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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/15/mas-regroups-bolivia-coup-leaders-eating-alive/">https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/15/mas-regroups-bolivia-coup-leaders-eating-alive/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">While Evo’s MAS party regroups,
Bolivia’s coup leaders are eating each other alive</h1>
<font size="+1"><b>Humiliating scandals are destroying
right-wing leader Luis Fernando Camacho and the right is
fracturing as a more militant MAS party readies for an
uphill election battle.</b></font></div>
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<h3>By Wyatt Reed - December 15, 2019<br>
</h3>
<p><span><strong>La Paz, Bolivia</strong> – </span><span>Just
one month after ruling elites and right-wing
politicians seized power in <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/13/bolivian-coup-plotters-school-of-the-americas-fbi-police-programs/">Bolivia
with a military coup</a>, the fragile unity they
briefly enjoyed has erupted into a bitter public feud.</span><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Local analysts had predicted that <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/11/bolivia-coup-fascist-foreign-support-fernando-camacho/">coup
leader Luis Fernando Camacho</a> and businessman
Marco Pumari could unite the right from the country’s
east and west, both indigenous and white or mestizo.
They were seen as an insurmountable dream team. </span></p>
<p><span>That alliance now lies smoldering, with the two
presidential frontrunners openly airing their dirty
laundry amid a vicious power struggle. </span></p>
<p><span>The battle between the two right-wing
heavyweights began when Camacho secretly taped and
leaked a conversation in which he accused Pumari of
soliciting a bribe of $250,000 and control of two
customs checkpoints in return for his spot on the
presidential ticket. Camacho fervently denied leaking
the tape, which has left Pumari’s presidential
aspirations in shambles.</span></p>
<p><span>But just days after right-wing CNN personality
Fernando del Rincón </span><a
href="https://twitter.com/OVargas52/status/1203688688636616704?s=19"><span>shared
a stage and smile with Camacho</span></a><span>,
while accepting an award from his <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/11/bolivia-coup-fascist-foreign-support-fernando-camacho/">far-right
Santa Cruz Civic Committee</a> for his part in
helping “save democracy,” del Rincón dropped a bomb. </span></p>
<p><span>In a live December 13 interview on CNN en
Español, del Rincón confronted Camacho over sending
him the tape.</span></p>
<p><span>A flabbergasted Camacho insisted that the hotel
in which he and Pumari met must have recorded the
audio, because he had actually sent Rincon a </span><i><span>different</span></i><span>
secretly recorded tape of his closest political ally —
an accusation which the Hotel </span><a
href="http://eju.tv/2019/12/en-respuesta-a-camacho-hotel-cortez-aclara-que-no-realiza-grabaciones-de-reuniones-en-sus-instalaciones/"><span>immediately
and flatly denied</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Amazing—watch as a flabbergasted
Camacho is confronted live on air after boldly telling
*the same CNN reporter he leaked the Pumari tape to*
that he didn't know about it</p>
<p>Then he tries to cover by saying he actually sent him
a DIFFERENT secretly-recorded tape of his closest
ally! <a href="https://t.co/fsycKUZ8GT">pic.twitter.com/fsycKUZ8GT</a></p>
<p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a
href="https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1205895600962752512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December
14, 2019</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h3>From right-wing golden boy to “damaged goods”</h3>
<p><span>Luis Fernando Camacho rose to political
prominence months ago, but </span><span>cemented his
status as coup figurehead after he broke into the
Palacio Quemado,</span><span> Bolivia’s presidential
palace, with police assistance. </span>In a bizarre
act of colonialist kabuki theater, he placed a Bolivian
flag and enormous Bible on the floor and declared that
God had returned to the Presidential Palace.</p>
<p><span>Moments later, the pastor by Camacho’s side
promised that “Pachamama will never return to the
palace,” in a reference to the Andean spirit of Mother
Earth. </span></p>
<p><span>As the former leader of the undeniably fascistic
Union Juvenil Crucenista paramilitary and the
separatist Santa Cruz Committee, Camacho has struggled
to shake off a history of white supremacy and
anti-indigenous violence. </span></p>
<p><span>Marco P</span><span>umari, as the leader of the
rightist Potosi Civic Committee, purports to speak for
the “real indigenous people” – in contrast to
supposedly ‘fake indigenous’ President Evo Morales. As
such, Pumari would have offered political cover to
Camacho’s campaign and helped to divert indigenous
voters away from Morales’ leftist party Movement
Toward Socialism (MAS).</span></p>
<p><span>But on December 7 Camacho announced he was
running on his own, leading <a
href="https://www.eldiario.net/movil/?n=40&a=2019&m=12&d=08">Pumari
to lament</a> that </span><span>“without hearing my
position, the decision was made… I was surprised by
the decision of Luis Fernando Camacho.”</span></p>
<p><span>The numerically miniscule Civic Committee of
Potosi, Pumari’s only real constituency, had </span><a
href="https://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/pais/20191207/comcipo-determina-que-pumari-sea-candidato-presidencia"><span>refused
to play ball</span></a><span>. They decided Pumari
would be president or nothing at all. </span></p>
<p><span>In the end, the very real threat that the
far-right civic committee leaders would take the
presidency now appears to have come undone thanks
entirely to their own selfishness. Much like the
right-wing opposition in <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2018/06/19/ned-nicaragua-protests-us-government/">Nicaragua</a>
and <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/06/18/exxon-ambassador-carlos-vecchio-venezuela-coup-lobbyist/">Venezuela</a>,
their failure to capitalize on momentary success
orchestrated by outside imperialist powers and a near
inescapable chorus of complicit media seem to have <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/09/03/the-citgo-conspiracy-opposition-figures-accuse-guaido-officials-of-scam-to-liquidate-venezuelas-most-prized-international-asset/">boiled
down</a> to <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/06/17/from-coup-leaders-to-con-artistry-juan-guaidos-gang-exposed-for-massive-humanitarian-aid-fraud/">pure
self-interest</a>.</span></p>
<p><span>In an attempt to justify this decision, Camacho,
or someone close to him, leaked a recorded
conversation between the two men in which Camacho
accuses Pumari of attempting to solicit a $250,000
bribe in return for his presence on the presidential
ticket. </span></p>
<p><span>Furthermore, the tape revealed that Pumari had
demanded control of a number of Aduanas, the customs
checkpoints which oversee the taxation of all incoming
commercial traffic, in what would have been a highly
lucrative side hustle for the right-wing political
operator. In that recording, Pumari did not deny
soliciting the kickbacks but insisted he had plans to
spend the proceeds on campaign expenses. </span></p>
<p><span>Coup supporters are now taking to social media in
a collective meltdown. They are furious that they are
forced to pick between an increasingly fractured field
of candidates that seems hellbent on splitting,
amoeba-like, from one to two candidates – and soon,
potentially, four.</span></p>
<p><span>In what could be the final nail in the coffin for
Camacho, <a
href="https://www.nodal.am/2019/12/a-un-mes-del-golpe-denuncian-a-luis-camacho-por-violencia-intrafamiliar/">allegations
of domestic abuse</a> by Camacho’s ex-wife leaked
out to the media.</span></p>
<p><span>Adding insult to the serial tax-evading
multimillionaire’s injury, </span><span>Camacho’s
December 12 talk at the US government-funded think
tank the <a
href="https://www.erbol.com.bo/nacional/camacho-es-increpado-en-evento-en-eeuu-en-medio-de-protesta-e-incidentes">Inter-American
Dialogue</a> in Washington, DC descended into utter
chaos</span><span> when a group of Bolivian and US
anti-imperialist activists prevented him from talking
with sustained protests.</span></p>
<p><span> State propaganda outlets in Bolivian attempted
to mitigate the damage by accusing the activists of
being paid $15-an-hour by unspecified sources, citing
US-based pro-coup Bolivia expats and claiming no
Bolivians were part of the protests, despite clear
visual evidence to the contrary. </span></p>
<p><span>But the ruses are wearing thin, even for
erstwhile Camacho supporters. </span></p>
<p><span>“Camacho is damaged goods now, just like Mesa,”
one upper-class coup supporter from Santa Cruz
remarked to me this week outside a ritzy bar in
Cochabamba. He sat in glum silence as his outraged
companion thrust his phone in my face and attempted to
walked me through </span><span><a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/14/golpe-bolivia-cristiano-fascista-millonario-extranjero/">The
Grayzones’s prior coverage</a> of the well-to-do
far-right candidate</span><span>. </span></p>
<p><span>He looked ashen as his friend shook his head and
displayed </span><span>the video of Camacho’s <a
href="https://twitter.com/GrayzoneProject/status/1194137427474038784?s=19">Union
Juventud Cruceñista disciples sieg-heiling</a></span><span>.
“There’s no one we can vote for,” he lamented.</span></p>
<p><span>Within the span of just a week, Camacho and
Pumari have gone from theoretical frontrunners to
national laughingstocks.</span></p>
<p><span>In an attempt to stanch the bleeding, Waldo
Albarracín, the president of the National Committee
for the Defense of Democracy, perhaps the closest
analogue to a civic committee that exists in La Paz, </span><span>referred
to both men as “<a
href="https://www.brujuladigital.net/politica/como-antietica-y-antidemocratica-califico-el-conade-actitud-de-camacho-y-pumari">unethical
and antidemocratic</a>” and urged them to step aside</span><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>The main beneficiary in all this is likely to be
Carlos Mesa, the man best positioned to take advantage
of what’s rapidly become a civil war among the
far-right. </span></p>
<p><span>And a minister recently fired by self-declared
“interim president” <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2cHKyqaRo8">Jeanine
Añez</a> insists she intends to run as well. Alt</span><span>hough
Añes has publicly downplayed the prospect, indicating
in </span><span>a fawning hagiography by state
propaganda outlet <a
href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2019/12/8/jeanine-anez-la-chica-que-no-queria-ser-ama-de-casa-que-llego-la-presidencia-239792.html#!">Pagina
Siete</a></span><span> that doing so would be
“dishonest,” the likelihood seriously increases as the
other far-right presidential hopefuls continue to
destroy one another’s careers.</span></p>
<p><span>Korean-Bolivian evangelical magnate Chi Hyun
Chung, a renowned misogynist and anti-indigenous
bigot, has thrown his hat in the ring as well. Chung
managed to pull 8 percent of the votes in the October
elections, which Evo Morales won handily before his
deposition amid <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/12/latin-america-neoliberalism-ecuador-assange-guillaume-long/">fabricated
charges of electoral fraud</a>. </span></p>
<p><span>But the ranks of Chung’s far-right supporters
have dwindled after he was the only opposition figure
to to accept Evo Morales’ call for dialogue. In fact,
</span><span>now his own Democratic Christian Party <a
href="https://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/pais/20191129/pdc-anuncia-que-chi-hyun-chung-ya-no-sera-su-candidato-proximas-elecciones">refuses
to endorse him</a></span><span>. At best, he can
play a spoiler role, further splitting the right.</span></p>
<h3><strong>MAS re-emerges from the coup more militant and
motivated for victory</strong></h3>
<p><span>In Cochabamba on December 7, thousands of members
of Bolivia’s MAS party descended on the Coliseo de la
Coronilla to determine the future of the left-wing
political powerhouse, which led the impoverished Latin
American country to unprecedented levels of shared
prosperity under the tutelage of President Evo
Morales. </span></p>
<p><span>From exile in Mexico, Morales phoned in to
announce to raucous cheers that he had accepted his
nomination as MAS campaign director for the upcoming
proposed elections. Outside, vendors hawking
indigenous Wiphala flags and DVDs documenting the
recent army massacres in Sacana and Senkata struggled
to be heard above the roar of flyovers by Bolivian
military, who buzzed the massive crowd periodically
with the same aircraft the military used to <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/27/right-wing-coup-bolivia-complete-junta-hunting-dissidents/">unleash
death upon MAS members</a> protesting the coup weeks
ago.</span></p>
<p><span>Despite the aggressive surveillance, the mood
inside was electric. A packed stadium of jubilant
supporters bearing flags representing the party and
the country’s indigenous population cheered as a
succession of leaders from the party, and the social
movements at its core, took to the stage to denounce
the coup-mongers’ attempts to purge its ranks from the
spheres of power in Bolivia. And above all, they urged
unity.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">A packed house at the mass
meeting of the MAS in Cochabamba, where Evo Morales'
party is deciding how to navigate the junta's planned
elections. Morales called in to thank supporters,
urged unity, then MAS frontrunner Andronico Rodriguez
brought the house down w/ a rousing speech <a
href="https://t.co/w5JijkrPMq">pic.twitter.com/w5JijkrPMq</a></p>
<p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a
href="https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1203409899297882112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December
7, 2019</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>In spite of its forced removal from power, MAS is
poised to emerge from the <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/14/oas-us-coup-bolivia-evo-morales/">US-backed
coup</a> with an unprecedented level of
organizational rigor. </span></p>
<p><span>“This moment, that’s so crucial to our homeland,
needs us all united” announced Andronico Rodriguez,
the frontrunner for the MAS presidential nomination.
“There will be another moment soon to deal with our
weaknesses and errors, and of course the traitors and
opportunists we’ve endured this whole time.” </span></p>
<p><span>But with the Añez coup regime having essentially
criminalized basic political organizing, the question
remains: Can the upcoming elections even be trusted,
given the level of political repression leftists
leaders face on a daily basis? Will the elections be
clean?</span></p>
<p><span>“We hope they’ll be clean — that’s what the
people deserve,” former Bolivian Foreign Relations
Minister Fernando Huanacuni told me as the convention
was winding down. “If they [the coup government] talk
about democracy, it has to be a transparent democracy
for everyone.”</span></p>
<p><span>Juanita Ancieta, the MAS party’s national
secretary for international relations, made it clear
that absent protection from the police and military,
members of MAS would find other ways to ensure their
own safety. </span><span>“If something happens, if
someone is threatened, if someone is kidnapped, we’re
going to rise up in defense of that brother or
sister,” she said. </span></p>
<p><span>In regards to whether the elections would be
clean, Ancieta commented: “We’re going to exhort that
the whole world, that the international organizations
participate as observers… We exhort that the United
Nations, immediately proceeds to guarantee
transparency. We agree. The Catholic Church, important
sectors – guarantee transparency.”</span></p>
<p><span>The main legislative vehicle for their attempts
to ensure the Añez regime doesn’t hijack the elections
is a comprehensive bill called the Law of Guarantees.
As Ancieta explained, “it’s already approved by our
Legislative Assembly–by our Chamber of Deputies. And
today this Convention has determined that immediately
the legislation should proceed to the Senate. And
since the self-appointed senator Jeanine [Añez] won’t
want to enact it, ten days later, the President of the
Senate will be obligated to enact it.”</span></p>
<p><span>If nothing else, the leftist movement in Bolivia
has reemerged from the political crisis with a
bolstered and more militant sense of unity. It’s the
one thing they have that the right doesn’t. </span></p>
<p><span>But overcoming a hostile electoral system,
ruthless state security forces, and powerful
international economic interests is a challenge only
an unusually dedicated, disciplined political movement
can overcome.</span></p>
<div itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope=""
itemprop="author">
<p><br>
</p>
<div>
<p>Wyatt Reed is a Virginia-based activist and
journalist who covers climate and racial justice
movements and foreign policy issues. Follow him on
Twitter at @wyattreed13.</p>
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