[rad-green] NACLA Statement on the Coup in Bolivia: In Solidarity with Bolivians Resisting Military Intervention and Right-Wing Violence

*https://nacla.org/news/2019/11/13/nacla-statement-coup-bolivia-solidarity-bolivians-resisting-military-intervention
<https://nacla.org/news/2019/11/13/nacla-statement-coup-bolivia-solidarity-bolivians-resisting-military-intervention>North
American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)           November 13,
2019Editorial Board*

*NACLA Statement on the Coup in Bolivia: In Solidarity with Bolivians
Resisting Military Intervention and Right-Wing Violence*

On the afternoon of November 10, 2019, Bolivian president Evo Morales
announced that he would resign. The resignation came amid ongoing conflict
that arose in the wake of the October 20 elections. Evo Morales had
declared victory in the first round. The opposition—an amalgam of political
forces and positions—argued, albeit with no clear evidence, that the vote
was marred by fraud. Three weeks of intensifying clashes between pro- and
anti-Evo groups ensued, with mutual accusations of culpability for the
violence. An OAS team completed an audit of the vote and announced on
November 10 that there were many irregularities. Nonetheless, no hard
evidence has appeared to sustain the allegations of wholesale fraud.

On the morning of November 10, in the wake of the OAS declaration, Morales
called for new elections. Later that day, with violence intensifying, the
military high command made a statement “suggesting” that Evo should resign.
Some left, Indigenous, and progressive sectors in Bolivia, disillusioned
with the slow erosion of progressive aspirations under Evo, also made
public statements calling on Evo to resign, or to consider doing so. On
November 12, an opposition Senator was unconstitutionally declared
president by a handful of legislators in the absence of a quorum. It is
important to recognize the multiplicity of factors that led to the current
upheaval, including the MAS’ own role and a history of political
miscalculations. However, the unfolding pattern of rightist revanchism, the
role of oligarchic forces and external actors, and the final arbitrating
role played by the military, suggests that we are witnessing a coup.

As a group of left thinkers, educators, journalists, scholars, and
activists we write this letter in solidarity with the Bolivian people. We
call for continued support of progressive social movements and continued
resistance against revanchist violence and state repression. We stand with
the people of Bolivia who remain vigilant against the rise of neo-fascist
political forces and the return of the colonialist, dependent, and racist
political regimes of the past. We reject efforts by the media and the U.S.
government to demonize the MAS. At the same time, we recognize the
limitations of the MAS as a political party, and of the patriarchal and
prebendal political system that it has been unable, or unwilling, to change.

*The return of conservative right-wing forces, fused with anti-Indigenous
evangelical Christian symbolism, threatens to run roughshod over the
legitimate efforts of many Bolivian citizens to pluralize, democratize, and
renovate the party system.*At present, a particularly troubling development
is the threat to the lives of those Bolivians who are resisting the
coup. The return of conservative right-wing forces, fused with
anti-Indigenous evangelical Christian symbolism, threatens to run roughshod
over the legitimate efforts of many Bolivian citizens to pluralize,
democratize, and renovate the party system. The widespread use of arson
attacks—mutually attributed to both sides, though of unclear authorship—has
created an unprecedented atmosphere of fear, terror, and chaos that clearly
plays into the interests of the reactionary elite. The ransacking of Evo
Morales’s house, the burning of Indigenous symbols like the *wiphala*, and
the pervasive racist and dehumanizing language on social media all suggest
tactics aimed at absolutely destroying Evo and the MAS as a viable
political force.

In the face of these challenges, we stand with those movements in Bolivia
that seek to rearticulate a progressive vision of the future. We stand
against the restoration of neoliberalism and the hegemony of the IMF and
the World Bank, especially as the struggle over Bolivia’s gas resources
give way to a new struggle over the future of Bolivia’s lithium. We stand
in support of anti-racist movements that are resisting the racism and
fascism of the Right. We stand with women’s and LGBTQIA+ movements who have
been fighting for sexual liberation, for a woman’s right to choose, against
patriarchal forms of political rule, and for an end to impunity in the face
of rising levels of gender and sexual violence. We stand with Indigenous
movements that seek to restore a vision of true plurinationalism,
self-determination, and territorial autonomy against the unfettered
violence of extractive capital. We stand with workers who seek dignified
employment and state support in the face of precarious labor conditions. We
stand with farmers who are working toward a future not dominated by
agroindustrial capital. We stand with those who are working for a more
egalitarian and ecologically sustainable future.

We write this letter on behalf of NACLA (North American Congress on Latin
America) and are calling on the international community to provide
solidarity and support to the diversity of social movements that exist in
Bolivia in this historic moment. We call upon the international community
to respect the sovereignty of Bolivian social movements.

NACLA was founded in the wake of the 1966 United States invasion of the
Dominican Republic. NACLA offers progressive reporting on Latin America to
U.S.-based audiences and has a long history of resisting U.S. imperialism
in Latin America.

*- NACLA Editorial Board*

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