| Events of the past week in Bolivia make crystal clear that what we have been witnessing is the culmination of a military coup against President Evo Morales who was re-elected in the October 20 general election and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) which he leads that won the majority of seats in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. There is irrefutable evidence that the events which transpired over the past week are connected to US efforts to co-opt and influence military and police forces in the region through programmes it has in place for this purpose. In addition, leaked audio tapes have emerged which suggest certain US politicians and embassy officials worked with retired Bolivian military officers and opposition politicians and some others to organise and finance the kind of violent and destabilising actions that have taken place as well as the creation of a parallel government if Evo won the election. That such a plan existed is given credibility by the fact that according to Evo, a member of his security team told him he had been offered $50,000 to hand Evo over to his political enemies. Senator Jeanine Añez is a person who, like Juan Guaidó in Venezuela, unconstitutionally declared herself the interim president - in her case backed by the military, with an army officer assisting her don the presidential sash at her swearing-in. With the presidency captured, opposition Añez named her own cabinet and, belying the notion that hers is only a caretaker administration until a new election is held, set about dismantling programmes and arrangements of all types put in place by the Morales government and generally unleashing a wave of revenge-taking against its members and supporters. If the interim "president" has her way, not just Evo but any candidate of the MAS will be barred from contesting the new election. Meanwhile the police and army have been given a green light to attack and arbitrarily arrest those resisting the coup - many of them members of the country's Indigenous nations. As of November 16, 23 deaths had been reported across the country, many caused by bullets. In the case of Bolivia's recent election, separate analyses of the results performed by different experts do not support the conclusions allegedly reached by the team that performed the audit for the OAS. All the studies concluded that the reported irregularities were not significant and that removing the suspect number of votes cast for Evo would not have affected his first round victory. All of which suggests that the alleged irregularities reported by the OAS team - which it provided no concrete evidence for and never said amounted to fraud - was the pretext needed to call for rejecting the results altogether and holding a new election, opening the door for the coup forces to claim Evo was elected through "fraud" and to make their move against him. Unreservedly support the demand of the Bolivian people for the reinstatement of their elected president Evo Morales! Demand the end to interference in the affairs of Bolivia and Venezuela in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the norms of diplomacy! |