Evo’s “crime”: Bretton Woods bosses were kicked out of Bolivia

morales
Evo Morales Photo: Granma

While Empire-blessed dirty dictators, notorious for murdering and looting, survive, Evo Morales, the socialist leader forced out of presidency by an Empire-engineered coup in Bolivia, had to take political asylum as his physical security was threatened in Bolivia. The Empire-fed bloodhounds are after Evo. Even, he was denied airspace for his safe air transit to Mexico, his place of political asylum.

This people’s fighter, rare today as he was virtually stranded on an aeroplane, is a “hurdle” to the Empire’s “democracy”-design. Why? Evo explained the reasons.

Evo was speaking from Mexico on Wednesday. The exiled President said: Bolivian economy freed itself from the International Monetary Fund, one of the Bretton Woods bosses.

Since the Bolivian economy freed itself from those bosses, the economy was doing better.

He informed: We had big plans for exports.

The Empire likes exports from other lands if the “participation” in the world market helps its interest; and the Empire dislikes an export from other lands if the stride hurts its interest. With Evo’s leadership, Bolivia was striding tenaciously to reap from exports for its people, the commoners, the ignored.

Evo angered the Empire as the former guerrilla fighter was moving ahead with his project to improve lives of the poor, a move exploiters hate, and the Empire is the empire of the exploited.

Therefore, the ill-famed OAS – the Organization of American States – stepped-in in the internal affairs of Bolivia. Without any factual evidence it expressed its hunch – there’s irregularity in the recently concluded presidential election. Its conspiracy was half-complete.

However, the OAS and the empire-paid persons failed to question the elections to the legislative assemblies.

The legislative assemble now questions legality of the coup. It’s a thorn now on the path of the coup-roaders.

The OAS has loved to forget the ballot-paper controversy in the US – the presidential election result decided by judges in the state machine after holes in ballot papers were examined. The holes were named depending on type of hole that included “dimple”. The result was denied to Al Gore, and handed over to a member of the Bush family. Voters’ voice denied, “justice” upheld!

Evo, based on history, has rightly said in Mexico: The OAS is “in the service of the North American empire. The OAS is not at the service of the Latin American peoples and less of its social movements. It is at the service of the US Empire.” He categorically said that the OAS has contributed to this political crisis.

Maduro, the President of Venezuela, on another occasion, identified the OAS as the “US Ministry of Colonies”. The OAS is actually that instrument.

The OAS is nothing but one of many tools to implement the archaic, centuries-old, imperialist doctrine concerning the hemisphere – the Monroe Doctrine – and its corollary. While modifying the doctrine, US president Polk unilaterally announced in 1845: “The people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own fate.” Which continent, Mr. president? There’re two continents; Latin America is not in the continent the US sits on; and opposing European empires doesn’t give any country in the North to claim representation of the people of the two continents – the Americas. In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt, another US President, rightly admitted: the USA was “an international police power” for the American continent. He made the same mistake – considering the two continents as single. However, he said the fact: Police power. In 1912, US Senator Lodge’s resolution in the US Congress extended the said doctrine to non-European powers.

Countries and people paid for the doctrine designed in the face of imperialist rivalry; and now, Bolivia is bleeding with the imperialist right.

Evo said that the OAS position is a political decision as there was no factual evidence of irregularity.

Only days ago, the Washington DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research published a statistical analysis of the vote count of Bolivian presidential election. The analysis shows no signs of fraud or irregularities.

But, the OAS is the judge in Bolivia. Theirs is the “final verdict”.

Evo told about Ms. Jeanine Anez, the rightist-lady usurping the Bolivian presidency. She is a rightist lady, not the symbol of women empowerment. Evo presented his argument: The move for the presidency only confirmed that he was pushed out of office in a coup.

Evo’s position is clear. He is not for violence. The Bolivian leader has called for national dialogue.

Shall the NED and IRI, the now-well-identified imperialist tools for organizing and carrying on low-intensity conflict (LIC) although these orgs identify them as “democracy-development” organizations, issue their sermon on these current “democratic” practices in Bolivia? [Anyone in any country including Bangladesh can and should check funding of these “democracy”-development organizations.]

Evo has identified his “crime”: “It’s a class problem”, he said.

The democracy Evo and the people in Bolivia were struggling for was not for the rich, the aristocracy, the exploiters. That democracy was widening avenues for people’s participation in areas related to their life. That was against the desire and liking of the rich. It’s a class question; not the question of number of businessmen in any parliament as non-businessmen in any parliament tied to exploiting capital also uphold exploiting capital’s interests. Interest doesn’t depend on number of persons or members in any parliament, which is wrongly identified by some quarters in the left camp in countries including Bangladesh.

Evo’s was the way of transparency, an essential element to make democracy work. The exploiters don’t like transparency as transparency exposes their appropriation-loot-theft; transparency helps question those “noble” acts. Transparency is one of many ways to install democracy for the people.

The Bolivian leader said in his Mexico press conference: The coup plotters “do not accept the nationalization of natural resources.”

The coup plotters’ job is to occupy and loot the natural resources. It’s the universal practice of exploiters in all lands. Evo stood against these looters. So, there’s his “crime”. So, overthrow Evo. That’s imperialist argument.

Conspiracies against Evo are not new. There was one helicopter incident – having mechanical fault in the tail rotor – in early-November, which Evo identified as “not accidental”. Latin America is “well-experienced” with such “accidents”. Leaders trying to move away from the Empire’s sphere or opposing the Empire encountered similar “accidents”, and some of them lost life – a lesson for all in all countries in all regions including South Asia angering the Empire.

Evo Morales has expressed his confident hope: We’ll return, with more energy.

The reality supports Evo’s hope: There’s political crisis in Bolivia, there’s political vacuum in Bolivia. The exploiting camp, the Guaido and Bolsonaro of Bolivia, have no clear political program and clearly charted political path. The parliament failed to meet. The person usurping the presidency – Ms. Anez – had to declare herself president as there was no quorum in the parliament. The parliament failed to process legal measures with Evo’s and his comrades’ resignations. These developments still make Evo the President of Bolivia.

Legal hurdles the conspirators are and will be facing are high and hard, thus. Those hurdles are not easy to throw aside. If the exploiting camp smashes those hurdles with gun-power, they will delegitimize them, and expose their master’s – the Empire – and their cohorts’ – the NED and IRI, the LIC organizations, the NGOs funded by the LIC-organizations, and the “great and always correct” MSM. The MSM don’t report these facts and developments – a show of “trust-worthy and dignified” character of the MSM. A quarter have unquestioned trust and respect on the MSM.

The coup-plotters met in a La Paz building, which was once of a bank! Wasn’t that a proper place for them? They were all right wingers. The elected Senators from Evo’s camp were not allowed to enter the building. The Senators had to face police brutality.

Even, Adriana Salvatierra, Senator and First President of the Senate, who under the Constitution is next in presidential succession line, was not allowed to enter the meeting. Rather police assaulted her. Salvatierra said she is willing to install the parliamentary session and assume the presidency of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. But, she was denied.

This shows the coup organizers’ limit of power – conspiratorial, hidden, behind the public eye. Democracy is not developed behind public eye, is not developed with police power. In today’s world, right-wingers are not co-travelers in democracy journey, in no country. Rather, right-wingers in all colors and forms are to be discarded in endeavors for democracy. Countries experiencing the right’s rise support this claim. The right is destroying democracy.

And, there are the people in Bolivia; a major part of the people is now politically mobilized. Coca leaf farmers have declared themselves in mobilization until Evo returns. There are the unions standing for Evo. Peasants, labor and social organizations are demanding cessation of further violation of constitution. They are demanding not to initiate legislative process for approving the unconstitutional move – the coup. The rightists have already violated the constitution.

Argentina’s President-elect Alberto Fernandez has rightly questioned the move as he said: “There was an Army chief who asked for the resignation of a President and a Police that mutinied.” He said that this fact is “called a coup d’état anywhere in the world.”

The NED, the IRI, the OAS don’t see these constitutional violations. These democracy-sepoys don’t hear demands from the grassroots. This is their democracy-design. They can ignore these now. But, the more these information reach audience the more these master-organizations will lose credibility and acceptability.

People’s mobilization makes political conflict direct. The more people mobilized for their cause the more people proceed with their political struggle. Moreover conspiracies by the LIC organizations, mobilization of thugs by these organizations, coercion, force, dynamite used by these thugs, as in the case of Venezuelan embassy in La Paz, have no power to resolve conflict with a politically mobilized people.

This people in Bolivia have already gained experience of being empowered. Many of them have got out of the clutch of poverty by Evo’s economic measures. This people have already gained the sense of dignity.

Therefore, this people’s next move will be bolder than ever. Already, La Paz, the Bolivian capital city, is witnessing protest marches with thousands of people joining the demonstrations. “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” the Bolivian farmers and workers shouted as Bolivian Air Force planes were circling threateningly over the peasants’ and workers’ massive demonstration in La Paz. It’s today’s Bolivia, not the 1967’s-Bolivia, the year the Empire paid-murderers hounded Che’s blood.

Farooque Chowdhury writes from Dhaka.


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