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TechnoratiBolivia Racked by Political Divisions on the Eve of a Recall Vote
La Paz, Bolivia: On Sunday, August 10, Bolivians will go to the polls to vote on whether or not to recall the president, vice president and the governors of eight of the nation's nine departments. Just 2½ years into the term of President Evo Morales, his government is racked by political crises. This week alone, two miners participating in a protest for higher pensions were killed in clashes with police; a meeting in the Bolivian town of Tarija between the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia was cancelled when protesters tried to storm the airport; and President Morales will not attend the traditional independence celebration in Sucre on Wednesday, August 6 for fear of anti-government violence.
While the president and vice-president are expected to survive the recall, perhaps even overturning a few opposition governors (seven out of nine governors are in the opposition), the tensions tearing at this divided nation's social fabric will persist.
On one side of this struggle is the impoverished indigenous majority in the western highlands who, along with Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales, are trying to redistribute power and wealth towards poor communities. Pitted against them is a mostly white elite based in the eastern part of the country who want to keep tight control over the nation's wealth and are using their money and control of the media to foment widespread discontent. Sadly, the U.S. government, instead of embracing social transformation in Latin America's poorest nation, is aiding and abetting the opposition.
At the opening meeting of a group called International Intellectuals and Artists for the Unity and Sovereignty of Bolivia on July 26, Bolivian President Evo Morales put the division in simple terms. "Two models of government are on the table," he said. "One is a colonial model where a few families control the nation's resources. The other, which we defend, is based on the nationalization of natural resources for the benefit of everyone."
Morales' government nationalized the nation's most important source of revenue, natural gas and has used the profits for social programs that fight poverty and inequality. These include free school meals and a cash payment to mothers who keep their children in school. Morales has also raised the minimum wage and expanded the number of eligible elderly people receiving pensions from 489,000 to 676,000, providing them with the equivalent of 27 dollars a month. [Nearly 60 percent of elderly people in Bolivia live on less than one dollar a day.] He is also trying to institute a land reform that would take non-productive agricultural land from wealthy landowners and give it to poor, landless families.
Morales has appealed to progressive governments in the region to help with his program of social transformation. Cuba has sent thousands of doctors and teachers to rural areas and is building dozens of hospitals. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Lula da Silva are investing in the expansion of Bolivia's gas industry and helping to construct new highways.
Turn on the radio or the television these days, however, and you'll hear a different story. A barrage of opposition ads encourage people to vote against the President in the upcoming recall. They scare people into thinking that Morales is going to take away their private property, like their homes or their cars, and paint him as a "Chavez-style dictator" who has indebted the country to Venezuela.
"I apologize to the journalists here," Morales said at the scholars' meeting, "but in Bolivia the press is engaged in media terrorism. I know it's not you, the journalists, but the owners of the means of communication. They manipulate the news and the polls; they lie to the public."
He gave a recent example. He had just come from visiting Camiri, a town in the department of Santa Cruz, which is the home of the opposition. A large group of people came out to welcome him and listen to his speech. At the end of the rally he heard some firecrackers and was told that there were a handful of protesters. On his way back to the airport, however, he heard a local radio station say that the people of Camiri had blocked him from coming to the city. "I had to laugh," said Morales, "because there were perhaps 20 young protesters compared to crowds of supporters. But that's how they reported 'the news.'"
The recall vote comes on the heels of a series of referendums organized by these powerful elites in the eastern departments calling for autonomy from the national government. They have been able to mobilize significant sectors of the population, including people who once supported Morales but have been disillusioned by what they perceive as government corruption and incompetence.
While the autonomy referendums passed, they were claimed illegal not only by the President, but by the Bolivian Electoral Court, the Organization of American States, the European Union or other major leaders throughout the region.
The next vote is the Aug. 10 recall vote. If Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia lose, they have to hold new elections within 90-120 days. If any of the governors lose, Morales gets to select interim governors until the next election.
Polls indicate that the president and vice president will win, thanks in part the government's massive voter registration drive and the fact that many voters who are critical of Morales will back him so as not to strengthen the right-wing opposition.
A win at the polls is crucial, but it is not likely to stop the growing tensions that have polarized the country, created a crisis between national and local legal institutions, dried up private investment and led to increasingly violent clashes between supporters on both sides.
The following are some of the crises the government will still have to contend with:
* If several opposition governors lose, they and their supporters may refuse to accept the results, which could lead to increased violence and make certain departments ungovernable;
* A new constitution that aims to include Bolivia's historically excluded indigenous majority within a "plurinational" state, with greater state control over natural resources, was passed in December 2007 by an assembly that was boycotted by opposition parties. It still awaits approval in a national referendum that is being blocked by the opposition-controlled Senate.
* Even the location of the nation's capital is in dispute. Sucre, which is in the hands of the opposition, is the historic capital of Bolivia, but all the state powers were shifted to La Paz in the wake of the 1899 Federal War between conservatives in the south and liberals around La Paz. Opposition leaders, however, have been complaining about "La Paz centralism" and whipping up local sentiment for Sucre to become the capital. This has led to violent clashes that will likely continue.
* Tensions with the U.S. government have been rising, as more information comes out regarding U.S. support for the opposition. The Morales administration has accused the US Agency for International Development (AID) of working to undermine it. Vice President Alvaro Garcia said the U.S. was trying to develop "ideological and political resistance." In June the Bush administration recalled its ambassador to Bolivia for several weeks following massive protests outside the US embassy, which the U.S. accused Morales of inciting. As Bolivia continues to strengthen its ties with leftist governments in the region and reject free market economic policies, it will face increasing opposition from the U.S. government.
Back at the gathering of Intellectuals and Artists, Frei Betto, a well-loved liberation theologist from Brazil, spoke on behalf of the group when he told Morales, "We've come from all over the continent to show our support because the future of Bolivia affects the future of all of Latin America. We're inspired by your efforts at social transformation and we hope that the August 10 vote takes place in an atmosphere of peace, tolerance and respect for the sovereign will of the Bolivian people."
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange.
19 Comments so far
Show AllObama gives no indication he will approach the progressive movements in Latin American any differently than Bush-McCain.
And, if you want to put pressure on him to not intervene in the Bolivarian Revolution, the best way to do this is to vote for Cynthia McKinney or Nader. Once the Democrats see their support sliding toward more substantive candidates, they will act. That's the only language they understand.
Whether Obama is like the Blue Dogs and DLC or not, I don't know, but it's clear that he's come under the spell of the Democratic Establishment since the primaries. He needs to hear the voice of the People.
John M. Wages, Jr.
"It's Time for Something Better"
www.VoteJohnWages.com
A Voice Apart: "What have the big corporations done for the global north's general population, that is, us?"
If Americans are going to build solidarity with the Bolivian people and the rest of humanity, then we have to look at this oppressive contract with the elites we now live under. Through petro-gluttony, the elites have given Americans a level of economic independence that releases them from civic responsibility. The propaganda ensures that Americans do not recognize their dependence on the elites. Lacking a healthy inter-dependence with their fellow human beings and the biosphere, Americans have lost awareness so they can't relate to the plight of the indigenous Bolivians. The good news is that the indigenous Bolivians are likely to prevail over the elites. They've already become one of the model communities on the planet.
Medea, in her response to an Obama fan, is correct.
And my question to you Obama fans is how can you expect that he will be any different than McSame on Bolivia?
Have you not been listening when Obama supported the right wing human rights violating Colombia in their illegal invasion of Ecuador? Were you not listening when Obama spoke dispargingly of the excellent Hugo Chavez?
Morales has survived the economic hitmen so far in their pervasive and underhanded dealings. Will he survive the US jackals? Hopefully, he does.
It is so disgusting watching and reading the blatantly distorted reportage of the corporate media when a popularly elected government succeeds in placing the people before corporations. This occurs everywhere, from Chavez to Haiti and includes Palestine's Hamas representatives of government. If one is promoting democracy then the will of the people is what stands. Of course, irregularities in American elections don't count, do they? Do not try to undermine the outcomes because you have the power to do so for the corporate bullies can make it seem like you are wackjobs. Western nations have a bad track record of undermining budding, true, people centric democracies.
It is none of our business if a country decides that its people come before profits.
Having said that, can anyone answer me this? What have the big corporations done for the global north's general population, that is, us? Not much and when we try to stand up for our rights or rights of others, we get imprisoned as protesters. So much for our wonderful democracies, eh? Free speech anyone?
re Obama, yes, it's ironic that many Bolivians felt as excited about their indigenous president as many people of color in the US feel about Obama becoming president, yet you see no sense of "solidarity" for Obama within the DNC leadership or Obama's campaign. In fact, one of his advisers, Greg Craig, is the attorney for former Bolivian defense minister who the Bolivian government is trying to extradite for murder.
Dear lord this all sounds so heartbreakingly familiar. Powerful elites unite around the world to crush any hope of equality. I am saddened beyond tears. May the LIGHT shine upon Peru and strengthen the people and it's real leaders!
Our tax $ is funneled through the NED(including the IRI}, USAID, and the CIA to destabilize and topple the democratically elected Blivian government.
The situation is like the circumstances that precipitated the civil war, although Morales is far more progressive than Lincoln. The white supremacists in the eastern provinces (and they are white supremacists who proudly trace their lineage to the conquistadors) won't give in to any equality between themselves and the long suffering indigenous population.
These neo-confederates are being propped up by the US. I wonder if Obama himself understands the irony of his party going along with this singular hatred of the Left in Latin America, although Bill Clinton is the most egregious, supporting the remaining elite dominated regimes of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.
A few comments on Bolivia where I have worked on numerous occasions. In Mexico the people fit into a Bell curve no matter how you classify them physically- skin color, height, body build, what have you from short, dark to tall, white. In Bolivia there are two peaks in the curve, one at the white end and one at the dark end with a valley in the middle so there really hasn't been much social mixing over the years. The same thing happens with economic distribution, education, etc. although not as badly.
On another track, remember the mess we had in Central America with Nicaragua and Guatamala when the people finally rose up against the overlords who were under Reagan's protection? Just think what it would have been like if we had stood for what was right instead of for the United Fruit Co. The same thing is happening again. Just like Iraq shows we learned nothing from Viet Nam, Bolivia shows we learned nothing from Cuba, Guatamala and Nicaragua. What you bet that Special Ops forces will be going in within a few years? I even wonder if they're not already there.
zaz: It drives me NUTS that Democrats in Congress, who should know better after being lied to for almost eight years about Chavez and for the last year or more about Morales and Correa, DO NOT SEE THROUGH THE LIES.
From remarks he has made about our trade policy, I think (I hope hope hope) Obama understands what is going on in Latin America, including the harm done by the IMF and World Bank to poor countries and the beneficial difference it has made to have a South American financing agency and a trading bloc created by Chavez and perhaps a couple of others.
Sadly, the US govt supports the opposition? you mean typically....
The elites dont have the numbers to prevail, only the people do.
The people can easily triumph if they can see straight. I'm convinced the biggest problem in this world is the corp-controlled media. They are enemies of the people and need to be made to feel their complicity...
The Mess-in-Potomia quagmire bought Morales some breathing room, but that (temporary) respite may now be ending.
The USA, like a rabid piranha, will nibble away at Bolivia until Morales falls and the oligarchs win.
You would think democrats (THE LEFT) would support leftist governments worldwide. The reason they don't is because they're no different from republicans.
You can bet that John McCain's International Republican Institute is giving money and support to rightwing opposition groups in Bolivia.
"Sadly, the U.S. government, instead of embracing social transformation in Latin America's poorest nation, is aiding and abetting the opposition." This sentence says it all. Corporate US led terrorism on the march again.
Check out the film "2 bolivias" form Journeyman Pictures at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NycGsSKgoY
For more films go to http://liberationvideo.blogspot.com
If Obama and a Dem majority get elected, as now seems likely, we at CD should be putting pressure on them [if any pressure will ever work again] to support a number of critical issues, which include, but are not limited to [nice verbage, eh?] breaking up the power of the multinationals, increasing efforts to curb global warming, a national health care system for us, and decreased support for right wing reactionaries in Latin America. It is clear that the countries doing the most for the PEOPLE in Latin America are the very countries which our gov't [read the multinationals] consider evil: Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Viva la Revolucion!!
Bolivia was long one of the more racially polarized societies in Latin America, where the natives were shafted by a while elite. Said elite were most incompetent in most things except for holding on to power and repressing their underclass. Of course, when that underclass was finally able to seize the reins of power, the elite began to howl and call for aid from their business partners. Said business partners recommended they hold "autonomy votes" and split off. Now the scene is set for a potential civil war in Bolivia.