https://themilitant.com/2019/11/23/bolivia-protests-demand-end-to-rightists-ouster-of-morales-govt/
By Róger Calero
Vol. 83/No. 44
December 2, 2019
Thousands of people are protesting in Bolivia against the wave of
attacks by rightist forces that led to the ouster of President Evo
Morales Nov. 10. Protesters demand that self-proclaimed president
Jeanine Áñez step down and Morales return from exile in Mexico. As of
Nov. 20 more than 25 have been killed by police and army forces in
attacks on Morales’ supporters.
Amid the violence, Morales came under increasing pressure from the
military high command, a mutiny by police units in several regions and a
call from the country’s main labor federation, and resigned.
The U.S. government and other pro-imperialist regimes from Brazil to
Ecuador were quick to recognize Áñez, formerly the second vice president
of the Senate. She announced herself president at a meeting of congress
without a quorum, as the majority of delegates — supporters of Morales —
boycotted.
The rightist protests exploded three weeks earlier following Morales’
disputed victory for a fourth term in the Oct. 20 presidential election.
After losing a February 2016 referendum to amend the constitution to
allow him to run again, Morales got a court to overturn the prohibition.
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, came to office in 2006
with 54 percent of the popular vote, following massive protests that he
helped lead, vowing to reverse centuries of exploitation and
discrimination against the nation’s majority Quechua and Aymara
indigenous population.
Under his tenure Morales and his party, the Movement Towards Socialism,
initiated government welfare and infrastructure programs that improved
conditions for the poorest sections of the working class and small
farmers, won passage of a new constitution that made Bolivia a secular
state with no official religion, and codified indigenous rights.
He developed fraternal relations with Cuba’s revolutionary leadership
and invited over 700 Cuban internationalist health care workers to
provide treatment in the most isolated areas of Bolivia.
At the same time, Morales’ promoted agreements with foreign and domestic
capitalists to exploit the country’s hydrocarbon, mining and
agricultural resources, at times over the objection of his own
supporters who saw this as a violation of the rights of indigenous
communities. But foreign and domestic capitalists alike never ceased
seeing in the Morales government and the aspirations of the popular
forces that supported him a threat to their economic and political
interests.
Following the contested presidential election, Bolivia’s far right, led
by wealthy businessman Luis Fernando Camacho, whipped up accusations of
fraud and calls to annul it. The pro-Washington Organization of American
States — which Morales had invited to review the elections — said the
vote was marked by widespread irregularities.
Violent attacks by rightists
Camacho’s supporters launched violent attacks against Morales’
supporters and members of his government. Patricia Arce, mayor of Vinto,
from Morales’s party was attacked by right-wing thugs who set fire to
the local government office, then cut her hair and paraded her through
town covered in red paint.
While claiming her “only objective” is to hold new elections as soon as
possible, Áñez — often flanked by Camacho — wasted no time in attacking
the rights of working people and indigenous communities. She replaced
the top military brass, cabinet ministers and the heads of state-owned
companies. She granted immunity to police and army from prosecution.
Within hours, cops and soldiers attacked Morales’ supporters trying to
enter Cochabamba, leaving nine dead.
“During 13 years we have lived under what they are calling a
dictatorship,” said Aymara indigenous leader Gonzalo Quenallata, yet “in
full democracy, in less than a week there has been more than 25 killed”
by the new government.
Moves against Cuba, Venezuela
Áñez immediately joined U.S. imperialism’s ongoing drive to isolate the
governments of Cuba and Venezuela. She recognized pro-imperialist
opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuelan president and expelled
Venezuela’s diplomats from Bolivia. Her new foreign minister announced
Bolivia will leave the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America (ALBA). The alliance is a Latin America and Caribbean
alternative to trade pacts and political bodies dominated by Washington
that is led by Cuba and Venezuela.
Right-wing forces in Bolivia were emboldened by the defeat in recent
years of a number of governments that had friendly relations with Cuba,
including in Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and El Salvador. And by
Washington’s moves to step up its economic war against Cuba and attacks
on the Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela.
In a serious provocation Nov. 13 in El Alto, outside La Paz, the Áñez
regime arrested four members of Cuba’s medical brigade. Echoing
Washington’s most extreme anti-Cuba rhetoric, Áñez slandered the
internationalist volunteers, calling them “so-called” doctors and
falsely accusing them of fomenting the protests against her.
Given the threats, the Cuban government decided to withdraw the
volunteer brigade. “We stayed at our posts, supporting the health of our
sister Bolivian people until the last possible moment,” surgeon Nirza
García Valdés told Granma upon her return to Cuba. “No regime, no coup,
can erase the results of what we have accomplished.”
The indignation provoked by Áñez’s power grab sparked broad protests,
including by many who have criticized aspects of Morales’ policies and
actions. Protesters have set up blockades on major highways leading to
La Paz. Unable to bring in food or gas by land, the new regime has been
flying in supplies.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Back CN rail workers, Asarco strikers fights!
•Asarco strikers fight for union, first raise in 10 years
•Bolivia protests demand end to rightists’ ouster of Morales gov’t
•Step up pace to make fall books, fund, Militant drive
•Protests win stay of execution, new hearing for Rodney Reed
•Democrats’ impeachment drive targets working people
•‘For recognition of Israel and of a Palestinian state’
Feature Articles •International conference in Havana says ‘US hands off
Cuba!’
Also In This Issue •Hundreds protest in London, demand ‘No more Grenfells!’
•Bakery owner who won victory against college dies
•Working farmers face bankruptcy, record debt
•Hong Kong workers back students against police attacks
•Contribute to the 2019 Socialist Workers Party fund
•Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Oct. 5 – Dec. 10
(Week 6)
•Socialist Workers Party Fund Drive Oct. 5 – Dec. 10 (Week 6)
Editorials •Support Canadian rail workers strike!
On the Picket Line •Rail workers speak out against job cuts, threats to
safety
•Washington paraeducators gain teachers support, wage raise
•Meatpackers in Quebec strike for higher wages
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ”
― David Hume,