative US-backed billionaire, has literally
declared war
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chiles-pinera-to-crack-down-on-vandals-looters-amid-unrest-idUSKBN1XH2BE>
on
over a million people demonstrating against his rule. Corporate media,
however, have framed that uprising not as a protest, but rather a “riot”
(e.g., NBC News, 10/20/19
<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/riots-chile-leave-least-three-dead-state-emergency-declared-n1069111>
; Reuters, 11/9/19
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-pinera/chiles-pinera-acknowledges-abuses-in-handling-of-riots-media-idUSKBN1XJ0C0>
; Toronto Sun, 11/9/19
<https://torontosun.com/news/world/how-a-transit-fare-hike-sparked-protests-and-deadly-riots-in-chile>).
In fact, Reuters (11/8/19
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chiles-pinera-to-crack-down-on-vandals-looters-amid-unrest-idUSKBN1XH2BE>)
described the events as Piñera responding to “vandals” and “looters.” Who
would possibly oppose that?

Morales was the first indigenous president in his majority indigenous
nation—one that has been ruled by a white European elite since the days of
the conquistadors. While in office, his Movement Towards Socialism party
has managed to
<http://cepr.net/press-center/press-releases/new-report-reviews-changes-in-bolivia-s-economy-under-evo-morales-s-presidency>
reduce
poverty by 42% and extreme poverty by 60%, cut unemployment in half and
conduct a number of impressive public works programs. Morales saw himself
as part of a decolonizing wave across Latin America, rejecting
neoliberalism and nationalizing the country’s key resources, spending the
proceeds
<http://www.coha.org/eleven-years-of-the-process-of-change-in-evo-morales-bolivia/>
on
health, education and affordable food for the population.

His policies drew the great ire of the US government, Western corporations
and the corporate press, who function as the ideological shock troops
against leftist governments in Latin America. In the case of Venezuela,
Western journalists unironically call themselves
<https://www.thecanary.co/feature/2019/05/03/corporate-journalists-see-themselves-as-ideological-shock-troops-in-the-war-against-venezuela-says-media-expert-alan-macleod/>
“the
resistance” to the government, and describe it as their No. 1 goal to “get
rid of Maduro,” all the while presenting themselves as neutral and unbiased
actors.

The media message from the Bolivia case is clear: A coup is not a coup if
we like the outcome.
[image: Alan MacLeod] <https://www.commondreams.org/author/alan-macleod>

Alan MacLeod <https://www.commondreams.org/author/alan-macleod> is a member
of the Glasgow University Media Group. He is author of *"Bad News From
Venezuela: 20 Years of Fake News and Misreporting."* His latest book,
*Propaganda
in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent
<https://www.routledge.com/Propaganda-in-the-Information-Age-Still-Manufacturing-Consent-1st-Edition/MacLeod/p/book/9781138366404?>*,
was published by Routledge in May 2019. Follow him on Twitter: @AlanRMacLeod
<https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod>

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