[News] Decolonization's Rocky Road: Corruption, Expropriation and Justice in Bolivia

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Decolonization's Rocky Road: Corruption, Expropriation and Justice in Bolivia

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20898
March 17, 2009 By Ben Dangl

Over 3,000 Bolivian and Peruvian indigenous 
activists recently marched in El Alto in 
commemoration of the March 13th, 1781 siege of La 
Paz, Bolivia launched from El Alto by indigenous 
rebels Tupac Katari and Bartolina Sisa. The siege 
was against Spanish rule and for indigenous 
liberation in the Andes. At a gathering the night 
before the recent anniversary mobilization, 
Eugene Rojas, the mayor of Achacachi, said, "We, 
the indigenous, organized a siege of La Paz in 
the past, and we will do it again if we need to." 
Rojas alluded to the long-postponed 
decolonization that Katari and Sisa dreamed of 
over two centuries ago. Today, those dreams of 
liberation are at once alive and in jeopardy.

After the nationalist confetti of the January 
25th constitutional referendum blew away, and the 
busted water balloons and foam of Carnival washed 
down the streets with the rain, political 
scandals filled the Bolivian airwaves. Besides 
the challenges of applying the changes in the new 
constitution, recent cases of government 
corruption, shaky relations with Washington and 
political unrest show that the road to the 
December general elections is likely to be a rocky one.

The Corruption Scandal

In late January, Santos Ramirez, a key architect 
and member of the Movement Toward Socialism 
party, (MAS, the political party of indigenous 
president Evo Morales) and director of the YPFB - 
the state oil and gas company - was hauled off to 
jail on corruption charges. Investigations showed 
that Ramirez asked for a bribe in order to 
provide an $86 million contract to 
Argentine-Bolivian Company Catler Uniservice for 
a natural gas plant. The investigations started 
when a manager at Catler was murdered and robbed 
of $450,000 - money that was apparently going to 
Ramirez's aide, according to 
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1248997420090213?sp=true>Reuters. 
Ramirez is now in San Pedro jail in La Paz, the 
same place former Pando governor Leopoldo 
Fernandez is currently held after being 
implicated in a massacre of MAS supporters in Pando in September 2008.

Ramirez's arrest struck a harsh blow to the MAS 
administration which has always pledged to put an 
end to the country's legacy of corruption. The 
difference this time around however, compared to 
what was the norm in previous administrations, is 
that Ramirez actually was actually sent to jail; 
under past governments some of the most corrupt politicians remained free.

After the Ramirez scandal blew up, Morales said, 
"It's been totally proven that foreign agents, 
CIA agents, were infiltrated (in YPFB) ... Maybe 
that's the way the (U.S.) empire has to conspire 
against the policies that we're pushing forward."

Alfredo Rada, the Minister of Government, 
<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRkyzn6OnvLWQkVu79QDCrmt1uUw>accused 
Francisco Martinez, a US diplomat, of being a CIA 
agent and helping to infiltrate the YPFB. 
<http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=88414&sectionid=351020706>Morales 
accused Martinez of "coordinating contacts" with 
a Bolivian police officer that the government 
says infiltrated the YPFB, following orders from 
the CIA. Morales 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200939191319258758.html>explained 
that "deep investigations" had proved Martinez 
was also "in permanent contact with opposition 
groups" in Bolivia. The Bolivian president then 
kicked Martinez out of the country. The expulsion 
of Martinez follows that of former US ambassador 
to Bolivia Philip Goldberg in September of 2008. 
Goldberg was also accused of collaborating with 
the right wing opposition to undermine the 
Morales administration. (See 
<http://www.progressive.org/mag_dangl0208>Undermining Bolivia for more.)

"There is clearly a connection in the activities 
that the former ambassador Philip Goldberg, 
USAID, the DEA and now Martinez have been doing 
here in Bolivia," an anonymous official in 
Bolivia's Government Ministry said to 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031203524_pf.html>Josh 
Partlow of the Washington Post. "These are 
suspicious acts that have nothing to do with 
diplomacy or foreign aid. ... This conduct of 
interference, and it cannot be called anything 
else, is not tolerated here anymore."

"We reject the allegations," the US state 
department said in a statement regarding the 
events. "We can't understand how the president 
can assure us that he wants better relations with 
the United States and at the same time continue 
to make false accusations,'' 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200939191319258758.html>said 
Denise Urs, a US embassy spokeswoman.

In a 
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/14/content_11008988.htm>press 
conference on March 13, Tom Shannon, the US 
assistant state secretary for Latin American 
Affairs, commented on the expulsion of the US 
diplomat from Bolivia. "We need a full diplomatic 
dialogue and a high-quality dialogue... And 
regrettably, up to this point, as we have sought 
to engage the Bolivians around the issues that 
have provoked their own actions, we have yet to 
receive what we would consider to be a coherent or a consistent response."

Meanwhile, the Santos Ramirez corruption case is 
<http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/empresas/2009-03-13/100444_presidente-petrolera-boliviana-acusado-corrupcion.html>far 
from closed. On March 13, Ramirez demanded that 
he be let out of jail because he says no evidence 
has been produced that proves that he harmed the 
Bolivian government with his actions, as the 
supposed irregular contract with Catler has not yet been terminated.

Cárdenas' House Occupied

On March 7, 350 people took over and occupied the 
country home of Victor Hugo Cárdenas. Cárdenas 
was vice president in the Gonzalo Sanchez de 
Lozada administration of 1993-1997 and a harsh 
critic of Bolivia's new constitution. The group 
of angry locals forced Cárdenas' wife and three 
children to leave the house, while reportedly beating them.

Mario Huaypa, a representative of the group that 
occupied the house, told the 
<http://abi.bo/index.php?i=noticias_texto_paleta&j=20090313220322&k=>Agencia 
Bolivian de Información that a general meeting 
was held within the community in which it was 
decided that the house should be expropriated 
because the land it was built on was illegally 
acquired by Cárdenas. The group said they will 
continue the occupation until the official 
Bolivian justice system looks into the case. The 
people who occupied the home introduced the 
supposedly 
<http://www.fmbolivia.com.bo/noticia9590-comunarios-de-sanka-jawira-expropiaran-la-casa-de-cardenas.html>eight 
legitimate owners of the land, who said that the 
land and house should be taken over and converted 
into a retirement home for the area's elderly.

Cárdenas, an Aymara intellectual, governed in the 
1990s with Sanchez de Lozada speaking on behalf 
of the indigenous population and their rights, 
while at the same time pushing through repressive 
and neoliberal policies that led to economic 
depression and state violence against indigenous 
people. To this day, public appearances by 
Cárdenas are regularly met with protests. The 
locals who occupied his house were also 
protesting the fact that Cárdenas campaigned 
against the new constitution. It is rumored that 
Cárdenas will run as a possible presidential 
candidate for the general elections in December.

The occupation of Cárdenas' home has rightly been 
condemned throughout Bolivia, as the act only 
worsens the polarization in the country and 
pushes aside much-needed peaceful dialogue 
between opposing political factions. 
Unfortunately, violence has been even more 
extensively used by the Bolivian right wing since 
Morales took office in 2006. A right wing youth 
group in Santa Cruz has regularly attacked 
indigenous people in that city (see 
<http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/603/1/>The 
Dark Side of Bolivia's Half Moon.) In 2007 alone, 
there were approximately eight political bombings 
in Bolivia, most of which were against leftist 
unions or MAS party officials (see 
<http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40629>String 
of Bomb Attacks Prompts Hunger for Truth.) In 
2008, right wing thugs destroyed various 
government and human rights offices across the 
country, and murdered some 20 pro-MAS farmers in 
the Pando, injuring dozens of others (see 
<http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1478/31/>The 
Machine Gun and The Meeting Table). While the 
violence against Cárdenas' family members and the 
house occupation should be condemned, so should 
the widespread violence unleashed by Bolivia's 
right wing against indigenous and pro-MAS citizens.

Misinformation and Decolonization

In other news, the US State Department recently 
released a 
<http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119149.htm>human 
rights report on Bolivia which did not even 
mention the Santa Cruz Youth Group and similarly 
violent right wing groups, or the repression they 
have let loose on Bolivia's indigenous majority. 
The report does mention the charges against 
former Bolivian president Sanchez de Lozada, but 
does not mention that the country in which this 
criminal is currently enjoying refuge is the same 
one that issued the human rights report. The 
report explains, "On October 17, the attorney 
general's office formally indicted former 
president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and former 
defense minister Sanchez Berzain on criminal 
charges in connection with the deaths of up to 60 
persons in October 2003. In November the 
government submitted a request for Sanchez de 
Lozada's extradition from the country to which he 
fled." (For more on the irony of the US issuing 
such human rights reports, see the recent 
article, 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/11/state-department-human-rights>Who 
is America to judge?)

On the media front, Bolivia has recently 
witnessed the all too common bias and 
misinformation from various US press outlets. A 
<http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/bolivia>recent 
piece in The Atlantic Monthly by Eliza Barclay 
was particularly egregious. The title itself - 
"The Mugabe of the Andes?" - alludes to the 
article's suggestions that most political 
violence in Bolivia comes from Morales and his 
supporters - not a racist right wing. In the 
article, Barclay fails to quote a single MAS 
supporter, or anyone offering a more nuanced view 
of the country's political landscape. She focuses 
on how Morales' "rhetoric studded with racial 
references aimed at his opposition" has created 
divisions in the country, and then goes on to 
mention the September 2008 violence in Pando 
without saying that right wing governor Leopoldo 
Fernandez, not Morales, was behind the massacre. 
She mentions that US ambassador Goldberg was 
expelled, but doesn't say why. Barclay also 
writes that Bolivia's "highland regions remain 
stuck in a poverty trap that Morales has shown 
little flair for unlocking" but fails to mention 
that, as the website 
<http://casa-del-duderino.blogspot.com/2008/11/turning-world-upside-down.html>Abiding 
in Bolivia pointed out, the Bolivian government 
is 
"<http://abi.bo/index.php?i=noticias_texto_paleta&j=20081112175717&l=200708070040_Desde_el_2006_el_pa%C3%ADs_registr%C3%B3_super%C3%A1vit_%28ABI%29.>running 
a surplus and 
<http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-austerity-for-bolivia-2009.html>massively 
expanding its budget and infrastructure spending."

Though the MAS has made plenty of mistakes and 
Morales is far from a perfect president, 
Barclay's article leads the reader to believe 
that the country is brimming with people who hate 
the MAS government. The fact is that Morales, in 
his 2005 election, August 2008 recall referendum 
and recent constitutional vote, received 
significantly more support from the population 
than Barack Obama did in the 2008 US elections. 
Luckily, photographer 
<http://www.evanabramson.com/>Evan Abramson 
offered a much more accurate view of Bolivia in 
<http://podcasts.theatlantic.com/2009/03/evo-morales.php>this 
excellent narrated photo essay, which was posted 
on the Atlantic's website to accompany the 
article. (For more media analysis on coverage of 
Bolivia see <http://www.borev.net/>Borev.net and 
<http://casa-del-duderino.blogspot.com/>Abiding in Bolivia.)

One example of the positive policies of the MAS 
government was demonstrated on March 14, when 
<http://abi.bo/index.php?i=noticias_texto_paleta&j=20090314153402&l=200812270014_El_presidente_Evo_Morales_%28Archivo%29>Morales 
redistributed some 94,000 acres in the eastern 
part of the country to small farmers. The land of 
<http://www.upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1254/1/>US 
rancher Ron Larsen was among the acres 
redistributed. Bolivia's new constitution, which 
limits new land purchase at 12,400 acres, has 
empowered the MAS government's plans for land 
reform. "Private property will always be 
respected but we want people who are not 
interested in equality to change their thinking 
and focus more on country than currency," 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE52D26E20090314>Morales 
said, upon officially redistributing the land. 
Many of the Guarani farmers in the area that 
received the land, including various 
<http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/global/40295747.html>families 
on the Larsen ranch, had been living in 
conditions of slavery. Morales explained that, 
"To own land is to have freedom, and if there is 
land and freedom, there is justice."

While the Atlantic Monthly misled their readers, 
on March 14th, the NY Times did publish an Op-Ed 
by Evo Morales on his demand for decriminalizing 
coca, a 
<http://ain-bolivia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=4&id=13&Itemid=28>leaf 
widely used throughout the Andes for medicinal 
and cultural purposes. At a recent UN meeting in 
Vienna, Morales called for the legalization of 
the coca leaf, and even chewed coca at the 
meeting. Some 48 years ago the UN incorrectly 
classified the coca leaf as a narcotic. In his 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/opinion/14morales.html?_r=1&ref=opinion>NY 
Times piece, Morales writes, "Why is Bolivia so 
concerned with the coca leaf? Because it is an 
important symbol of the history and identity of 
the indigenous cultures of the Andes."

Indeed, symbolism, history and identity have 
taken center stage in today's Bolivia. Just 
recently it was announced that a statue of Che 
Guevara situated at the entrance to the city of 
El Alto will, after outcries and protests from 
numerous residents, be replaced instead with 
statues of Tupac Katari and Bartolina Sisa, as 
these two heroes more accurately represent the 
city's legacy of anti-colonial, indigenous 
rebellion. As Bolivia continues on its rocky road 
to the December general elections, the process of 
decolonization, so often lauded by MAS government 
officials, takes on many forms in this country in 
the midst of historic transitions.

***

Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Bolivia, and 
the Spanish edition of his book 
"<http://www.akpress.org/2007/items/priceoffireakpress>The 
Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements 
in Bolivia," including a new epilogue on current 
events, will be published shortly in Bolivia by 
Plural Editores. Dangl is also the editor of 
UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and 
politics in Latin America, and TowardFreedom.com, 
a progressive perspective on world events. Email: Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com.




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