[News] Coup Against Evo Morales Moves Towards Consolidation

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.resumen-english.org/2019/11/coup-against-evo-morales-pulls-off-in-bolivia/ 



  Coup Against Evo Morales Moves Towards Consolidation

By Marco Teruggi, from La Paz on November 14, 2019

“Welcome to a dictatorship,” said a woman while trying to escape tear 
gas bombs, motorcycles, trucks with young people under arrest, and 
military armored vehicles. Events occurred in downtown La Paz, Bolivia’s 
capital city, on Wednesday evening, after Senate chairwoman Adriana 
Salvatierra was repressed and not allowed into Congress while 
self-proclaimed President Jeanine Añez was appointing new military chiefs.

Events are occurring at a startling speed in Bolivia. The bloc heading 
the coup d’état has a series of steps to carry out and they are 
accomplishing them. One of these steps was Añez’s self-proclamation, a 
bible in hand and with the presidential sash bestowed by the Bolivian 
Armed Force. The following step occurred on Wednesday while pretending 
to have a Government, that is to say, beginning to give orders. These 
steps face a paradox because while they are trying to pretend that there 
is a new Administration abiding by the laws, the unconstitutional way 
they are doing it proves the dimension of the coup d’état. It is evident 
not only among analysts, political parties and diplomats but also among 
a part of the population, who see the self-proclamation as something 
impossible to be any way justified democratically.

This conflict was reflected in the uprising in El Alto (Bolivia’s 
second-largest city, located adjacent to La Paz), on Monday, that turned 
into a mass open air town hall on Wednesday in which citizens decided to 
go down together to La Paz. The amount of people mobilizing is 
increasing, as well as their radicalism. The situation in that key 
territory in Bolivia’s history and political dynamics is a 
representation of tensions and unities. On the one hand, mobilizations 
agree on two undisputable aspects: defending the Wiphala flag, abused by 
coup plotters – “this is the Wiphala revolution,” said an Aymara leader 
– and removing Añez, who said the most racust anti-indigenous 
statements, from her illegal presidency.

On the other hand, there is an aspect being debated and that is Evo 
Morales’ return. A sector is chanting for it, demanding it and fighting 
to make it a reality; another sector is claiming they do not belong to 
Morales’ Movement to Socialism (MAS) but that there cannot be 
distinctions among /Masistas/ at least  not in the face of a coup d’état 
that is persecuting, repressing and murdering all of them alike. Events 
seem to be an increasing spiral in which police violence is fueling the 
uprising. Two deaths – possibly three – have been reported in El Alto 
and the repression that extended for hours on Wednesday is increasing 
the already evident separation: El Alto, the Wiphala, indigenous nations 
against the coup d’état headed by those who despise and humiliate them.

Coup leaders are trying to send messages in the face of this clear 
separation, such as placing Wiphalas in military tanks or releasing 
video recordings with messages from Fernando Camacho – main civilian and 
business face of the coup – together with Añez affirming they are united 
and respecting  diversity as the Wiphala. Their messages are not getting 
their desired effect and the process to create a resistance movement is 
progressing. Not only in El Alto but also in rural areas, with local 
demonstrations in roads, cities, and others are moving towards La Paz, 
such as the Aymara /Ponchos Rojos/ militia who arrived in the city last 
Wednesday. Is a siege on La Paz possible? This is one of the greatest 
fears on Thursday. Fear is precisely what moves those who support the 
coup, they are celebrating and organizing themselves in their middle 
class, wealthy blocs to defend themselves from invasions of natives and 
citizens of El Alto. Fear and revenge are the two main driving forces 
for the coup. Ousting Morales had several objectives, among them trying 
to create a country for the ruling classes with a vision of Bolivia 
governed by them and for themselves.

They are moving towards that objective. Last Wednesday night there were 
eleven ministers appointed in the new Cabinet, following repression and 
news about casualties. According to some newspapers, one person died in 
Montero and another in Yapacani, in Santa Cruz province. News about 
repression, persecutions, detentions, gunshots against demonstrators has 
spread in the social media, but impunity seems to have no limits amidst 
speed, censorship, the breach of law, and the lack of government. Who 
was commanding Bolivia’s Armed Forces up to last Wednesday night? Who is 
commanding the right-wing armed groups with lists of /Masista/ people to 
be murdered? The process to consolidate the coup d’etat in Bolivia is 
advancing and it’s backed abroad.

Besides the United States Administration and the Organization of 
American States Secretary Luis Almagro, Añez’s self-proclamation was 
recognized by the Colombian Government and the European Union High 
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica 
Mogherini. The next step for the coup is to move towards the legislative 
body, where the MAS party has majority in the two chambers. Meanwhile, 
the resistance movement is growing with a series of demands, anger, 
power, and uncertainty about their direction and a strategy to face the 
coup.

Source: Pagina 12 
<https://www.pagina12.com.ar/230952-el-golpe-contra-evo-se-consolida-en-bolivia>, 
translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau

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