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<h1 class="reader-title">Media Silent as Bolivia's Coup Gov't
Massacres Indigenous Protesters</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">by Alan Macleod - November
18th, 2019</div>
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<p><span><span>D</span>espite having been in power for
only one week, the new Bolivian coup government of
Jeanine Añez has already turned the powers of
repression onto the population, using live rounds on
demonstrators protesting the forceful removal of
President Evo Morales from power on November 10.
Morales has sought asylum in Mexico. </span></p>
<p><span>The death toll,</span><a
href="https://www.defensoria.gob.bo/contenido/muertos-en-los-conflictos"
target="_blank"> <span>according to</span></a><span>
Bolivia’s national ombudsman, has risen to 23, with
more than one thousand people arrested. That figure
includes the victims of the Cochabamba massacre, where
soldiers and police killed nine indigenous protesters
Friday.</span></p>
<p><span>The full scope of the armed forces has been
unleashed on demonstrators, with security forces using
live ammunition, tanks and even attack helicopters to
destroy resistance to the coup. Much of Bolivia’s
security state, including </span><a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/13/bolivian-coup-plotters-school-of-the-americas-fbi-police-programs/"
target="_blank"><span>many of the leaders of the coup</span></a><span>,
were trained by the FBI and by the notorious School of
the Americas in Fort Benning, GA, a U.S. Army
installation where many of the most brutal death
squads and torturers in Latin American history cut
their teeth. Those skills are now on show in
Cochabamba. “Death squads unleashed in</span> <span>Bolivia:
the coup regime has granted immunity to soldiers who
shoot protesters. In just days they’ve shot hundreds
of people,” </span><a
href="https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/1196172097216757761"
target="_blank"><span>announced</span></a><span> Green
Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein via Twitter.</span></p>
<p><span>Images and video of the deadly events immediately
began circulating on social media. The scenes of
panicked protesters fleeing gunshots or desperately
checking dead or dying bodies shocked many: “We’re
watching the rounding up and killing of indigenous
people in Bolivia in real time by right wing forces
supported by the US. This should be a top story,”</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1195486697095610368"
target="_blank"> <span>said</span></a><span>
journalist Rania Khalek. But the massacre is largely
being downplayed in the mainstream press, who</span><a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/bolivia-latest-successful-us-backed-coup-latin-america/262773/">
<span>overwhelmingly supported</span></a><span> former
President Morales’ ouster, framing events not as a
coup, but as Morales “</span><a
href="https://fair.org/home/the-bolivian-coup-is-not-a-coup-because-us-wanted-it-to-happen/"
target="_blank"><span>resigning</span></a><span>” from
office. When reported on at all, the events are often
euphemistically referred to as a “</span><a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/clashes-break-out-in-bolivia-challenging-interim-government/2019/11/15/50f232fa-080a-11ea-ae28-7d1898012861_story.html"
target="_blank"><span>clash</span></a><span>” between
Morales supporters and government forces, removing all
agency and culpability from their headlines. To date,
no mainstream Western outlet has used the word
“massacre” or similar, in headlines to describe the
events.</span></p>
<p><span>Likewise, the crescendo of violence has elicited
a muted response from the professional human rights
industry. Indeed, as hundreds of casualties were being
taken to hospital, Human Rights Watch Director Ken
Roth all but came out to support the coup, </span><a
href="https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1196318814599884801"
target="_blank"><span>declaring</span></a><span> that
Añez’s coup was actually “defending democracy” against
the “electoral fraud” of Morales. Both </span><a
href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/12/bolivia-prioritize-rights-wake-morales-resignation"
target="_blank"><span>Human Rights Watch</span></a><span>
and </span><a
href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr18/1405/2019/en/"
target="_blank"><span>Amnesty International</span></a><span>
refused to condemn the coup or the repression in their
statements on the violence. </span></p>
<p><span>Hospitals across the country have been inundated
with hundreds of people injured during the crackdown,
a problem made worse by the fact that the new
government has</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1196209891263864832"
target="_blank"> <span>attacked, detained or deported</span></a><span>
hundreds of Cuban medical personnel who constitute the
backbone of Bolivia’s public health services.</span></p>
<h2><span>A License to Kill for Bolivia’s Security
Services</span></h2>
<p><span>Añez ominously</span><a
href="https://www.france24.com/en/20191113-jeanine-anez-stand-in-president-vowing-to-pacify-bolivia"
target="_blank"> <span>announced that</span></a><span>
she is committed to “taking all measures necessary” to
“pacify the country.” This included an official order
pre-exonerating all security services from any crimes
committed during the “re-establishment of order,”
effectively giving the army and the police a license
to kill anyone who resists the new government. </span></p>
<p><span>Añez, a fundamentalist Christian, first arrived
at the Presidential Palace in La Paz November 12
brandishing an oversized, leather-bound Bible,</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/CNNArgentina/status/1194399284210348033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1194399284210348033&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmorningstaronline.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fw%2Fchristian-supremacist-anoints-herself-interim-president-of-bolivia"
target="_blank"> <span>shouting</span></a><span> at
reporters “the Bible is returning” to Bolivia. She has
previously declared the country’s indigenous
population (who make up, by</span><a
href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/bolivia-population/"
target="_blank"> <span>most</span></a><a
href="https://www.indexmundi.com/bolivia/demographics_profile.html"
target="_blank"> <span>counts</span></a><span>,
almost 90% of the population) as “</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1194606470119202817"
target="_blank"><span>satanic</span></a><span>” and
claimed that they should not be allowed to live in
Bolivia’s cities, only in the desert or highlands. </span></p>
<p><span>Morales was the country’s first indigenous ruler
since the Spanish invasion five centuries previously.
Security forces loyal to Añez publicly</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1194025642041458688"
target="_blank"> <span>removed and burned</span></a><span>
the indigenous Wiphala flag patches from their
uniforms, a symbolic gesture showing their commitment
to the re-establishment of a white supremacist state.</span></p>
<p><span>Añez’s party, the Democrat Social Movement, won
4% of the vote in the October elections, making it the
fourth-largest party in the country. In comparison,
Morales received 47%. Nevertheless, the United States
government has lent its full support to Añez, the
White House “</span><a
href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-donald-j-trump-regarding-resignation-bolivian-president-evo-morales/"
target="_blank"><span>applauding</span></a><span>” the
military overthrow. Likewise, media has presented her
positively as a “</span><a
href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/womens-activist-jeanine-anez-takes-the-reins-in-bolivia/news-story/1a19c22fed8cc62aac5e43384fd447c3?nk=ec7a348e8699940049373156f24d5a78-1573657023"
target="_blank"><span>women’s activist</span></a><span>”
“</span><a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/world/americas/bolivia-anez-morales.html"
target="_blank"><span>setting a conservative,
religious tone</span></a><span>”.</span></p>
<p><span>Her colleagues in government share similar
far-right backgrounds. Coup leader Luis Fernando
Camacho is part of a</span><a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/11/bolivia-coup-fascist-foreign-support-fernando-camacho/"
target="_blank"> <span>Neo-Nazi paramilitary group</span></a><span>
that wears the Iron Cross and other fascist regalia
and practices the Roman (Sieg Heil) salute.</span></p>
<h2><span>A War on the Media</span></h2>
<p><span>However, Bolivia’s indigenous population is not
the only target of police and military repression;
multiple journalists covering the protests have also
been shot. Meanwhile, </span><i><span>Al-Jazeera</span></i><span>
correspondent Teresa Bo was</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/malonebarry/status/1195513931881680901"
target="_blank"> <span>tear-gassed in the face</span></a><span>
live on air at point-blank range by riot police, as
she stood alone, away from the protests, talking to
camera. The new government forced Bolivia TV off the
air, while one TeleSUR journalist in Bolivia</span><a
href="https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1195004148049207300"
target="_blank"> <span>found</span></a><span> that
virtually every channel was dedicated to Añez. Her new
Communications Minister, Roxanna Lizárrage</span><a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/world/americas/bolivia-anez-morales.html"
target="_blank"> <span>announced</span></a><span>
that she intends to persecute journalists involved in
what she called “sedition”, adding that she already
has compiled a list of “troublesome members of the
media.”</span></p>
<p><span>Organized resistance, from indigenous groups,
trade unions and Morales’ Movement to Socialism party
appears to be growing. However, the new government has
made it absolutely clear that it intends to stay in
power by any means necessary. The following few days
will decide what direction Bolivia will take.</span></p>
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