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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.resumen-english.org/2019/11/coup-against-evo-morales-pulls-off-in-bolivia/">https://www.resumen-english.org/2019/11/coup-against-evo-morales-pulls-off-in-bolivia/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Coup Against Evo Morales Moves Towards
Consolidation</h1>
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By Marco Teruggi, from La Paz on November 14, 2019
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<p>“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. <span
id="more-11157"></span>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <em>Masistas</em> 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.</p>
<p>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 <em>Ponchos Rojos</em>
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.</p>
<p>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 <em>Masista</em>
people to be murdered? The process to
consolidate the coup d’etat in Bolivia is
advancing and it’s backed abroad.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Source: <a
href="https://www.pagina12.com.ar/230952-el-golpe-contra-evo-se-consolida-en-bolivia">Pagina
12</a>, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano,
North America bureau</p>
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