The Sunday military coup in Bolivia has put in place a government which appears likely to reverse a decision by just-resigned President Evo Morales to cancel an agreement with a German company for developing lithium deposits in the Latin American country for batteries like those in electric cars.

“Bolivia’s lithium belongs to the Bolivian people,” tweeted Washington Monthly contributor David Atkins. “Not to multinational corporate cabals.”

The coup, which on Sunday resulted in Morales resigning and going into hiding, was the result of days of protests from right-wing elements angry at the leftist Morales government. Sen. Jeanine Añez, of the center-right party Democratic Unity, is currently the interim president in the unstable post-coup government in advance of elections.

Investment analyst publisher Argus urged investors to keep an eye on the developing situation and noted that gas and oil production from foreign companies in Bolivia had remained steady.

The Morales move on Nov. 4 to cancel the December 2018 agreement with Germany’s ACI Systems Alemania (ACISA) came after weeks of protests from residents of the Potosí area. The region has 50% to 70% of the world’s lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats.

Among other clients, ACISA provides batteries to Tesla; Tesla’s stock rose Monday after the weekend.

As Bloomberg News noted in 2018, that has set the country up to be incredibly important in the next decade:

Demand for lithium is expected to more than double by 2025. The soft, light mineral is mined mainly in Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Bolivia has plenty—9 million tons that have never been mined commercially, the second-largest amount in the world—but until now there’s been no practical way to mine and sell it.

Morales’ cancellation of the ACISA deal opened the door to either a renegotiation of the agreement with terms delivering more of the profits to the area’s population or the outright nationalization of the Bolivian lithium extraction industry.

As Telesur reported in June, the Morales government announced at the time it was “determined to industrialize Bolivia and has invested huge amounts to ensure that lithium is processed within the country to export it only in value-added form, such as in batteries.”

It’s unclear what the next steps are for the industry in a post-coup Bolivia, according to global intelligence analysis firm Stratfor:

In the longer term, continued political uncertainty will make it more difficult for Bolivia to increase its production of strategic metals like lithium or develop a value-added sector in the battery market. The poor investment climate comes at a time of expanding global opportunities in lithium-ion battery production to meet rising demand from electric vehicle manufacturing.

ACISA told German broadcaster DW last week that the company was “confident that our lithium project will be resumed after a phase of political calmness and clarification.”

On Sunday, Morales resigned.

Source: Common Dreams

Statement by the Political Committee of the Movimiento Al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism) of Bolivia

Resist today to fight again tomorrow

Today, November 10, Bolivia’s humble citizens, its workers, the Aymara and Quechua peoples, we begin the long road of resistance to defend the historical achievements of the first indigenous government that ended today with the forced resignation of our president Evo Morales at the hands of a civilian-police coup.

Let history bear witness to our commitment to defend the nationalizations and industrialization program, our public companies, and our social policies and national symbols.

Today the right and the coup plotters seized the Wiphala (our indigenous banner and the dual of the Bolivian nation), and with it, they tore down our dignity as indigenous peoples. We will not kneel, we will defend our constitutional symbols.

Over the coming days, the hunting down of our comrades will continue. Our responsibility is to safeguard one another like a family, to rebuild the social fabric, to care for and protect our persecuted leaders. Today is the moment of solidarity, tomorrow will be the time for reorganization and to the step forward in the struggle that will not end with these sad events.

Our slogan is to resist today to fight again tomorrow. Our actions will defend the achievements of the greatest government in the history of Bolivia.

Our country or death!!!

The MAS makes history, the right is disgrace!!!

November 10, 2019

Bolivia

Originally published in Spanish at Rebelión.org

MAS is the political party that supports ousted president Evo Morales.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, center, speaks during a press conference at the military base in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. Hours later Morales announced his resignation under mounting pressure from the military and the public after his re-election victory triggered weeks of fraud allegations and deadly protests. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Amidst a right wing coup, Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to resign Sunday. Evo’s forced exit from the Bolivian presidency was a right wing coup by army and police chieftains with imperialist backing.

Prior to the putsch, imperialism-backed rightists organized unrest, violence and arson including setting fire to residences of two governors’ and of Evo’s sister.

The rightists organized the widespread violence against Evo’s October 20 elections victory since the election.

Two officials next in line to take over the helm of the government also resigned as Bolivia is in turmoil.

“I resign from my position as president so that Mesa and Camacho do not continue to persecute socialist leaders,” Evo said during a televised address naming the rightist ringleaders.

The struggle continues, we’ll come back

Evo Morales stressed that his resignation does not mean that the socialist case is defeated.

“It is no betrayal. The struggle continues. We are a people,” said Evo.

“We will come back and we will be millions as Tupac Amaru II said,” Evo declared.

The Bolivian leader said that he decided to leave the post in hopes that his departure would stop the spate of violent attacks against officials and indigenous people, “so that they [the rightists] do not continue burning the houses [of public officials]” and “kidnapping and mistreating” families of indigenous leaders.

“It is my obligation, as the first indigenous president and president of all Bolivians, to seek this pacification,” he said.

Evo said that he hopes opposition would “understand the message.”

Evo urged protesters to “stop attacking the brothers and sisters, stop burning and attacking.”

Shortly after the announcement, his Vice-President Alvaro Marcelo Garcia Linera also submitted his resignation.

The two leaders said that they would be handing their resignation letters to the country’s National Assembly.

The next person in line to take over the government, the president of the Senate Adriana Salvatierra, resigned soon after. But she also later issued her resignation as well as the president of the Chamber of Deputies.

Jeanine, a lawmaker, assumes presidency

Jeanine Anez, a rightist opposition lawmaker from the Democratic Union party, has stated she will assume Interim Presidency.

Anez assured she will call for new elections.

As the second deputy senate majority leader, the Senator is the first official in line for succession after Vice President, Senate Majority Leader and First Deputy Majority Leader resigned following Evo Morales’ decision.

Earlier on Sunday Evo announced snap elections, giving in to the mounting rightist pressure over the disputed results of the October 20 polls.

The decision followed the release of a preliminary report from the Washington-backed Organization of American States (OAS) mission on the elections, that was unable to validate them, saying it is “statistically unlikely” that Morales secured a 10-percent lead, the constitutional requirement to avoid a runoff vote.

Bolivian rightist opposition urged Morales to resign altogether despite his promise of the new elections. Evo he briefly resisted such calls, branding them “unconstitutional” and an “attempted coup,” the President eventually gave in after the military joined that reactionary choir.

Shortly before Evo announced his resignation, Bolivian TV channels aired footage of what they say was a presidential plane departing from El Alto International airport.

It was reported that the plane took Evo to his political stronghold of Chimore in the Department of Cochabamba, 300 kilometers east of La Paz, a city where he launched his reelection bid back in May.

Evo and Garcia Linera will stay in Chimore in the central Department of Cochabamba to work with the people.

However, citing opposition source, a report said:

Police and military have been on the lookout for Evo.

Morales dubbed the arrest warrant “illegal” while police chief denied its existence altogether.

Earlier, Bolivian rightist protest leader Luis Fernando Camacho has said that an outstanding warrant exists for the socialist leader’s arrest.

Supreme Electoral Tribunal President Maria Eugenia Choque Quispe was arrested on November 10 after the resignation of President Evo Morales.

The Attorney General’s office has issued arrest warrants for all leaders of the electoral tribunal and members of the body.

Assault on Evo’s home

“I denounce in front of the world and the Bolivian people that a police official publicly announced that he has instructed to execute an illegal arrest warrant against me; in addition, violent groups assaulted my home. The coup destroys the rule of law,” Evo stated on Twitter.

Global solidarity against coup

Solidarity across the globe continues for Evo and his government.

World leaders and organizations expressed Sunday their solidarity with former Bolivian President Evo Morales under the hashtag #ElMundoconEvo (the World with Evo) and strongly condemned the right-wing coup, which forced Evo to resign.

The Cuban and Venezuelan leaders have voiced their support for Evo. They condemned the incident as a “coup”.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel described it as a “violent and cowardly” attempt against democracy.

Miguel Diaz-Canel urged for “the world to mobilize for the life and freedom of Evo.”

“A coup d’état is underway against the legitimate President of Bolivia, @evoespueblo,” Diaz-Canel said in a tweet. “The right-wing opposition refuses to recognize their defeat at the polls and resorts to violence against the constitutional order. We strongly denounce this coup attempt!”

The messages of solidarity came just hours before Bolivian President Evo Morales said Sunday that he was calling new presidential election.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro tweeted: “We categorically condemn the coup realized against our brother president.”

Maduro added “the social and political movements of the world declare mobilization to demand the preservation of the life of the Bolivian Indigenous people victims of racism.”

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador praised Evo Morales’ decision to put the people first over his mandate.

Argentinean President-elect Alberto Fernandez says “institutional breakdown in Bolivia is unacceptable.” “My full support to the president @evoespueblo in the face of this attempt to interrupt the constitutional order,” Alberto Fernandez said in a tweet Saturday night. “The region together with the international community, we must follow this situation closely and act in case of any event that implies an institutional breakdown.”

The ALBA-TCP countries also issued a statement expressing support for the Bolivian government and institutions and denouncing the coup d’état in progress, while called for the return to peace.

Former President of the National Assembly and current Minister of Health Gabriela Montaño denounces that police are “illegally intending to arrest Evo Morales. We denounce this madness to the world.”

“I just heard that there was a coup d’état in Bolivia and that comrade Evo was forced to resign. It is unfortunate that Latin America has an economic elite that does not know how to live with democracy and the social inclusion of the poorest,” former Brazilian President and Leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

“To see Evo who, along with a powerful movement, has brought so much social progress forced from office by the military is appalling. I condemn this coup against the Bolivian people and stand with them for democracy, social justice, and independence,” tweeted British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Sunday.

Dictatorship, never again

Social movements and organizations also shared their messages of support and condemnation to the internationally repudiated coup in Bolivia.

Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement, the world’s biggest landless peasants’ organization, strongly demanded “dictatorship, never again”, as the organization called for the people to decide Bolivia’s future.

The Argentinean human rights movement Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo sided with Evo and his former vice president.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Bolivia in these hours of suffering and demand the continuity of the transparent and unrestricted electoral process,” the progressive Group of Puebla issued a statement adding that they “demand that the International Human Rights Bodies guarantee the clarification of the acts of violence committed, the trial and punishment of those responsible, and the restoration of order, peace, social life, and democracy in Bolivia.”

Mexico receives 20 Bolivian officials

Mexico’s Minister of Foreign Affairs @m_ebrard confirms that they have received 20 officials from the Bolivian executive and legislature in the Mexican diplomatic residence in La Paz, while also offering asylum to Evo Morales if needed.

Rightists cheer

Videos from La Paz, the site of many recent anti-Evo Morales protests, showed rightist violent mob was cheering after the resignation announcement.

The lumpen and rich appearing rightist mob took to the streets to celebrate, chanting, “Yes we could”. They set off firecrackers in jubilation.

Ruling Bolivia since 2006, Morales has gained a reputation as a staunch defender of socialism, rights of the exploited. He is an ardent critic of U.S. imperialist foreign policy. Evo was one of the closest allies of Cuba and Venenzuela.

The country’s highest court ruled in 2018 that he could run for the fourth time. With Evo at the helm, the country, one of the poorest in the region but rich with resources, made exemplary progress in the areas of health, education and health. Bolivia under Evo’s leadership was making headways in many significant and big development projects, which would have improved life of the poor.

After the contested October elections, there were rival rallies of Morales’ opponents and supporters throughout the country.

While some anti-government protests have remained peaceful, others have led to rioting in major cities, clashes with police, and attacks on pro-government politicians.

Saturday saw some of the most violent nights in the country as opposition protesters burned down the houses of two governors as well as the house of Evo’s sister.

Violent protesters also took over two state media outlets and threatening their staff. The signal of Bolivia TV was cut down off air for more than eight hours.

Protesters burned the house of Oruro city governor Victor Hugo Vasquez, who stood by the president as tensions flared up.

Violent mobs harassed authorities in several cities. Police joined the demonstrators in some cities, marching in their uniforms.

Along with strong violent onslaughts against activists and leaders of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), the rightists intimidated journalists.

There was betrayal of political allies also. Several political allies of Evo resigned, some citing fears for the safety of their families.

Military chief’s call

An earlier report said:

Bolivia’s military urged President Evo Morales to resign stating that it would help to preserve “peace” in the country.

The military’s call came after Morales agreed to hold new elections.

“After analyzing the internal conflict situation, we ask the President of the State to renounce his presidential mandate, allowing for peace to be restored and the maintenance of stability for the good of Bolivia,” said the commander of Bolivia’s armed forces Williams Kaliman.

Shortly before Kaliman’s statement, Bolivia’s military said it had ordered air and land operations to “neutralize” unspecified armed groups that act outside the laws of the country.

It remains unclear what groups exactly the military plans to target.

The head of Bolivia’s Air Force has also suggested that President Evo Morales resign.

The Bolivian Police also demanded resignation of Evo Morales.

OAS 

On Sunday, the OAS mission, probing the election said it was unable to validate its results and urged Bolivia to hold new ones.

The opposition was insisting that the president should resign before his mandate runs out in January, which he called a “coup attempt.”

Preserve peace

Earlier, in an interview with teleSUR’s correspondent in Bolivia Freddy Morales, the former president said the decision to call new elections was to preserve the peace in Bolivia “so that we do not confront the Bolivian family,” while calling on the opposition protesters to end the strikes and remove roadblocks in order to not harm the economy of the country.

Opposition reaction

The rightist opposition leader Carlos Mesa, who came second in last month’s poll, thanked violent mob for “the heroism of peaceful resistance.”

In a tweet, he described the development as “the end of tyranny” and a “historical lesson”.

An NED operation

Citing a release of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the U.S arm for imposing its brand of political system, a teleSUR analysis said on April 4, 2019: The CIA’s influence in Latin America is not a “leftist rant”, it is ever-present and ignoring it represents a real menace for national sovereignty and the continuity of progressive governments in the region. In 2018, one of its offshoots, the NED channeled over US$23 million to meddle in the internal affairs of key Latin American countries, under the flagship of “human rights”, “democracy” and “entrepreneurship.”

Fascist action against a socialist mayor

A fascist mob led by the right-wing opposition Wednesday set fire to the Vinto Town Hall and dragged socialist mayor Patricia Arce down the street, where they humiliated her physically and verbally.

The MAS politician was still inside the town hall when the mob set it on fire.

Once she was taken to the street, the rightwing activists forced her to walk barefoot as they kept shouting slogans alluding to her status as a woman and member of the party of President Evo.

During some stretches of an improvised political “parade”, she was beaten and pushed to the ground. The mob also threw dirt on her.

“If you want to kill me, kill me,” Mayor Arce said before the cameras and added, “I am not afraid, I am in a free country.”

After walking several kilometers surrounded by the blood-smelling fascist who did not stop humiliating her, the socialist mayor was rescued by police officers.

Source: Countercurrents

These are days and hours of the coup offensive in Bolivia. The attempt to overthrow President Evo Morales is gaining strength, territory and its capacity for action. Like an announced bullet that arrives from the front and has a date: before next Tuesday.

That day the country will know the result of the audit in which the Organization of American States (OAS) is participating to see if there has been fraud in the October 20 elections that gave Morales victory in the first round. Those who are in the leadership want an outcome before that day and they believe they can achieve it.

They have several elements in their favor. In the first place, a mobilized social base with a perception of triumph, heterogeneous, that gathers accumulated discontents within the emergence of exclusive racist discourses and acts of the conservative/colonial country. That base has strength in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Potosí, and in La Paz; the final objective of the assault.

Secondly, these groups of confrontation have accumulated strength from the east to La Paz. Their displacement followed the direction of the coup’s strength in Santa Cruz that is acting as a strategic rearguard in the center of the country. It is the area where they carried out the most violent attacks, and La Paz is a point of definition of power.

These groups are in the process of mobilizing towards La Paz, where some have already carried out exercises of siege on the government palace in previous nights. One of the objectives of the offensive is to have managed to gather all the formations of opposition and to reinforce the mobilization with sectors coming from different points of the country to La Paz.

Thirdly, the leadership of Fernando Camacho, who went from heading the Santa Cruz Civic Committee to setting up his base of operations in La Paz and projecting an image of national leadership. His discourse seeks to distance himself from all acts of racism, separatism and coup d’état, in an attempt to shift the accusations and to bring in other sectors of society.

The expansion of these three factors seeks to unleash, through an escalating offensive, the rupture of three others. The first point to be achieved, and which has been achieved in part, is the Bolivian National Police. The images of riots on Friday night and Saturday morning showed how a sector of the police have been influenced and added to the coup process.

Secondly, the Bolivian Armed Force, a central element for a coup d’état to be successful, until noon Saturday has shown no public sign of a possible internal breakdown.

Thirdly, popular sectors, for the moment, are not playing a part in the mobilization in favor of the dismissal of Evo Morales, but some groups like the Association of Coca Producers of the Yungas, or mining sectors that have been present.

The calculation of this set of factors, articulated among themselves brought together  with the greatest force, has constructed a scenario in which the coup leader are demanding that the departure of Evo Morales is the only possible solution and that this will take place in a matter of hours or days.

Within this leadership, Carlos Mesa, who came in second on October 20, has been able to align himself with the narrative of those who are giving the ultimatum, but in a lesser capacity, but while leaving room for maneuvers in case of the defeat of the coup attempt.

The objective of the government, both of the presidency and of the social movements, seems to be to contain the escalation of the coup until the result of the audit. Within this framework, mobilizations have taken place almost daily, led by different organizations, such as the Bolivian Union of Workers, and the Bartolina Sisa Women’s Confederation.

The president’s call has been to defend the results of the election, the process of change, democracy, without opening the doors to the scenario of confrontation that seeks to generate the right, which means, as Evo has rejected, that they want to generate wounded, dead, through increasing acute violence.

This is a complex and increasingly unstable scenario. The outcome of the audit could lead to different conclusions. One of them could be the recognition that there has been no fraud, but that a second round would be necessary, something that the OAS has already announced would be the case after the first round.

The United States, which made clear from the outset that the result of October 20 had not been valid, has claimed that the path of the audit arbitrated by the OAS should be followed, that is, to a large extent, determining the outcome by themselves.

The government has stated that the outcome of the audit will be binding and that it would be willing to call for a second round if that emerges as a result. In that case there could be a division within the opposition between those who would be willing to go to that to that election contest and those who would not. Would Carlos Mesa accept and retreat from the coup discourse?

There are still many hours and days until Tuesday within this offensive framework that is accumulating strength and capacity for destabilization. The government, the process of change, still has cards to play in order to contain and de-escalate the situation.

Source:  Resumen

Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was released Friday, Nov. 8, after being held for 580 days at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, southern Brazil.

Lula was greeted by a massive crowd of supporters waiting for him outside the building where he was incarcerated.

The court order to free the left-wing leader came after the ex-president’s lawyers filed a petition this morning, following a Supreme Court ruling last night, when the top court declared that a person convicted in a case can only be imprisoned after all possibilities of appeal are exhausted.

Lula will visit the Free Lula Vigil, a camp set up outside the Federal Police building where he was incarcerated, where activists and supporters have been denouncing, since April last year, the political motivations behind his conviction. Later, Lula will fly to São Bernardo do Campo, where he lives.

Throughout his time in prison, the ex-president frequently said the first thing he would do when he was released is visit the Free Lula camp. Every day for the past 580, the participants of the Free Lula camp shout good-morning, good-afternoon, and good-evening to the Workers’ Party leader, who heard his supporters from his cell and said the greetings helped to keep his spirit high.

By law, Lula could already enjoy semi-open prison conditions, but he had denied the modification of his sentence because he believes that it would damage his dignity. “I want you to know that I do not accept bargaining of my rights or my liberty,” the former president said.

::Exclusive | Lula: “We have to recover the Brazilian people’s rebellious spirit”::

Now the ex-president’s defense team will file a petition for the Supreme Court to rule on the habeas corpus that requests the annulation of the legal process of the Guarujá beachside apartment case. His lawyers Cristiano Zanin Martins and Valeska Martins argue that the former judge Sergio Moro and the prosecutors of Operation Car Wash were biased against Lula, “among other numerous illegalities.”

Political imprisonment

The ex-president has been incarcerated since April 7, 2018, after imprisonment was decreed by the Sérgio Moro, the ex-judge who was overseeing Operation Car Wash and the current Minister of Justice.

Moro himself was responsible for the conviction of Lula in the Guarujá beachside apartment case, sentencing him to prison for nine years and six months. The decision of Moro was upheld by a group of appeals judges, who increased his sentence to twelve years and one month in prison.

On September 20, 2016, Sergio Moro accepted an accusation presented by the Federal Prosecutors Office. Armed with the 59-page report, prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol affirmed that Lula committed crimes of passive corruption and money laundering by receiving unnecessary benefits from the construction company OAS.

A beachside apartment in Guarujá, on the coast of Sao Paulo, was allegedly set aside and remodeled under the orientation of the family of the ex-president. The accusation also alleged that Lula committed the crime of allowing the OAS to store the gifts he received while president.

On the day that the accusation was presented to the press, Dallagnol showed a PowerPoint presentation where he described Lula as the “maximum commander” and “biggest beneficiary” of the corruption schemes uncovered by Operation Car Wash.

The rush attitude by the head of the task force was disparaged by the then Supreme Court justice Teori Zavascki, who said Dallagnol “put on a show” and wasn’t taking the case and the investigation seriously.

Seventy-three witnesses testified in 23 hearings, and none of them stated that the beachside apartment was officially owned by Lula.

Moro only managed to prove that the ex-president only visited the apartment once in Guarajá. He weighed the declaration of a co-defendant against Lula: Léo Pinheiro, executive of construction company OAS. Pinheiro was sentenced to 16 years in prison in August 2015 for corruption, money laundering and organized crime, and he gave a series of revelations to the Federal Prosector’s Office between March and June of 2016.

With regards to the issue of the beachside apartment in Guarujá, the businessman insisted that Lula was innocent. According to him, the contractor tried to offer “benefits” to the ex-president to maintain a good relationship with the Workers’ Party (PT) governments, but there was not any response by Lula, who said he was not interested in buying the property he offered him.

According to the report of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, this attitude has made the Federal Prosecutor’s Office “lock in” plea bargain agreements with the construction company OAS. The report showed that the contractor was pressured to work out a plea bargain, which gave Pinheiro the chance to reduce his sentence by two thirds.

For this, it was necessary to alter the content of his testimony and “make it fit” the theory of the prosecution. On April 20, 2017, after almost a year of insisting, the OAS executive told Sergio Moro that Lula was the owner of the apartment and that he would have received the property in exchange for advantages for the company. The property and the cost of the remodeling, the accusation claimed, had been allegedly priced down for a “general counter-current of briberies” administered by the OAS group in collaboration with PT agents.

In order to justify the lack of documents that would prove that the property was owned by the former president, the solution found by the businessman and his lawyers was to say that “the evidence was destroyed” after Lula himself allegedly requested it.

Although the sentence reduction has been on the agenda after this testimony was shared, his plea bargain was not made official, which could imply that the executive of OAS did not have to swear on the veracity of the information nor present documents to support his allegations.

The same court that increased Lula’s prison sentence decided to reduce the businessman’s sentence from ten years and eight months in prison to three years and six months in semi-open conditions.

In his decision convicting Lula, Moro himself wrote that, even though there is no doubt that the files show that the property is owned by OAS, “that is not enough to solve the case.”

The ex-president’s lawyers believe that Judge Moro changed the accusation presented by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to be able to charge him of corruption and money laundering. But because he could not prove that Lula owned or enjoyed the apartment, the judge started to work with the theory supported by Léo Pinheiro’s plea bargaining testimony.

Regarding the corruption and money laundering charges in the case of the construction company storing  the president’s belongings, Moro acquitted Lula and the other defendants due to lack of evidence.

Editing: Rodrigo Chagas | Translated by Aline Scátola and Zoe PC

Source: Peoples Dispatch

By Tanya Wadhwa

Frustrated by its defeat in the presidential elections held in the country on October 20 and emboldened by U.S. support, the Bolivian opposition has scaled up its attacks on supporters of the process of change led by President Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism. On November 6, a series of atrocious aggressions against MAS supporters and elected officials were registered in the Cochabamba department.

In the Vinto municipality, one of the most disturbing attacks took place. An opposition mob, armed with sticks and stones and explosives, attacked the mayor’s office in Vinto in the Cochabamba department. The attackers set fire to the city hall and assaulted mayor Patricia Arce, of the MAS party.

Arce was dragged down the street and forced to walk barefoot several kilometers. The attackers cut her hair and sprayed red paint on her body. They also abused and insulted her and forced her to say that she would leave office.

While being held by her neck, Arce declared that she was willing to give her life for the project of transformation led by Morales’ government. “I am not afraid to tell my truth. I am in a free country. And I will not shut up. If they want to kill me, they can kill me. For this process of change, I will give my life,” she said.

Vean cómo llevan a la alcaldesa de Vinto, del MAS, en #Bolivia. Esto es parte del plan de golpe de Estado, los grupos de choque, la política del terror que despliega la derecha con Camacho a la cabeza. #6Nov pic.twitter.com/KuhYqg80xz

— Marco Teruggi (@Marco_Teruggi) November 6, 2019

The same day, in the morning, over 200,000 rural women hailing from the 16 provinces of the Cochabamba department peacefully marched through the streets of the capital towards the September 14 Plaza. The women mobilized to reject the hatred and racism faced by the Indigenous peasant communities by right-wing opposition groups. These groups have been carrying out violent protests and roadblocks in the country in rejection of the election results and disregarding the votes from rural regions that supported MAS and led to the victory of Morales in the general elections.

Aproximadamente 200 mil mujeres de las 16 provincias de #Cochabamba se concentrarán en la Plaza Principal 14 de Septiembre, según informa la ejecutiva de las 6 Federaciones del Trópico Cochabambino pic.twitter.com/J3PPahM2XE

— Abya Yala Televisión (@AbyaYalatv) November 6, 2019

However, before reaching the plaza the women’s mobilization was attacked by the same violent opposition groups. A group of men armed with sticks and sharp objects took three women as hostage and forced them to walk in an unknown direction. The whereabouts of these three women are still not known.

The former leader of the Unified Trade Union Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia (CSUTCB) Feliciano Vegamonte was also kidnapped in Quillacollo municipality. Later, a video circulated on social media, where he was seen sitting on his knees, with his hands joined, begging for his life. Over 15 people with sticks in their hands were forcing him to kneel down and apologize.

In addition, an opposition group called ‘Resistencia Cochala’ mobilized throughout the city and in areas near Cochabamba on motorbikes, threatening and attacking people that were thought to be supporters of the MAS.

The socio-political situation has been tense in Bolivia following the elections held on October 20. The shift from the tendency of the preliminary results, which indicated that a run-off would be necessary, was the justification for the Bolivian right-wing to refuse to recognize the results which declared Morales as the official winner, defeating Carlos Mesa of the CC with a lead of 10.56% of the votes. Since October 21, opponents of Morales have been mobilizing alleging that electoral fraud was committed.

In order to calm the growing tensions in the country, the Bolivian government invited the Organization of American States (OAS) to carry out an audit of the vote counting process and verify its validity and legitimacy. However, the ‘united’ opposition rejected the audit and insisted on annulling the results and holding fresh elections.

President Morales condemned the recent incidents of violence and attacks against women, Indigenous and poor people, that have been constant since the opposition’s mobilizations began.

On November 5, during a massive rally in defense of democracy in La Paz, Morales questioned the right-wing leaders for ignoring the popular vote and promoting acts of destabilization of his government. He claimed that the allegations of alleged fraud by the opposition were only a pretext for executing a coup.

The same day, the Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) leaked 16 audio files involving opposition leaders who are calling for a regime change in the country with the help of the US. The audios mention the US senators Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez and Ted Cruz. The audios also mention calls from opposition leaders to burn government buildings and carry out a general strike across the country, which has been happening in the country.

The protests, blockades and seizures of state institutions by Morales’ opponents continue in the country. The supporters of the MAS have also been carrying out massive peaceful mobilizations in defense of Evo Morales and his victory in the latest elections, and to denounce the ongoing coup effort.

Source: Peoples Dispatch

As protests demanding the resignation of President Moïse in Haiti rage on this month, leaving at least 18 dead and close to 200 injured, it is worth remembering the devastating massacre that took place because of similar political opposition almost one year ago today. Beginning on Nov. 1, 2018 in an impoverished neighborhood of Port-au-Prince known as La Saline, estimates contend that hundreds of Haitians were murdered or injured, with hundreds more displaced. La Saline, a long-time stronghold of the oppositional Fanmi Lavalas Political Organization, has been severely damaged, enduring the destruction of infrastructures such as schools, homes and hospitals. The little media coverage mostly portrayed the violence as gang-related. The people of La Saline, however, as documented by first-hand observers, sternly argue that the killings were allegedly ordered by the Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale, the ruling party of Haiti, in association with the police. The PHTK, which came to power due to elections that were widely acknowledged to be corrupt, has been involved in numerous other corruption scandals and alleged human rights abuses. It is simply no wonder, then, that the people of Haiti are taking to the streets to protest this government. Infrastructure is being damaged, government-sponsored police are engaging in repressive and violent behavior, and there is little economic opportunity, which effectively limits social mobility. Democracy appears to be deeply undermined to the point of illegitimacy.

Despite the massacre and the ongoing protests, the United States continues to back Moïse, who appears to promote U.S. economic interests at the expense of the general Haitian public, with large sources of funding for the Haitian national police. With the recent wake of mainstream media covering the ongoing protests today, the United States’ response remains to be seen. With increased public outcry in the United States, Congress could be incentivized to reexamine foreign policy that currently creates a double standard in regard to democracy and U.S. economic interests.

For example, in Venezuela, contrary to Haiti, U.S. intervention currently imposes a seemingly coercive economic embargo to intentionally weaken the government of Nicolás Maduro. Despite less fraudulent elections, less government-backed violence and far more popular support of the government, the United States is leading a campaign to seemingly create an undemocratic regime change in Venezuela. Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader whom the United States backs and financially supports, has never stood for a presidential election, has been linked to paramilitaries and is widely discredited within the country as a viable candidate. There have already been several failed coup attempts against the Maduro government in Venezuela, and all Venezuelan assets have been frozen by the United States. Crippling economic policy against Venezuela has deeply harmed the people that the United States claims to protect. If the United States were to be true to its often-stated goal of advancing democracy and protecting the worlds’ poor, Haiti’s government would be the focus of human rights intervention to defend unarmed civilians against repressive government violence. As these cases underscore, the promotion of democracy and the protection of the world’s poor is not well supported by the United States. If it were otherwise, the realities on the ground in Haiti and Venezuela would differ greatly from those which we see today.

Rather, the U.S. government seeks to strongly promote the neoliberal economic model. Under this model, foreign governments promote free trade and open markets. International businesses reap the gains of natural resources and force abusive working conditions and little pay. International investment is encouraged. Businesses move their production to nations in which poor wages, poor working conditions and poor environmental standards thrive. As many scholars argue, the neoliberal economic model leads to corporate gains at the expense of public investment and people mired in poverty. The people of these nations and their interests are left out of the equation. Leftist governments like those of Jean-Bertrand Aristide — the first democratically elected president of Haiti, who has been tampered by a string of U.S.-backed coups — while often supported by the people of their country, are detested by the powerful and rich that gain from the neoliberal economic model, and smeared accordingly.

Understanding these truths allows for the realization that we should have expected the United States’ silence on the massacre of La Saline, as well as the ongoing protests. It is in line with the United States’ long-held neoliberal economic and geopolitical interests. This is hard to change. The ruling of the PHTK and the suppression of the Lavalas opposition puts money in the same corporate pockets that fuel campaign contributions in the United States. Only now, with the continued protests in Haiti and the loss of lives and injuries imposed on the protesters, is the mainstream media covering their demands. While the demands of the Haitian people should have been recognized much earlier, it is critical for the international public to listen to the Haitian protests and understand the harm the current Haitian government, backed by foreign interests such as the United States, has brought onto the spirited nation. Popular narratives must be challenged reflecting the voices of those who are deeply affected. The people being attacked and waging protests in Haiti must be heard. And the U.S. Congress should be deterred by its constituents from choosing to fiscally support the repressive Haitian police and, by proxy, the repressive political regime.

By Jonathan Molina on November 6, 2019

Source: Resumen

“There is no normality” Chileans continue to mobilize against the government of Sebastian Piñera and demand a National Constituent Assembly. Photo: Frente Fotográfico

Chileans are demanding the resignation of President Sebastián Piñera, the establishment of a National Constituent Assembly and punishment for state officials, responsible for human rights violations during the protests.

While Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has claimed that normality has returned to Chile, protests in the country against the neoliberal policies imposed by his government entered a third week on November 4. As a part of the ‘Super Monday’ protest, called for by the Social Unity Board, tens of thousands of people once again took to the streets across the country, demanding the resignation of the president.

The Social Unity Board is a platform that brings together almost 100 social movements, students’ organizations and trade unions, including the Workers’ United Center (CUT), the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF), etc. The board called on workers and people to hold different measures of protests, such as marches, demonstrations, cacerolazos* and roadblocks, throughout the country. The capital Santiago and the port city of Valparaiso were the epicenters of the massive mobilizations.

In the afternoon, hundreds of workers, activists, union and social leaders demonstrated outside the Former National Congress Building in Santiago and the Nation Congress of Chile in Valparaiso, to demand the legislators not to debate on the bills presented by Piñera’s administration that deepen the neoliberal model in the country.

They also demanded that a National Constituent Assembly be established, the government increase investment towards public services of health, housing, education and pensions, and the responsible police and military officials be punished for violating human rights during the repression of protests.

In the evening, in Santiago, once again thousands of people gathered at the Plaza Italia and peacefully marched along the Vicuña Mackenna Avenue with the aim to reach Plaza de los Heroes. However, in the mid-way, they were repressed by the national police force, the Carabineros. The Carabineros used tear gas and water cannons to suppress the protest.

The same day, Chilean human rights organizations and lawyers filed a legal complaint against President Piñera for carrying out systematic attacks against the civilian population during the last two weeks of social protests.

The Ombudsman’s Office, the People’s Defense Committee ‘Vergara Toledo Brothers’ and the Legal Cooperative went to the Seventh Court of Guarantee in Santiago to file a complaint against the president for the crime against humanity, established under Law 20,357.

The organizations demand that “that the described incidents be investigated” and that “the responsibility of President Sebastián Piñera be determined, as the perpetrator of the crime against humanity.”

According to a recently released report by the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) in Chile, in the last 16 days of anti-government protests, due to police repression, over 23 people have been killed, 4,316 have been arrested,1,564 have been injured, 574 have been hospitalized due to serious injuries and 166 have been threatened, tortured or sexually harassed.

Feminist groups in Chile have carried out several protest actions to raise awareness to the abuses carried out by police officials and have deemed Chile ‘a patriarcal assassain state’. According to reports released by INDH, female detainees were forcibly undressed and forced to stand in the squat position. Several also denounced that security personnel touched them with their weapons and simulated penetration with their firearms. Rebeca Zamora of the Association of Feminist Lawyers of Chile said that security forces also threatened women with rape if they did not follow their orders, or even for participating in the protests.

Guatemalan human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchú, arrived in Chile and expressed her concerns about the current situation of Human Rights in Chile. Menchú along with Joan Turner Jara, widow of Chilean revolutionary Víctor Jara, and Guillermo Whpei, president of the Foundation for Democracy, visited La Moneda, the Government Palace, and delivered a letter addressed to President Piñera on Monday November 4.

In the letter, she requested an end to police violence, respect the constitutional right to protest of the citizens, open spaces for dialogue and begin the process for a Constituent Assembly, as demanded by the Chilean society.

The popular uprising was sparked by a high school students’ protest against the increase in the cost of public transportation services in the capital, but tapped into the broader social discontent in the country. Since October 18, broad sectors of Chilean society have been mobilizing in different parts of the country against the austerity measures promoted by Pinera’s administration and in repudiation of the strong repression of social protests. The majority of the Chilean population rejected the state of emergency and curfews declared in different regions of the country, which reminded people of the brutality of the last civic-military dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet.

However, despite several attempts by the government to curb their indignation and the violent repression by national police and military forces, defying state of emergency and curfews, Chileans continue to resist.

*Cacerolazos is a form of popular protest in which people make noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils in order to call for attention.

Source: Peoples Dispatch

New York, Nov. 4 — A picket line outside the Philippines Consulate tonight on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue protested police raids carried out in metropolitan Manila and Negros Island. They chanted, “Activism is not a crime!”

The action was called by BAYAN Northeast to protest the arrests carried out by police and the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division on Oct. 31. The regional offices of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, the women’s organization Gabriela and Bayan Muna were raided. Phony “evidence” was planted to conduct future frame-ups.

Sixty-two activists were seized in metropolitan Manila and the island of Negros. One couple that was arrested had their children seized.

A few days before, on Oct. 26, the Philippine military dropped 500-pound bombs on Samar Island.  

Behind the dictator Duterte, in the Philippines, is the racist pig in the White House. Last year, Trump and the Pentagon provided at least $193.5 million for the Philippine military. At least $145.6 million more has been sent in 2019.

The result is the murder of hundreds of Indigenous leaders, unionists, teachers, lawyers, activists and even priests since 2016. Duterte imposed martial law on the island of Mindanao in 2017, and there is talk of extending it elsewhere.

The demonstrators in New York City linked the police violence in the Philippines with the killings by police in the U.S. The U.S. labor movement and all progressive people should show solidarity with the Filipino people. Oust the U.S.-Duterte regime!  

The struggle in Chile continues until we achieve the long-awaited constituent assembly, awaited for 30 years by our past generations, our mothers and grandmothers. Today young Chileans have produced a wonderful and multigenerational social awakening. We have nothing to lose, today we are going for everything. We got tired and united, they have taken us so much that they took away our fear!

Greetings to the North American and Caribbean peoples, a greeting of hope for their struggle that belongs to everyone!

Gabriel Garcia
Cuba solidarity coordinator, Communist Party of Chile

Photos: Gabriel Garcia with Miranda Bachman of Youth Against War and Racism at the Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Conference in Havana, Cuba. SLL photo