Bolivia
Re: Bolivia
Bolivia: Far-Right Protesters Attack Ambulances & Health Workers
November 23, 2022Bolivia, Santa Cruz
Far-right opposition groups in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, are violating international law by attacking health workers and hindering the passage of ambulances. The city’s police have registered more than 20 cases of physical attacks against health workers and ambulances, many of them resulting in patients being unable to reach a medical center.
Protesters say they want the national census to be brought forward six months, and their preferred tactic is to block roads and demand payment from anyone who wants to pass through. Those who fail to comply are assaulted by young men armed with sticks and baseball bats. The secretary of the Health Workers union at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, Ulises Guzmán, said, “I don’t know what they are waiting for, maybe for someone from our sector to die so that they just give us guarantees?”
International Human Rights Law (IHL) establishes that medical personnel have the right to be protected under the same conditions as the wounded and sick, even in situations of armed conflict.
“The detention of health personnel, for the fact of providing health care, can be equated to a violation of human rights, even when done legally, in accordance with national legislation,” states the International Red Cross.
Violent protests have been ongoing for a month now. Other incidents include an arson attack on the indigenous campesino federation building in the city (FUTCSC), and the looting of the workers union federation (COD), along with numerous government buildings. The pretext is a demand to bring forward the national census, but the government say that this is merely an excuse used to justify violent mobilizations aimed at launching another coup.
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivia-far-r ... th-workers
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THE SCENE OF THE COUP IN BOLIVIA RETURNS: CENSUS, STRIKE AND COUNTER-STRIKE
22 Nov 2022 , 11:54 a.m.
On November 1, in the Santa Cruz municipality of La Guardia, there were clashes between residents who tried to intervene in a fence installed by social organizations that asked that the strike be lifted due to the Census (Photo: Page Seven)
In a cyclical manner, a new scenario of regime change returns in Bolivia at the hands of the same coup actors in the streets, but under different conditions than in 2019, when the right-wing orchestrated similar attacks.
Since October 22, opposition leaders from the eastern region of Santa Cruz de la Sierra declared an "indefinite civic strike" (regional strike) contrary to the provisions of Executive Supreme Decree 4760 that was promulgated on July 13, this year. This is a modification of a previous Decree , 4546 of July 21, 2021. Through this promulgation, the Executive decided to postpone the Population and Housing Census originally scheduled to start on November 16 of this year, postponing it to May or June 2024.
The original decision was made by consensus in the National Council of Autonomies with the governors of eight of the nine regions, with the exception of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where the destabilizing actions have been carried out, blocking circulation in the city in other departmental areas and notably affecting the local economy and daily routine.
They demand that the census be carried out in 2023 , the excuse for the color escalation. Since its inception, both in the capital and in other areas of the region there has been confrontation, with deaths, injuries and damage to public property. In particular, in the municipality of La Guardia, on November 1, with the balance of several injuries , six vandalized police patrols, looted the police command, used firearms and nine activists from the Cruceñista Youth Union (UJC) were apprehended, later that social movements "encircled" the city to " unblock " the strike.
In a report from August 2021, both the Cochala Youth Resistance (RJC) and the UJC were described by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) as responsible for many excesses that occurred around the coup against Evo Morales. UJC is a right-wing terrorist organization, with a supremacist and ultra-religious ideology, financed by the bourgeoisie that controls the governorate of Santa Cruz.
WHY THE POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS ?
Bolivia has not carried out a census or a housing cadastral map since 2012, which would make it possible to define new parameters and indicators that would facilitate, among other things, development plans, regional budgets and, also, the expansion of political representation seats.
President Luis Arce has defined the census as "a true national, departmental and municipal planning tool" (Photo: La Razón)
Product of mainly technical reasons (and investment), the national executive decided to reschedule the registration planned for this 2022, in order to obtain a more consolidated instrument and be, in the words of President Arce, "a true tool for national, departmental and municipal planning ". However, the decision-making process in the middle of the year was not exempt from roughness, first affirming the officialization of the census for 2022 itself, delivering results in 2023 (Supreme Decree 4645) and then, after the review, proposing a new date.
Although it has been emphasized that the reasons for the reprogramming are strictly technical, this first moment of contradiction has facilitated, first in July for 24 hours, and now since the end of October as an indefinite one, the creation of a device that reactivates the destabilizing mobilization against the decision.
The main promoters of the strike did not put forward consistent political reasons, rather revealing their interest in activating new campaigns of destabilization and political violence with the census as an excuse.
ACTORS AND STRUCTURES AT THE FOREFRONT OF INDEFINITE UNEMPLOYMENT
The main actors and events have occurred in the department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra repeating protagonists: the current governor Luis Fernando Camacho; Rómulo Calvo, president of the Committee for Santa Cruz; and Vicente Cuellar, rector of the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University, who also chairs the Inter-Institutional Committee to Promote the Census, the entity that allegedly promotes and decides on the actions in question.
On the plane of direct action, once again (as in 2008 and 2019), the UJC operates. In tow, and with the usual lack of force, the former president, former presidential candidate and leader of the Comunidad Ciudadana alliance, Carlos Mesa, expressed his solidarity in a tweet on November 2 with "the inhabitants of La Guardia and with the journalists attacked by groups of shock masistas" blaming Evo Morales for putting together a "fratricidal plan", ordering President Arce to "abstract" from Evo's alleged "plan", since the latter has called , on multiple occasions, for a "sincere dialogue" Between the parts.
Mesa's statements outline the usual matrix and largely points to politically active figures in the government. Said distemper accentuates, without forcefulness, the attempts to unify the story of the despotic government.
FRAME SETTING: THE CONFLICT
Eight of the nine Civic Committees in the country (the one in Cochabamba said it was in consultation) announced a day before the decision to go on an indefinite national strike if Decree 4760, the lifting of the "siege" on the city of Santa Cruz ( by social movements of various kinds) as a measure of popular pressure , the installation of a dialogue table and the "pacification of the country".
On the other hand, the government, represented in this case by the presidential spokesman and the Minister of Planning, announced the creation of a technical table to define a definitive date for the census, establishing as starting points for the negotiation: 1) that the determination of the date itself will remain open, 2) that it be determined within the framework of the table, and 3) that the technical commission be installed.
As an extension of the National Council of Autonomies held in July, governors, mayors, rectors of public universities, indigenous and Gran Chaco authorities met with the government in October to discuss the Census (Photo: File)
The presidential spokesman, Jorge Richter, emphasized that with these points it was possible to "advance", since he affirmed that Santa Cruz leaders were present, in particular from the Inter-institutional Committee for the Promotion of the Census, affirming that, as a result of the conversation, a fourth point would be the unemployment lifting, something discussed with the counterpart from Santa Cruz.
While the opposition was excluding itself from the spaces for dialogue with crossed statements that showed cracks in its apparent "homogeneous" unity around the demand for the census for 2023, on the government side it also highlighted its own split in the discourse from the disavowal of his own government minister, who a day before declared that it was technically impossible to carry out the census in 2023. Through the Vice Ministry of Communications, he said that this was a personal position of the minister and not of the government as a whole.
Such setback could have caused a cost, either by detachment or by correction, within the framework of habitual actions of the already known procedures of coup de color. A new circumstantial demand on the side of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee is added: the release of those detained for the events of November 1 in La Guardia.
The Minister of Development Planning, Gabriela Mendoza, announced at the time that the census could be carried out on November 16. Apparently, she rushed without having all the elements of the case a priori. The global pandemic caused delays in the stages and preparatory elements that must be included in these censuses. Not only in Bolivia but in 14 countries that decided to postpone its realization for two years.
Last Friday, November 11, President Arce announced in a message to the population that the census date will be March 23, 2024 and the subsequent distribution of resources will be made in September of the same year. He made a chronology of the milestones that marked this conflict since the state initially set the census date for November 16, 2022, and then convened on July 12 the National Council of Autonomies that brings together all levels of the state, in in which regions such as Beni and Pando raised their concerns regarding the harvest season and weather aspects, and the only absentee was Camacho.
In that body, it was decided by consensus to carry out the census between May and July 2024 to ensure an inclusive process that reaches all Bolivian households. The national president listed the dialogue and socialization of the census process with different representative actors from July 12 to November 2, 2022, touring the nine departments, until the call for the Plurinational Summit for a Census with Consensus held in Cochabamba, in the that the representatives of the inter-institutional committee of Santa Cruz also left the spaces.
Finally, the technical commission was formed with 41 delegations from governorates, mayors, indigenous autonomous universities, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (CELADE) to analyze and define the date of the census. Some technical teams from Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz left these spaces, where they worked for more than 50 hours during four days, analyzing and listening to the different proposals.
After months of tension, Arce said that this decision on the date of the census could no longer be delayed, and valued its importance for the development of public policies:
"As a State and society as a national government and subnational governments we have to know without speculation, what is our demographic, social, economic and identity reality of the Bolivian men and women who inhabit this territory, based on that information we must work public policies oriented towards an integral development that benefits all Bolivians", said the president, who the next day promulgated Supreme Decree 4824 that guarantees the aforementioned.
DEJAVU FROM 2019 ?
Once again, the motor of the indefinite strike and the challenge to the government comes from Santa Cruz, both from its formal structures (government) and parastatals (Civic Committee, Inter-institutional Committee), the latter where true power operates in an almost unrestricted manner in the region. President Arce himself patented it on November 1, stating that "they set in motion a strategy to reissue the 2019 coup"; However, perhaps as a provisional mitigation, an exact consensus is not in sight to that of the last stage of 2019.
Mayors such as those of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, both opponents of the government, either support the decision to postpone the census or condemn the strike and its political and economic effects.
The Bolivian Episcopal Conference (CEB) has promoted dialogue since the beginning of the escalation of the conflict (Photo: First Report)
On the other hand, something similar can be said of the role that the ecclesiastical hierarchy has played, either in the voice of the Archbishop of Santa Cruz opposing the indefinite strike or of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference (CEB) itself in promoting dialogue since the beginning of the escalation. of the conflict, which can be traced to the open town hall in the Santa Cruz capital on October 11, for dialogue and the suspension of the strike. A position that has also been assumed early on by the National Chamber of Industries (CNI), to which are now added the unions of merchants and transporters from the city of Santa Cruz itself that are demanding the lifting of the indefinite strike.
On the front of the military establishment, President Arce emphasized the constitutional role and the side of the people, whose High Command was also changed on November 1, and whose lack of details could produce an ambiguous signal. The essential spurs, being the same as in 2019 under the same methodology, support the possibility of this danger, despite some signs (church, industrial and economic groups) are not acting under the same mold as in the coup day three years ago.
Only to that extent could a clearer difference be established, since there is also a critical gap that also facilitates the objective conditions for the coup factors to consider that there is a new opportunity to act: the government itself and the elements of dispersion that reflected in some social movements as a gap to act.
More recently, the Central Obrera Boliviana and the Confederation of Peasant Women have demanded that the Arce government and the State Attorney General's Office create a "National Commission of Prosecutors" to investigate the very serious acts of racist violence that occurred in Santa Cruz, assuming that deals with crimes of terrorism and armed uprising against the Bolivian state.
TOWARDS THE CONSOLIDATION OF DESTABILIZATION
There have been some visible mitigating factors such as the lack of an absolutely homogeneous and unified consensus on the part of the opposition; that variable of the unstable equilibrium could turn it in the interested direction. However, it is possible that the good economic indicators in Bolivia have forced several unions not to join a strike that would be deleterious for such figures in the midst of the post-pandemic.
The social forces that the opposition tried to mobilize in other parts of the country together with their political allies (the former minister of the de facto government of Jeanine Añez and mayor of La Paz, Iván Arias, or the mayor of Tarija, Johnny Torres) never came to be. massive. In La Paz, the right-wing activists organized by Arias were neutralized in the streets by the mobilization of self-convened social sectors under the banner of defending the process of change.
In Cochabamba (Bolivia's third city in population, located in the center of the country) Camacho's ability to convene was very low. In the aforementioned Tarija, in southern Bolivia, the skirmishes between civic citizens and some right-wing university students with the militant groups of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) showed few conditions for the civic leadership to guarantee a departmental strike.
In the city of Santa Cruz (first in population and the one with the greatest economic activity in Bolivia) businessmen begin to distance themselves from the regional strike that is no longer "an investment" as it was to finance the 2019 coup against MAS, but rather which is rather reporting economic losses.
The definition of a call for a national strike by the Civic Committees of the rest of the country, among similar pressure actions, did not take effect and now, 30 days after the indefinite strike, the union members of Santa Cruz request the suspension of pressure measures to be able to take advantage of the high demand that is generated at the end of the year.
On the other hand, this week begins the treatment in the Legislative Assembly of the census law that will include the allocation of seats before 2025, a condition to resolve the conflict. The MAS in the Chamber of Deputies will arrive divided to the session; the "radical" bloc (supported by Evo Morales) warned that they will vote against the census bill against the "renovators" (supported by Arce and Vice President Choquehuanca) who will make its approval viable. While the opponents agreed to defend that the survey be carried out in 2023.
A sample of the internal struggles in the MAS is the meeting of Evo Morales with some MAS deputies in Cochabamba to discuss the debate on the Census law in the Lower House (Photo: File)
A latent danger is represented by the very fragility within the struggles within the government, of the Movement Towards Socialism - Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP), the agenda contradictions of the social movements and, therefore, a unifying synthesis within all these political channels capable of establishing a more effective containment.
The latest denial/delegitimization of the rest of the government against its own minister who is in charge of the Interior portfolio (a not so silent struggle that has some time left) is, in itself, the most pernicious sign, but not the only one, of the risks that can offer a split or a substantial crack on the side of the field of the forces that restored democracy with political, social and electoral mobilizations in 2020.
Another sensitive sample with social movements that were fundamental during the resistance actions already speak of dangerous internal disagreements with other social and political fronts , whose main expression could be the march of the red ponchos, who will flood the city of La Paz to vindicate their statement pending petitions with the government.
It could be reaffirmed that neither the government nor the social movements are in the state of languor that defined the coup process from July to November 2019, but this does not prevent the rupture of the unstable balance, based on the internal differences themselves, fostering the possibility that sooner rather than later the line of defense of the Arce government breaks, and the coup violence advances, if more concrete measures are not taken in defense of the governability of the central state, and of knowing what, how and when to make concessions, and even more important, when not to do them, to the raised side.
For his part, Morales has declared more than once that there was no danger of a coup, contrary to Arce's warnings; He debated some political differences through the media and not in organic spheres, such as the appointment of the president of the Chamber of Deputies in the Legislative Assembly. He did so with the date chosen to carry out the census and ended up indirectly accusing Arce and Choquehuanca of "traitors" who operate against the MAS unit, actions that accelerate the breakup of the bloc that supports the government.
At this time, in Bolivia few actors have emerged unscathed from the ongoing conflict. This week will most likely be defining moments.
https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/vu ... contraparo
Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Bolivian Conservatives Set Fire to Buildings in Santa Cruz
Prosecutor's Office building set on fire by right-wing extremists in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Dec. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @Datoworld
Published 29 December 2022
Governor Luis Fernando Camacho's supporters set fire to the Santa Cruz Prosecutor's Office, the Directorate of Support for the Prevention of Drug Consumption, and other public buildings.
On Wednesday, the residence of Public Works Minister Edgar Montaño, six public buildings, and dozens of cars were set on fire by far-right militants who support Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who was detained for investigations in the "Coup I" case.
"The Cruceñista Youth Union and people related to Camacho burned my home, threatening the integrity and security of my family," Minister Montaño denounced, recalling that this is the second attack against his residence since 2019.
After setting fire to the wall and gate of Montaño's residence, the far-right militants ransacked it and attacked the residents who were trying to control the fire.
Camacho's supporters set fire to the Santa Cruz Prosecutor's Office, the Directorate of Support for the Prevention of Drug Consumption, the Civil Registry Service, the National Tax Service, and other institutions. They also launched firecrackers towards the Palace of Justice.
Three women and two men were arrested after the attacks on the Cochabamba Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.
“These people were taken to the offices of the Special Force to Fight Crime. An investigation has begun for the destruction and deterioration of state property and public incitement to commit crimes," said Nuria Gonzales, the Cochabamba prosecutor.
Currently, Camacho remains detained in La Paz City awaiting the precautionary hearing related to acts of violence that left over 30 dead during the 2019 coup d'état.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0008.html
Bolivia: Camacho's Supporters To Strike to Demand His Release
Santa Cruz leaders at the Cruceñidad civic assembly organized by the Pro-Santa Cruz Committee. Dec 29, 2022 | Photo: Twitter/@GlobaCruz
Published 29 December 2022 (13 hours 5 minutes ago)
The action consists of a 24-hour work stoppage that will take place tomorrow, Friday, according to Santa Cruz civic leaders.
The Pro Santa Cruz Committee announced this Thursday the stoppage of activities to demand the release of the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was arrested yesterday and transferred to La Paz.
During the Cruceñidad civic assembly the president of the Committee, Rómulo Calvo said that "a 24-hour civic strike is declared as of December 30 demanding the immediate release of the governor of our department."
Santa Cruz leaders also supported the blockade of local and international highways, a decision of the provincial civic committees.
Camacho was arrested on Wednesday by the Police, in compliance with an order from the Bolivian Prosecutor's Office, which said the action corresponds to the Coup d'état I case for terrorism during the 2019 crisis.
Moments in which Rómulo Calvo, president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee arrived at the Assembly of the Cruceñidad and some images of the participants of the meeting.
The governor is accused of organizing social mobilizations and promoting the rebellion of the Armed Forces in November 2019, which pressured former President Evo Morales (2006-2019) to resign from office.
The political opponent of Luis Arce's government and other supporters deny these accusations and attribute the 2019 crisis to alleged electoral fraud.
The arrest event generated protests in Santa Cruz and clashes with the police, as well as some destruction in national state entities such as the Departmental Prosecutor's Office.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0015.html
Bolivia: Camacho Embraces the Right to Silence in 'Coup I' Case
Luis Fernando Camacho (L) at the offices of the Prosecutor's Office in La Paz, Bolivia, Dec. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @Aygun_Digital
Published 29 December 2022
The Santa Cruz governor is being investigated for the acts of violence that broke out in 2019 when Jeanine Añez proclaimed herself President of Bolivia.
On Wednesday, the Bolivian Attorney General's Office announced that Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho will embrace the "right to silence" while awaiting a precautionary hearing.
The authorities have not yet set a date for his precautionary hearing. It is not yet known whether Camacho will be able to defend himself in freedom or from jail. Prosecutor Jorge Nina, however, will request his preventive detention.
Santa Cruz governor is the main accused by the Bolivian justice for the acts of violence and death that took place during the U.S.-backed coup d'état that occurred in 2019, when right-wing organizations and the army forced the resignation of then-president Evo Morales.
Currently, Camacho is detained at police facilities in La Paz city, after being transferred by air from the department of Santa Cruz.
The tweet reads, "This is how the Santa Cruz prosecutor's office was left after being set on fire by groups that respond to Governor Luis Fernando Camacho. Over 30 vehicles were left as scrap metal."
Camacho was arrested for the "Coup I" case, which is being investigated by prosecutor Omar Mejillones. This case refers to the events that prompted the 2019 coup and the seizure of power by the then senator Jeanine Añez, who proclaimed herself President of Bolivia.
On Wednesday, the victims of the 2019 repression, as well as the relatives of the citizens who died in the Senkata and Sacaba massacres, set up a vigil outside the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC) in La Paz, where the governor Santa Cruz is detained.
Meanwhile, far-right groups unleashed a wave of violence in Santa Cruz City in rejection of Camacho's arrest. Local media reported that they burned the building of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office and several vehicles.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0001.html
Bolivia: Camacho Sentenced to 4 Months in Pretrial Detention
Luis Fernando Camacho (R), La Paz, Bolivia, Dic. 29, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @teleSURtv
Published 30 December 2022 (1 hours 17 minutes ago)
His preventive detention is due to the "Coup I" case, which refers to the violent actions deployed during the coup d'état against Evo Morales in 2019.
On Friday, La Paz Criminal Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered four months of preventive detention for Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho for the "Coup d'état I" case.
This sentence arose after nine hours of deliberation in a hearing in which Camacho's defense attorneys demanded the immediate release of the Santa Cruz governor alleging that the Bolivian authorities committed excesses during his detention.
The hearing was held virtually since Camacho is detained at the headquarters of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC) in the city of La Paz.
Prosecutor Omar Mejillones denied Camacho's lawyers' accusations and showed that the defendant knew about his summons to appear to testify and did not do so in a timely manner. Therefore, the authorities proceeded to carry out an operation to capture him.
Given that Camacho is a far-right politician whose followers have staged acts of violence, Mejillones asked Judge Pacheco that the Santa Cruz governor be preventively confined in the high-security Chonchocoro prison in El Alto City.
His preventive detention is due to the "Coup I" case, which refers to the violent actions deployed during the coup d'état against President Evo Morales in 2019. At that time, Camacho was president of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee, a right-wing organization that has permanently attacked the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).
In other legal proceedings, Camacho must face accusations related to breaches of duties, insults to national symbols, discrimination, racism, improper use of influences, attack against the President of the Republic, political violence against women, and attacks against the free provision of public services.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0001.html
Prosecutor's Office building set on fire by right-wing extremists in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Dec. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @Datoworld
Published 29 December 2022
Governor Luis Fernando Camacho's supporters set fire to the Santa Cruz Prosecutor's Office, the Directorate of Support for the Prevention of Drug Consumption, and other public buildings.
On Wednesday, the residence of Public Works Minister Edgar Montaño, six public buildings, and dozens of cars were set on fire by far-right militants who support Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who was detained for investigations in the "Coup I" case.
"The Cruceñista Youth Union and people related to Camacho burned my home, threatening the integrity and security of my family," Minister Montaño denounced, recalling that this is the second attack against his residence since 2019.
After setting fire to the wall and gate of Montaño's residence, the far-right militants ransacked it and attacked the residents who were trying to control the fire.
Camacho's supporters set fire to the Santa Cruz Prosecutor's Office, the Directorate of Support for the Prevention of Drug Consumption, the Civil Registry Service, the National Tax Service, and other institutions. They also launched firecrackers towards the Palace of Justice.
Three women and two men were arrested after the attacks on the Cochabamba Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.
“These people were taken to the offices of the Special Force to Fight Crime. An investigation has begun for the destruction and deterioration of state property and public incitement to commit crimes," said Nuria Gonzales, the Cochabamba prosecutor.
Currently, Camacho remains detained in La Paz City awaiting the precautionary hearing related to acts of violence that left over 30 dead during the 2019 coup d'état.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0008.html
Bolivia: Camacho's Supporters To Strike to Demand His Release
Santa Cruz leaders at the Cruceñidad civic assembly organized by the Pro-Santa Cruz Committee. Dec 29, 2022 | Photo: Twitter/@GlobaCruz
Published 29 December 2022 (13 hours 5 minutes ago)
The action consists of a 24-hour work stoppage that will take place tomorrow, Friday, according to Santa Cruz civic leaders.
The Pro Santa Cruz Committee announced this Thursday the stoppage of activities to demand the release of the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was arrested yesterday and transferred to La Paz.
During the Cruceñidad civic assembly the president of the Committee, Rómulo Calvo said that "a 24-hour civic strike is declared as of December 30 demanding the immediate release of the governor of our department."
Santa Cruz leaders also supported the blockade of local and international highways, a decision of the provincial civic committees.
Camacho was arrested on Wednesday by the Police, in compliance with an order from the Bolivian Prosecutor's Office, which said the action corresponds to the Coup d'état I case for terrorism during the 2019 crisis.
Moments in which Rómulo Calvo, president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee arrived at the Assembly of the Cruceñidad and some images of the participants of the meeting.
The governor is accused of organizing social mobilizations and promoting the rebellion of the Armed Forces in November 2019, which pressured former President Evo Morales (2006-2019) to resign from office.
The political opponent of Luis Arce's government and other supporters deny these accusations and attribute the 2019 crisis to alleged electoral fraud.
The arrest event generated protests in Santa Cruz and clashes with the police, as well as some destruction in national state entities such as the Departmental Prosecutor's Office.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0015.html
Bolivia: Camacho Embraces the Right to Silence in 'Coup I' Case
Luis Fernando Camacho (L) at the offices of the Prosecutor's Office in La Paz, Bolivia, Dec. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @Aygun_Digital
Published 29 December 2022
The Santa Cruz governor is being investigated for the acts of violence that broke out in 2019 when Jeanine Añez proclaimed herself President of Bolivia.
On Wednesday, the Bolivian Attorney General's Office announced that Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho will embrace the "right to silence" while awaiting a precautionary hearing.
The authorities have not yet set a date for his precautionary hearing. It is not yet known whether Camacho will be able to defend himself in freedom or from jail. Prosecutor Jorge Nina, however, will request his preventive detention.
Santa Cruz governor is the main accused by the Bolivian justice for the acts of violence and death that took place during the U.S.-backed coup d'état that occurred in 2019, when right-wing organizations and the army forced the resignation of then-president Evo Morales.
Currently, Camacho is detained at police facilities in La Paz city, after being transferred by air from the department of Santa Cruz.
The tweet reads, "This is how the Santa Cruz prosecutor's office was left after being set on fire by groups that respond to Governor Luis Fernando Camacho. Over 30 vehicles were left as scrap metal."
Camacho was arrested for the "Coup I" case, which is being investigated by prosecutor Omar Mejillones. This case refers to the events that prompted the 2019 coup and the seizure of power by the then senator Jeanine Añez, who proclaimed herself President of Bolivia.
On Wednesday, the victims of the 2019 repression, as well as the relatives of the citizens who died in the Senkata and Sacaba massacres, set up a vigil outside the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC) in La Paz, where the governor Santa Cruz is detained.
Meanwhile, far-right groups unleashed a wave of violence in Santa Cruz City in rejection of Camacho's arrest. Local media reported that they burned the building of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office and several vehicles.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0001.html
Bolivia: Camacho Sentenced to 4 Months in Pretrial Detention
Luis Fernando Camacho (R), La Paz, Bolivia, Dic. 29, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @teleSURtv
Published 30 December 2022 (1 hours 17 minutes ago)
His preventive detention is due to the "Coup I" case, which refers to the violent actions deployed during the coup d'état against Evo Morales in 2019.
On Friday, La Paz Criminal Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered four months of preventive detention for Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho for the "Coup d'état I" case.
This sentence arose after nine hours of deliberation in a hearing in which Camacho's defense attorneys demanded the immediate release of the Santa Cruz governor alleging that the Bolivian authorities committed excesses during his detention.
The hearing was held virtually since Camacho is detained at the headquarters of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC) in the city of La Paz.
Prosecutor Omar Mejillones denied Camacho's lawyers' accusations and showed that the defendant knew about his summons to appear to testify and did not do so in a timely manner. Therefore, the authorities proceeded to carry out an operation to capture him.
Given that Camacho is a far-right politician whose followers have staged acts of violence, Mejillones asked Judge Pacheco that the Santa Cruz governor be preventively confined in the high-security Chonchocoro prison in El Alto City.
His preventive detention is due to the "Coup I" case, which refers to the violent actions deployed during the coup d'état against President Evo Morales in 2019. At that time, Camacho was president of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee, a right-wing organization that has permanently attacked the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).
In other legal proceedings, Camacho must face accusations related to breaches of duties, insults to national symbols, discrimination, racism, improper use of influences, attack against the President of the Republic, political violence against women, and attacks against the free provision of public services.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0001.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Bolivian Fascist Groups Firebomb Public Buildings
January 2, 2023
Violent far-right groups in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz committed a new round of arson attacks against numerous public buildings on Sunday night. The acts of terror were carried out in revenge for the arrest of 2019 coup leader, Fernando Camacho, last week.
The offices of the state bank, Banco Union, and the Departmental Command of the Police are among those firebombed during the night by fascist groups such as the Union Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC), loyal to Camacho.
Interior Minister, Eduardo del Castillo, reported that “irregular groups attacked democracy, the police, and public institutions, using Molotov cocktails”. He added that two officers were injured during the attack.
22 people have been imprisoned for various acts of violence in Santa Cruz since the December 28th arrest.
Charges against those detained include; criminal association, public incitement to commit a crime, arson, and aggravated robbery.
The Bolivian government says that it will defend democracy against far-right groups that seek another coup. The Interior Minister said on his official social media that; “Bolivian Police will continue to carry out their work in accordance with the constitution, to defend democracy against these radical groups that seek to sow death and pain among the people of Bolivia and Santa Cruz.”
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivian-fasc ... -buildings
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Bolivian Pro-Coup Groups Attack Again Against Police Facilities
Patrol destroyed and launched into the Cotoca canal, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Jan. 3, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @BoliviaNueva1
Published 3 January 2023
Officers responded to the attack using tear gas to disperse the protesters and prevent the burning of the police headquarters.
On Monday night, the Cruceñista Youth Union (UJC) and other far-right groups that support Governor Fernando Camacho again attacked police facilities in the city of Santa Cruz.
A group of armed people threw Molotov cocktails, firecrackers, and fireworks attacked the police headquarters around 9:00 p.m. local time.
Police officers responded to the attack using tear gas to disperse the protesters and prevent the burning of the police headquarters. These events were recorded on videos that will allow the identification of some of the aggressors.
Previously, other smaller facilities were attacked. Local media reported that far-right militants burned three motorcycles, one patrol car, and the facilities of the Chacarrilla Police Station.
The tweet reads, "Neighbors report a fire in the FELCC on the island's pampas, Los Chacos. With this case, it would be 3 police facilities that are burned and violated by vandal groups."
Violent protests in Santa Cruz intensified after the arrest of Camacho, who is being investigated for terrorism charges that are part of the "Coup I" case, which refers to the U.S.-backed coup perpetrated against President Evo Morales in 2019.
Santa Cruz governor was arrested on Dec. 28 as a result of an order issued by a judge in October 2022. Currently, he is serving a preventive prison for four months in the Chonchocoro maximum security prison, in La Paz.
The "Coup I" case investigation also involve the self-proclaimed interim president Jeannine Añez, the former presidential candidate Carlos Mesa, and other people who were directly or indirectly responsible for the death of over 30 citizens who opposed the de facto regime that ruled Bolivia between Nov. 2019 and Nov. 2020.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bol ... -0001.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Bolivian Fascist Groups Firebomb Public Buildings
January 2, 2023
Violent far-right groups in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz committed a new round of arson attacks against numerous public buildings on Sunday night. The acts of terror were carried out in revenge for the arrest of 2019 coup leader, Fernando Camacho, last week.
The offices of the state bank, Banco Union, and the Departmental Command of the Police are among those firebombed during the night by fascist groups such as the Union Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC), loyal to Camacho.
Interior Minister, Eduardo del Castillo, reported that “irregular groups attacked democracy, the police, and public institutions, using Molotov cocktails”. He added that two officers were injured during the attack.
22 people have been imprisoned for various acts of violence in Santa Cruz since the December 28th arrest.
Charges against those detained include; criminal association, public incitement to commit a crime, arson, and aggravated robbery.
The Bolivian government says that it will defend democracy against far-right groups that seek another coup. The Interior Minister said on his official social media that; “Bolivian Police will continue to carry out their work in accordance with the constitution, to defend democracy against these radical groups that seek to sow death and pain among the people of Bolivia and Santa Cruz.”
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivian-fasc ... -buildings
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Bolivian far-right groups continue retaliatory attacks on public infrastructure
Extremist groups are protesting the arrest and sentencing of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho
January 03, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. Photo: Kawsachun News
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. The attacks were carried out demanding the release of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was arrested by police authorities on December 28, 2022, in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case.
On Sunday night, members of the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC) and Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee attacked the facilities of the state-owned bank, Banco Unión, with molotov cocktails and firecrackers. The fire caused by molotov cocktails damaged parts of the bank. Banco Unión rejected the attack on its facilities the same night, resumed its operations with all security measures the next day, and stressed that it would initiate legal action against those responsible for the damage.
On Monday night, the violent groups attacked the Departmental Police Command with molotov cocktails, firecrackers, sticks and stones. According to reports from local media, the attackers also attacked the group of women, who had been holding a vigil outside the police headquarters in support of Camacho since Monday morning.
The departmental deputy police commander, Colonel Edson Claure, reported that police officers responded to the attack using tear gas to disperse the violent group and prevent the seizure and burning of the headquarters. He added that videos were recorded to demonstrate what happened and identify some of those responsible for the attack.
This was the second time that the Santa Cruz’s Police Command was attacked. Earlier, on December 31, a group of 500 hooded people attacked the police, vandalized the facilities, hit the officials with sticks and stones, and set fire to three police vehicles.
Bolivian Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez expressed his repudiation of the acts of violence carried out by irregular groups linked to the UJC and the Civic Committee. “We repudiate acts of violence, they are not peaceful acts, they are organized acts of violence that must be punished according to criminal law,” he said in an interview with Bolivia TV on January 3.
Since Camacho’s arrest, violent protests have been constant in Santa Cruz, Camacho’s home department and a stronghold of right-wing opposition. In the past six days, hundreds of people have been injured and at least 10 public buildings have been affected by fires, in addition to damage and looting of numerous homes, private businesses and cars.
At least 22 people have been imprisoned for various acts of violence and have been charged with crimes of destruction and deterioration of State property, criminal association, public incitement to commit a crime, arson, and aggravated robbery.
The case against Camacho
Camacho was one of the key plotters of the 2019 civic-military coup against the then socialist president Evo Morales. He was the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee in 2019. In October and November 2019, during the post-elections conflict, he organized and promoted violent and racist demonstrations against the Morales government across the country. He has been accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. On December 30, 2022, a Bolivian court sentenced Camacho to four months of preventive detention in the Chonchocoro Prison while investigation in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case continues.
Camacho’s supporters have deemed his apprehension as an “illegal kidnapping” in a “brutal” manner. These complaints have been rejected by the Prosecutor’s Office, and recalled that the arrest warrant for Camacho was issued in October 2022. The Office also denied the alleged injuries suffered by Camacho during his arrest, and ensured that he was arrested “respecting constitutional rights and human rights.”
Despite this, Camacho’s defense alleges that the detention was irregular and filed a freedom action in favor of the governor. The hearing to address that appeal was scheduled for January 2 in the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of Santa Cruz, but it was suspended after the judge declined her jurisdiction to take the case and transfer it to a judge in the capital La Paz.
At the same time, the general director of the Penitentiary Regime, Juan Carlos Limpias, rejected the claims made by Camacho’s lawyers, who said that his health was in danger. Limpias reported that according to the latest report from the doctors, Camacho’s health is “absolutely stable.” He also reported that Camacho has been receiving medical attention 24 hours a day, he was evaluated by a medical board made up of his family doctor, doctors from the Penitentiary Regime and doctors from the Ombudsman’s Office.
Ombudsman, Pedro Callisaya, who visited Camacho in prison this Monday, confirmed his health status. Calisaya told local media outside the prison that Camacho told him that he was “calm” and that he has been receiving medical attention, but that he “was expecting some results from their lawyers.”
Various Indigenous, peasant and social organizations as well as relatives of the victims of the Sacaba and Senkata massacres have expressed their satisfaction with Camacho’s arrest and have rejected the wave of violence unleashed by Camacho supporters.
During the mobilizations against the coup in November 2019, 38 Bolivians were killed, 800 people were injured, and over 1,000 citizens were unjustly detained.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/03/ ... structure/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Bolivian government denies political persecution against the governor of Santa Cruz
Del Castillo said that 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles destroyed and 26 police officers injured. | Photo: EFE
Posted 5 January 2023 (5 hours 10 minutes ago)
Some 76 people are prosecuted accused of violent acts against state agencies in Santa Cruz, carried out by supporters of Camacho.
The Bolivian Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, denied that the governor of the department of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, is a political prisoner, and claimed to have at least 33 pieces of evidence that the detainee financed the 2019 coup.
In a press conference, Del Castillo explained that they detected that on November 12, 2019, Camacho made two bank transfers to the former commander of the Air Force, Jorge Terceros Lara, and at the same time received deposits with large sums of money from his relatives.
The official presented a graph to detail the financial flow "of Mr. Luis Fernando Camacho days before, the day of the coup and after it," where "it is clear that there were large financial movements behind the coup in our country."
“A small part of the financing of the 2019 coup was revealed and reached about 2.1 million (Bolivianos, equivalent to 304,000 dollars), money that was mobilized to and from the bank account of the ex-civic, his father, José Luis Camacho, and his sister, Rosa María, along with eight other people from his close circle, are involved,” Del Castillo reiterated.
After being apprehended on December 28 as a result of a prosecutor's order, Camacho was transferred to the Chonchocoro prison for four months in preventive detention on charges of links to the violent acts that led to the removal of power by then-President Evo Morales.
76 people are prosecuted for destruction in Santa Cruz
The Minister of the Interior also indicated that some 76 people are being prosecuted accused of violent acts against state agencies in Santa Cruz, caused by supporters of the right-wing Camacho movement.
The official explained that there are 24 people sentenced, 22 arrested await precautionary hearings, 14 have preventive detention and 16 are with substitute measures.
"In total we are talking about 76 people who were apprehended and arrested in flagrante delicto for the crimes of destruction or deterioration of State property, public incitement to commit a crime, among others," he mentioned.
He noted that the authorities have seized 10 cars from "radical and irregular groups" that they used to commit these crimes.
As part of the damage count, Del Castillo said that 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles destroyed and 26 police officers injured.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/bolivia- ... -0001.html
Google Translator
**********
Bolivian far-right groups continue retaliatory attacks on public infrastructure
Extremist groups are protesting the arrest and sentencing of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho
January 03, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. Photo: Kawsachun News
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. The attacks were carried out demanding the release of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was arrested by police authorities on December 28, 2022, in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case.
On Sunday night, members of the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC) and Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee attacked the facilities of the state-owned bank, Banco Unión, with molotov cocktails and firecrackers. The fire caused by molotov cocktails damaged parts of the bank. Banco Unión rejected the attack on its facilities the same night, resumed its operations with all security measures the next day, and stressed that it would initiate legal action against those responsible for the damage.
On Monday night, the violent groups attacked the Departmental Police Command with molotov cocktails, firecrackers, sticks and stones. According to reports from local media, the attackers also attacked the group of women, who had been holding a vigil outside the police headquarters in support of Camacho since Monday morning.
The departmental deputy police commander, Colonel Edson Claure, reported that police officers responded to the attack using tear gas to disperse the violent group and prevent the seizure and burning of the headquarters. He added that videos were recorded to demonstrate what happened and identify some of those responsible for the attack.
This was the second time that the Santa Cruz’s Police Command was attacked. Earlier, on December 31, a group of 500 hooded people attacked the police, vandalized the facilities, hit the officials with sticks and stones, and set fire to three police vehicles.
Bolivian Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez expressed his repudiation of the acts of violence carried out by irregular groups linked to the UJC and the Civic Committee. “We repudiate acts of violence, they are not peaceful acts, they are organized acts of violence that must be punished according to criminal law,” he said in an interview with Bolivia TV on January 3.
Since Camacho’s arrest, violent protests have been constant in Santa Cruz, Camacho’s home department and a stronghold of right-wing opposition. In the past six days, hundreds of people have been injured and at least 10 public buildings have been affected by fires, in addition to damage and looting of numerous homes, private businesses and cars.
At least 22 people have been imprisoned for various acts of violence and have been charged with crimes of destruction and deterioration of State property, criminal association, public incitement to commit a crime, arson, and aggravated robbery.
The case against Camacho
Camacho was one of the key plotters of the 2019 civic-military coup against the then socialist president Evo Morales. He was the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee in 2019. In October and November 2019, during the post-elections conflict, he organized and promoted violent and racist demonstrations against the Morales government across the country. He has been accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. On December 30, 2022, a Bolivian court sentenced Camacho to four months of preventive detention in the Chonchocoro Prison while investigation in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case continues.
Camacho’s supporters have deemed his apprehension as an “illegal kidnapping” in a “brutal” manner. These complaints have been rejected by the Prosecutor’s Office, and recalled that the arrest warrant for Camacho was issued in October 2022. The Office also denied the alleged injuries suffered by Camacho during his arrest, and ensured that he was arrested “respecting constitutional rights and human rights.”
Despite this, Camacho’s defense alleges that the detention was irregular and filed a freedom action in favor of the governor. The hearing to address that appeal was scheduled for January 2 in the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of Santa Cruz, but it was suspended after the judge declined her jurisdiction to take the case and transfer it to a judge in the capital La Paz.
At the same time, the general director of the Penitentiary Regime, Juan Carlos Limpias, rejected the claims made by Camacho’s lawyers, who said that his health was in danger. Limpias reported that according to the latest report from the doctors, Camacho’s health is “absolutely stable.” He also reported that Camacho has been receiving medical attention 24 hours a day, he was evaluated by a medical board made up of his family doctor, doctors from the Penitentiary Regime and doctors from the Ombudsman’s Office.
Ombudsman, Pedro Callisaya, who visited Camacho in prison this Monday, confirmed his health status. Calisaya told local media outside the prison that Camacho told him that he was “calm” and that he has been receiving medical attention, but that he “was expecting some results from their lawyers.”
Various Indigenous, peasant and social organizations as well as relatives of the victims of the Sacaba and Senkata massacres have expressed their satisfaction with Camacho’s arrest and have rejected the wave of violence unleashed by Camacho supporters.
During the mobilizations against the coup in November 2019, 38 Bolivians were killed, 800 people were injured, and over 1,000 citizens were unjustly detained.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/03/ ... structure/
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76 Bolivians Are Prosecuted for Acts of Vandalism in Santa Cruz
Fireworks explode in front of police during protests, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Jan. 4, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @ForeignAffairsL
Published 5 January 2023 (1 hours 43 minutes ago)
Far-right groups commite crimes in Santa Cruz, where 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles were destroyed, and 26 police officers were injured.
On Wednesday, Bolivia's Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo announced that 76 people are being prosecuted for the consequences of acts of violence that took place amid protests against the detention of Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho.
"Seventy-six people were arrested in flagrante delicto for crimes such as destruction or deterioration of State property, and public incitement to commit crimes," he said, adding that 24 people are sentenced, 22 citizens are awaiting precautionary hearings, 14 people are in preventive detention, and 16 citizens have substitute measures.
These Bolivians were involved in the attacks on the building of the Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor's Office, the facilities of the Police Departmental Command, and the residence of the Public Works Minister Edgar Montaño.
The Interior Minister also mentioned that authorities seized 10 vehicles that were used by far-right groups to commit crimes in the department of Santa Cruz, where 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles were destroyed, and 26 police officers were injured.
"None of these facts will go unpunished," Del Castillo said and recalled that authorities are not to blame for Camacho not appearing to testify in a timely manner in the "Coup I" case, which refers to the coup d'état against the President Evo Morales in 2019.
The tweet reads, "Violent protests shake Bolivia and the government affirms that they 'seek impunity for Camacho.' In the city of Santa Cruz, protesters staged nightly street clashes, burning cars and tires and launching fireworks."
Regarding the legal situation of the Santa Cruz Governor, the Interior Minister pointed out that judicial investigations have so far found 33 pieces of evidence showing that Camacho financed the 2019 coup d'état. Therefore, his arrest is not a sign of "political persecution."
In November 2019, Camacho transferred US$304,000 from his bank account to the accounts of people involved in the coup, including former Air Force commander Jorge Terceros Lara.
After being apprehended on Dec. 28, 2022 as a result of a court order issued in October, Camacho was transferred to the Chonchocoro prison to serve four months in preventive detention while investigations continue.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/76- ... -0001.html
Former Bolivian de Facto Minister Convicted in the US
The case against the former minister was unleashed by the million-dollar purchase of tear gas with an alteration in the price, which occurred in 2019. | Photo: ABI
Published 4 January 2023
The former official was arrested in 2021 in the U.S. after fleeing Bolivia, and remained in a Federal prison in Miami Dade County, Florida.
The former minister of the Bolivian de facto government headed by Jeanine Áñez, Arturo Murillo, was sentenced to 70 months in prison in the United States for international bribery and money laundering crimes.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Murillo "was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for conspiracy to launder bribes he received in exchange for corruptly helping a U.S. company win a lucrative contract with the Bolivian government".
State Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez explained that Judge Paul C. Huck of the Florida County Court, Miami, Southern District of Florida, issued the sentence against Murillo, who will serve time in federal prison in that state.
"This sentence has an unappealable character; consequently, there is no way to redeem or reverse this decision of the U.S., and consequently enables us to advance the extradition process initiated in Bolivia by the State Prosecutor's Office," he said.
In this sense, Chávez expressed the conformity of the Bolivian State with the sentence and emphasized that the civil trial started by the Attorney General's Office would not be stopped to recover all the amount that Murillo took.
The case against the former minister was unleashed due to the millionaire purchase of tear gas with alterations in price that occurred in 2019, in the context of the coup d'état and the imposition of the mandate of Áñez.
The former official was arrested in 2021 in the U.S. after fleeing Bolivia and remained in the Federal Administrative Security Prison in Miami Dade County, Florida.
In this case, in addition to Murillo, Philip Lichtenfeld, Bryan and Luis Berkman and Sergio Rodrigo Méndez Mendizábal, all accomplices of the same crimes, were indicted and convicted.
It is worth mentioning that the former Minister of Government announced in 2019 a hunt against many of the defenders of the then Government headed by Evo Morales and mentioned names such as Juan Ramón Quintana and others.
The tear gases were acquired by the then minister for the National Police through the Condor company, using the North American company Bravo Tactical Solutions LLC (BTS) as an intermediary, for a figure of more than five and a half million dollars, with a proven overpricing of more than two million.
A few months after the election and the arrival to power of the current president, Luis Arce Catacora, Murillo decided to go on the run.
The Bolivian Government started a lawsuit against Murillo and his accomplices in the U.S. to recover the overpricing of the tear gas purchase and damages.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/For ... -0015.html
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Bolivia Expels Fascist Vox Politician
January 4, 2023
Bolivian immigration authorities have ordered Spanish politician, Victor Gonzalez, of the fascist Vox party, to leave the country due to his interfering in Bolivia’s domestic affairs and disrupting public order. The far-right politician had traveled to Bolivia to express his support for jailed coup leader Fernando Camacho.
Bolivia’s Vice-minister for external trade, Benjamin Blanco, said yesterday, “The letter of the United Nations specifies very clearly in its article 2.7 that no country is authorized to intervene in matters that are essentially within the internal jurisdiction of the States, in this sense from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will make a formal claim to the Spanish government for the conduct of this congressman in our national territory.”
Leaders of the Indigenous ‘Ponchos Rojos’ Aymara federation also denounced the foreign congressman and set up a vigil around the Chonchocorro prison in La Paz where Camacho is being held.
Ovidio Mamani, spokesman for the organization said, “Legislators from other countries have come here to Chonchocoro, asking for freedom and justice for a murderer (Camacho) who is the intellectual author of the 2019 coup (..) To these gentlemen from other countries who have come to ask for justice, where were you when our brothers were being massacred?”
VOX is neo-fascist party in Spain that believes in the reconquest of the Americas and celebrates the legacy of Christopher Columbus. The party seeks to expel Muslim immigrants from Spain and repel all laws against gender violence. They are also admirers of the ex-dictator Franco and within their leadership are holocaust denialists. The VOX maintains close ties with Bolivia’s former Añez regime, appearing press conferences together in 2019, they have also met with Juan Guaido and stated their support for his efforts to carry out a coup in Venezuela.
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivia-expel ... politician
Del Castillo said that 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles destroyed and 26 police officers injured. | Photo: EFE
Posted 5 January 2023 (5 hours 10 minutes ago)
Some 76 people are prosecuted accused of violent acts against state agencies in Santa Cruz, carried out by supporters of Camacho.
The Bolivian Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, denied that the governor of the department of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, is a political prisoner, and claimed to have at least 33 pieces of evidence that the detainee financed the 2019 coup.
In a press conference, Del Castillo explained that they detected that on November 12, 2019, Camacho made two bank transfers to the former commander of the Air Force, Jorge Terceros Lara, and at the same time received deposits with large sums of money from his relatives.
The official presented a graph to detail the financial flow "of Mr. Luis Fernando Camacho days before, the day of the coup and after it," where "it is clear that there were large financial movements behind the coup in our country."
“A small part of the financing of the 2019 coup was revealed and reached about 2.1 million (Bolivianos, equivalent to 304,000 dollars), money that was mobilized to and from the bank account of the ex-civic, his father, José Luis Camacho, and his sister, Rosa María, along with eight other people from his close circle, are involved,” Del Castillo reiterated.
After being apprehended on December 28 as a result of a prosecutor's order, Camacho was transferred to the Chonchocoro prison for four months in preventive detention on charges of links to the violent acts that led to the removal of power by then-President Evo Morales.
76 people are prosecuted for destruction in Santa Cruz
The Minister of the Interior also indicated that some 76 people are being prosecuted accused of violent acts against state agencies in Santa Cruz, caused by supporters of the right-wing Camacho movement.
The official explained that there are 24 people sentenced, 22 arrested await precautionary hearings, 14 have preventive detention and 16 are with substitute measures.
"In total we are talking about 76 people who were apprehended and arrested in flagrante delicto for the crimes of destruction or deterioration of State property, public incitement to commit a crime, among others," he mentioned.
He noted that the authorities have seized 10 cars from "radical and irregular groups" that they used to commit these crimes.
As part of the damage count, Del Castillo said that 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles destroyed and 26 police officers injured.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/bolivia- ... -0001.html
Google Translator
**********
Bolivian far-right groups continue retaliatory attacks on public infrastructure
Extremist groups are protesting the arrest and sentencing of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho
January 03, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. Photo: Kawsachun News
Far-right extremist groups in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department committed a new round of arson attacks against various public buildings on January 1 and 2. The attacks were carried out demanding the release of far-right opposition leader and governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was arrested by police authorities on December 28, 2022, in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case.
On Sunday night, members of the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC) and Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee attacked the facilities of the state-owned bank, Banco Unión, with molotov cocktails and firecrackers. The fire caused by molotov cocktails damaged parts of the bank. Banco Unión rejected the attack on its facilities the same night, resumed its operations with all security measures the next day, and stressed that it would initiate legal action against those responsible for the damage.
On Monday night, the violent groups attacked the Departmental Police Command with molotov cocktails, firecrackers, sticks and stones. According to reports from local media, the attackers also attacked the group of women, who had been holding a vigil outside the police headquarters in support of Camacho since Monday morning.
The departmental deputy police commander, Colonel Edson Claure, reported that police officers responded to the attack using tear gas to disperse the violent group and prevent the seizure and burning of the headquarters. He added that videos were recorded to demonstrate what happened and identify some of those responsible for the attack.
This was the second time that the Santa Cruz’s Police Command was attacked. Earlier, on December 31, a group of 500 hooded people attacked the police, vandalized the facilities, hit the officials with sticks and stones, and set fire to three police vehicles.
Bolivian Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez expressed his repudiation of the acts of violence carried out by irregular groups linked to the UJC and the Civic Committee. “We repudiate acts of violence, they are not peaceful acts, they are organized acts of violence that must be punished according to criminal law,” he said in an interview with Bolivia TV on January 3.
Since Camacho’s arrest, violent protests have been constant in Santa Cruz, Camacho’s home department and a stronghold of right-wing opposition. In the past six days, hundreds of people have been injured and at least 10 public buildings have been affected by fires, in addition to damage and looting of numerous homes, private businesses and cars.
At least 22 people have been imprisoned for various acts of violence and have been charged with crimes of destruction and deterioration of State property, criminal association, public incitement to commit a crime, arson, and aggravated robbery.
The case against Camacho
Camacho was one of the key plotters of the 2019 civic-military coup against the then socialist president Evo Morales. He was the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee in 2019. In October and November 2019, during the post-elections conflict, he organized and promoted violent and racist demonstrations against the Morales government across the country. He has been accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. On December 30, 2022, a Bolivian court sentenced Camacho to four months of preventive detention in the Chonchocoro Prison while investigation in the ‘Coup d’état I’ case continues.
Camacho’s supporters have deemed his apprehension as an “illegal kidnapping” in a “brutal” manner. These complaints have been rejected by the Prosecutor’s Office, and recalled that the arrest warrant for Camacho was issued in October 2022. The Office also denied the alleged injuries suffered by Camacho during his arrest, and ensured that he was arrested “respecting constitutional rights and human rights.”
Despite this, Camacho’s defense alleges that the detention was irregular and filed a freedom action in favor of the governor. The hearing to address that appeal was scheduled for January 2 in the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of Santa Cruz, but it was suspended after the judge declined her jurisdiction to take the case and transfer it to a judge in the capital La Paz.
At the same time, the general director of the Penitentiary Regime, Juan Carlos Limpias, rejected the claims made by Camacho’s lawyers, who said that his health was in danger. Limpias reported that according to the latest report from the doctors, Camacho’s health is “absolutely stable.” He also reported that Camacho has been receiving medical attention 24 hours a day, he was evaluated by a medical board made up of his family doctor, doctors from the Penitentiary Regime and doctors from the Ombudsman’s Office.
Ombudsman, Pedro Callisaya, who visited Camacho in prison this Monday, confirmed his health status. Calisaya told local media outside the prison that Camacho told him that he was “calm” and that he has been receiving medical attention, but that he “was expecting some results from their lawyers.”
Various Indigenous, peasant and social organizations as well as relatives of the victims of the Sacaba and Senkata massacres have expressed their satisfaction with Camacho’s arrest and have rejected the wave of violence unleashed by Camacho supporters.
During the mobilizations against the coup in November 2019, 38 Bolivians were killed, 800 people were injured, and over 1,000 citizens were unjustly detained.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/03/ ... structure/
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76 Bolivians Are Prosecuted for Acts of Vandalism in Santa Cruz
Fireworks explode in front of police during protests, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Jan. 4, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @ForeignAffairsL
Published 5 January 2023 (1 hours 43 minutes ago)
Far-right groups commite crimes in Santa Cruz, where 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles were destroyed, and 26 police officers were injured.
On Wednesday, Bolivia's Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo announced that 76 people are being prosecuted for the consequences of acts of violence that took place amid protests against the detention of Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho.
"Seventy-six people were arrested in flagrante delicto for crimes such as destruction or deterioration of State property, and public incitement to commit crimes," he said, adding that 24 people are sentenced, 22 citizens are awaiting precautionary hearings, 14 people are in preventive detention, and 16 citizens have substitute measures.
These Bolivians were involved in the attacks on the building of the Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor's Office, the facilities of the Police Departmental Command, and the residence of the Public Works Minister Edgar Montaño.
The Interior Minister also mentioned that authorities seized 10 vehicles that were used by far-right groups to commit crimes in the department of Santa Cruz, where 27 public and private infrastructures were damaged, 44 vehicles were destroyed, and 26 police officers were injured.
"None of these facts will go unpunished," Del Castillo said and recalled that authorities are not to blame for Camacho not appearing to testify in a timely manner in the "Coup I" case, which refers to the coup d'état against the President Evo Morales in 2019.
The tweet reads, "Violent protests shake Bolivia and the government affirms that they 'seek impunity for Camacho.' In the city of Santa Cruz, protesters staged nightly street clashes, burning cars and tires and launching fireworks."
Regarding the legal situation of the Santa Cruz Governor, the Interior Minister pointed out that judicial investigations have so far found 33 pieces of evidence showing that Camacho financed the 2019 coup d'état. Therefore, his arrest is not a sign of "political persecution."
In November 2019, Camacho transferred US$304,000 from his bank account to the accounts of people involved in the coup, including former Air Force commander Jorge Terceros Lara.
After being apprehended on Dec. 28, 2022 as a result of a court order issued in October, Camacho was transferred to the Chonchocoro prison to serve four months in preventive detention while investigations continue.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/76- ... -0001.html
Former Bolivian de Facto Minister Convicted in the US
The case against the former minister was unleashed by the million-dollar purchase of tear gas with an alteration in the price, which occurred in 2019. | Photo: ABI
Published 4 January 2023
The former official was arrested in 2021 in the U.S. after fleeing Bolivia, and remained in a Federal prison in Miami Dade County, Florida.
The former minister of the Bolivian de facto government headed by Jeanine Áñez, Arturo Murillo, was sentenced to 70 months in prison in the United States for international bribery and money laundering crimes.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Murillo "was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for conspiracy to launder bribes he received in exchange for corruptly helping a U.S. company win a lucrative contract with the Bolivian government".
State Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez explained that Judge Paul C. Huck of the Florida County Court, Miami, Southern District of Florida, issued the sentence against Murillo, who will serve time in federal prison in that state.
"This sentence has an unappealable character; consequently, there is no way to redeem or reverse this decision of the U.S., and consequently enables us to advance the extradition process initiated in Bolivia by the State Prosecutor's Office," he said.
In this sense, Chávez expressed the conformity of the Bolivian State with the sentence and emphasized that the civil trial started by the Attorney General's Office would not be stopped to recover all the amount that Murillo took.
The case against the former minister was unleashed due to the millionaire purchase of tear gas with alterations in price that occurred in 2019, in the context of the coup d'état and the imposition of the mandate of Áñez.
The former official was arrested in 2021 in the U.S. after fleeing Bolivia and remained in the Federal Administrative Security Prison in Miami Dade County, Florida.
In this case, in addition to Murillo, Philip Lichtenfeld, Bryan and Luis Berkman and Sergio Rodrigo Méndez Mendizábal, all accomplices of the same crimes, were indicted and convicted.
It is worth mentioning that the former Minister of Government announced in 2019 a hunt against many of the defenders of the then Government headed by Evo Morales and mentioned names such as Juan Ramón Quintana and others.
The tear gases were acquired by the then minister for the National Police through the Condor company, using the North American company Bravo Tactical Solutions LLC (BTS) as an intermediary, for a figure of more than five and a half million dollars, with a proven overpricing of more than two million.
A few months after the election and the arrival to power of the current president, Luis Arce Catacora, Murillo decided to go on the run.
The Bolivian Government started a lawsuit against Murillo and his accomplices in the U.S. to recover the overpricing of the tear gas purchase and damages.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/For ... -0015.html
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Bolivia Expels Fascist Vox Politician
January 4, 2023
Bolivian immigration authorities have ordered Spanish politician, Victor Gonzalez, of the fascist Vox party, to leave the country due to his interfering in Bolivia’s domestic affairs and disrupting public order. The far-right politician had traveled to Bolivia to express his support for jailed coup leader Fernando Camacho.
Bolivia’s Vice-minister for external trade, Benjamin Blanco, said yesterday, “The letter of the United Nations specifies very clearly in its article 2.7 that no country is authorized to intervene in matters that are essentially within the internal jurisdiction of the States, in this sense from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will make a formal claim to the Spanish government for the conduct of this congressman in our national territory.”
Leaders of the Indigenous ‘Ponchos Rojos’ Aymara federation also denounced the foreign congressman and set up a vigil around the Chonchocorro prison in La Paz where Camacho is being held.
Ovidio Mamani, spokesman for the organization said, “Legislators from other countries have come here to Chonchocoro, asking for freedom and justice for a murderer (Camacho) who is the intellectual author of the 2019 coup (..) To these gentlemen from other countries who have come to ask for justice, where were you when our brothers were being massacred?”
VOX is neo-fascist party in Spain that believes in the reconquest of the Americas and celebrates the legacy of Christopher Columbus. The party seeks to expel Muslim immigrants from Spain and repel all laws against gender violence. They are also admirers of the ex-dictator Franco and within their leadership are holocaust denialists. The VOX maintains close ties with Bolivia’s former Añez regime, appearing press conferences together in 2019, they have also met with Juan Guaido and stated their support for his efforts to carry out a coup in Venezuela.
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivia-expel ... politician
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Right-wing Group Continues Violent Protests in Santa Cruz
Juan Carlos Huarachi, Executive Secretary of the Central Obrera Boliviana (Bolivian Central Workers' Union). Jan. 07, 2023. | Photo: RedUno/APG
Published 7 January 2023 (23 hours 53 minutes ago)
On Saturday, marked seven days of protests led by the so-called civic committees demanding the release of the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho.
Violent groups of the right-wing Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC) once again set fire to the building of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of the province of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, but this time the police managed to take control of the building.
On Saturday, marked seven days of protests led by the so-called civic committees demanding the release of the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, a new violent demonstration took place on Friday night.
Near the Cristo Redentor monument, the focus of the conflicts, the groups linked to UJC gathered, which since December 28, when the ex-civic Camacho was arrested, have been taking, looting and burning public and private buildings.
The Ministry of Government informs the Bolivian population that criminal groups and financed criminals once again set fire to the 3rd floor of the facilities of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of #SantaCruz.
One of the first buildings burned was, precisely, that of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of Santa Cruz, which was practically in ashes and unusable. Violent groups returned on Friday night to attack the infrastructure and set it on fire.
The fire was on the third floor and the infrastructure is in danger of collapsing.
Several buildings were looted and burned in Santa Cruz, as a response to Camacho's arrest in the case of Coup d'Etat I. The governor of Santa Cruz is being held in the Chonchocoro prison in La Paz, as part of the investigations for the "Coup d'Etat I" case.
Low participation in support of Luis Fernando Camacho. The Civic Committee's call was barely answered by a small group that went to Christ the Redeemer.
On the other hand, the Minister of Public Works, Edgar Montaño, informed that the blockades promoted by the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, Rómulo Calvo, caused to date an economic damage of more than 28 million pesos to the state-owned company Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras (ABC) and Vías Bolivia.
"He did not care about losing resources due to the 36-day strike, now he is violating the Political Constitution of the State which in its article 16 says that everyone has the right to water and food and he (Calvo) said that he is not going to let a single soybean leave Santa Cruz", said Montaño.
In this sense, the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, warned this Friday that the civic dictatorship of Santa Cruz seeks impunity for the perpetrators of human rights violations, the interruption of the constitutional order and the massacres of 2019 at the expense of the sacrifice of the people of Santa Cruz.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rig ... -0001.html
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They link Camacho to the de facto regime of Bolivia
Camacho, a former leader of the right-wing Civic Committees, was sent by Judge Sebastián Pacheco Diamantino for four months to the Chonchocoro prison, for the Coup d'état I case. Photo: The Reason
Published 8 January 2023 (28 minutes ago)
The daughter of Jeanine Añez, Carolina Ribera, affirmed that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, in prison since last week, was part of the former de facto government
The daughter of former president Jeanine Áñez, Carolina Ribera, affirmed that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, in prison since last week, was part of the de facto government that her mother headed between 2019 and 2020 and requested many ministries.
"She had to put together a cabinet and she had to do it with the people who were there because without a cabinet you cannot govern," Ribera said in an interview with a local media outlet.
"Luis Fernando Camacho was also part of the Government and asked for many ministries, many spaces and my mother always said from the beginning: this is a fight of the civics, of the citizens and I am going to do what is appropriate because this fight is theirs. Rivera said.
In 2019, Fernando Camacho, in his role as president of the Civic Committee for Santa Cruz, was one of the leaders of the protest that led to the resignation of then-President Evo Morales and the subsequent irregular assumption of Áñez.
Among his ministers were his former colleagues from the Social Democratic Movement (Democrats) in the Legislative Óscar Ortiz, Arturo Murillo, Rodrigo Guzmán, María Elva Pinkert and Víctor Hugo Zamora. While on behalf of the civic movement Jerjes Justiniano Atalá and Luis Fernando López.
Camacho together with Marco Antonio Pumari were the people who led the civic movement during the 2019 crisis that led to the coup against Evo Morales in the midst of an atmosphere of convulsion, after a police riot and the "suggestion" of resignation from the Armed forces.
"In her (de facto) government there were mistakes, there were people who acted in bad faith that she trusted, because she is a very decent and correct person and she trusted that people were going to act like her," Ribera said.
Camacho, a former leader of the right-wing Civic Committees, was sent by Judge Sebastián Pacheco Diamantino for four months to the Chonchocoro prison, for the Coup d'état I case, referring to the departure of Evo Morales from the Government in the 2019 crisis .
Áñez is being held in the Miraflores prison for the so-called Coup d'état I and II case, in the latter she already has a 10-year sentence.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/bolivia- ... -0014.html
Google Translator
******************
Bolivian Unions Mobilize for President Luis Arce
January 7, 2023Bolivia, COB, Santa Cruz
Bolivia’s social movements have declared a state of emergency and permanent mobilization in support of President Luis Arce in response to riots in Santa Cruz by groups loyal to arrested coup leader, Luis Fernando Camacho. Social movements that made the declaration include the COB workers confederation, the campesino confederations (CSTUCB, Interculturales), and indigenous organizations (CONAMAQ, Bartolinas).
Executive Secretary of the COB, Juan Carlos Huarachi, held a press conference late last night after a meeting President Luis Arce, he said, “Today, all the social movements agree to declare ourselves in a state of emergency for everything that is happening in the department of Santa Cruz. It is also important to make the population aware of the report provided by the Interior Minister that details why the governor of Santa Cruz was arrested”.
Huarachi also stated that on Monday, the unions will announce the mobilizations in every region of the country, to support President Arce.
Since the arrest of coup Fernando Camacho, violent groups have been attacking public buildings in the city of Santa Cruz as revenge. Social movements say that the arrest was necessary and represents justice for the victims of the 2019 coup.
President Luis Arce also spoke at the press conference and announced additional mobilizations for January 22nd, to mark the anniversary of the Plurinational State, a product of the social struggles that introduced a new constitution in 2009.
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivian-unio ... -luis-arce
Juan Carlos Huarachi, Executive Secretary of the Central Obrera Boliviana (Bolivian Central Workers' Union). Jan. 07, 2023. | Photo: RedUno/APG
Published 7 January 2023 (23 hours 53 minutes ago)
On Saturday, marked seven days of protests led by the so-called civic committees demanding the release of the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho.
Violent groups of the right-wing Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC) once again set fire to the building of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of the province of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, but this time the police managed to take control of the building.
On Saturday, marked seven days of protests led by the so-called civic committees demanding the release of the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, a new violent demonstration took place on Friday night.
Near the Cristo Redentor monument, the focus of the conflicts, the groups linked to UJC gathered, which since December 28, when the ex-civic Camacho was arrested, have been taking, looting and burning public and private buildings.
The Ministry of Government informs the Bolivian population that criminal groups and financed criminals once again set fire to the 3rd floor of the facilities of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of #SantaCruz.
One of the first buildings burned was, precisely, that of the Departmental Prosecutor's Office of Santa Cruz, which was practically in ashes and unusable. Violent groups returned on Friday night to attack the infrastructure and set it on fire.
The fire was on the third floor and the infrastructure is in danger of collapsing.
Several buildings were looted and burned in Santa Cruz, as a response to Camacho's arrest in the case of Coup d'Etat I. The governor of Santa Cruz is being held in the Chonchocoro prison in La Paz, as part of the investigations for the "Coup d'Etat I" case.
Low participation in support of Luis Fernando Camacho. The Civic Committee's call was barely answered by a small group that went to Christ the Redeemer.
On the other hand, the Minister of Public Works, Edgar Montaño, informed that the blockades promoted by the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, Rómulo Calvo, caused to date an economic damage of more than 28 million pesos to the state-owned company Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras (ABC) and Vías Bolivia.
"He did not care about losing resources due to the 36-day strike, now he is violating the Political Constitution of the State which in its article 16 says that everyone has the right to water and food and he (Calvo) said that he is not going to let a single soybean leave Santa Cruz", said Montaño.
In this sense, the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, warned this Friday that the civic dictatorship of Santa Cruz seeks impunity for the perpetrators of human rights violations, the interruption of the constitutional order and the massacres of 2019 at the expense of the sacrifice of the people of Santa Cruz.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rig ... -0001.html
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They link Camacho to the de facto regime of Bolivia
Camacho, a former leader of the right-wing Civic Committees, was sent by Judge Sebastián Pacheco Diamantino for four months to the Chonchocoro prison, for the Coup d'état I case. Photo: The Reason
Published 8 January 2023 (28 minutes ago)
The daughter of Jeanine Añez, Carolina Ribera, affirmed that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, in prison since last week, was part of the former de facto government
The daughter of former president Jeanine Áñez, Carolina Ribera, affirmed that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, in prison since last week, was part of the de facto government that her mother headed between 2019 and 2020 and requested many ministries.
"She had to put together a cabinet and she had to do it with the people who were there because without a cabinet you cannot govern," Ribera said in an interview with a local media outlet.
"Luis Fernando Camacho was also part of the Government and asked for many ministries, many spaces and my mother always said from the beginning: this is a fight of the civics, of the citizens and I am going to do what is appropriate because this fight is theirs. Rivera said.
In 2019, Fernando Camacho, in his role as president of the Civic Committee for Santa Cruz, was one of the leaders of the protest that led to the resignation of then-President Evo Morales and the subsequent irregular assumption of Áñez.
Among his ministers were his former colleagues from the Social Democratic Movement (Democrats) in the Legislative Óscar Ortiz, Arturo Murillo, Rodrigo Guzmán, María Elva Pinkert and Víctor Hugo Zamora. While on behalf of the civic movement Jerjes Justiniano Atalá and Luis Fernando López.
Camacho together with Marco Antonio Pumari were the people who led the civic movement during the 2019 crisis that led to the coup against Evo Morales in the midst of an atmosphere of convulsion, after a police riot and the "suggestion" of resignation from the Armed forces.
"In her (de facto) government there were mistakes, there were people who acted in bad faith that she trusted, because she is a very decent and correct person and she trusted that people were going to act like her," Ribera said.
Camacho, a former leader of the right-wing Civic Committees, was sent by Judge Sebastián Pacheco Diamantino for four months to the Chonchocoro prison, for the Coup d'état I case, referring to the departure of Evo Morales from the Government in the 2019 crisis .
Áñez is being held in the Miraflores prison for the so-called Coup d'état I and II case, in the latter she already has a 10-year sentence.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/bolivia- ... -0014.html
Google Translator
******************
Bolivian Unions Mobilize for President Luis Arce
January 7, 2023Bolivia, COB, Santa Cruz
Bolivia’s social movements have declared a state of emergency and permanent mobilization in support of President Luis Arce in response to riots in Santa Cruz by groups loyal to arrested coup leader, Luis Fernando Camacho. Social movements that made the declaration include the COB workers confederation, the campesino confederations (CSTUCB, Interculturales), and indigenous organizations (CONAMAQ, Bartolinas).
Executive Secretary of the COB, Juan Carlos Huarachi, held a press conference late last night after a meeting President Luis Arce, he said, “Today, all the social movements agree to declare ourselves in a state of emergency for everything that is happening in the department of Santa Cruz. It is also important to make the population aware of the report provided by the Interior Minister that details why the governor of Santa Cruz was arrested”.
Huarachi also stated that on Monday, the unions will announce the mobilizations in every region of the country, to support President Arce.
Since the arrest of coup Fernando Camacho, violent groups have been attacking public buildings in the city of Santa Cruz as revenge. Social movements say that the arrest was necessary and represents justice for the victims of the 2019 coup.
President Luis Arce also spoke at the press conference and announced additional mobilizations for January 22nd, to mark the anniversary of the Plurinational State, a product of the social struggles that introduced a new constitution in 2009.
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/bolivian-unio ... -luis-arce
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Taking Down A Fascist: Interview
February 9, 2023Bolivia
By Cindy Forster
Over two years ago, Lidia Patty Mullisaca of the indigenous Kallawaya nation, in rural La Paz, formally accused the leaders of Bolivia’s 2019 coup for terrorism. This lawsuit led to the recent arrest of far-right leader Fernando Camacho. No one coached her. Her decisions hold a mirror to the thinking of Bolivia’s masses. Patty was among the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) parliamentarians who fought to preserve their majority through the coup year, when the right declared fraud on spurious evidence, then violently ousted MAS President Evo Morales. According to the Constitution, she was permitted to file the criminal lawsuit only once her term had ended. She filed ten days after MAS President Luis Arce Catacora was inaugurated in a stunning grassroots victory, despite every effort of the coup authorities and their U.S., European and Latin American allies to prevent a popular electoral triumph. In her own words:
We were in our distinct regions when the coup took place. I was the first to leave my province because we met with the grassroots organizations, and they decided, “You are the representative of this province. While we defend our [vote] in the streets, you need to defend it in Parliament. Whatever it takes, you have to get back into Parliament.” I was able to re-enter, and I stayed there, while the rest were on the outside in the streets, communicating with us –they told us everything that was happening– they were being tear-gassed and arrested, they were chased, some lost their shoes, their aguayos or bundles. I chose the role of security inside Parliament. The right wanted to shut down Parliament and rule all branches of government. Since we were not in session, they wanted to force us all to resign.
MAS legislators decided we had to struggle because there was no way we could abandon the people. A power vacuum in Parliament could not be permitted. So we slept in the Assembly. No food was allowed to pass through the doors, not even water. Plaza Murillo was closed off and policed at every corner [in front of the Plurinational Assembly and National Palace]. There were tanks in the streets. Planes flew above us constantly. We wept for our people. Our people were in the streets dying, resisting the tear-gas, being seized and jailed by the police. They threatened me. They said they’d kick me out of there with their boots and then kill me. I said I didn’t care. They said they’d bomb us. I told them, I didn’t care what they did, but I wasn’t going to leave.
They didn’t physically beat us except when we were entering the building and broke through the blockade of the UTOP [the “riot” police]. The police treated us like criminals, saying if we were deputies, then show them our credentials. For five years we had been working there, and they claimed they didn’t know us. They know us very well but at that moment, they decided they had no idea who we were. We wear our polleras [Indigenous skirts] and for that reason, they were attacking us, others were defending us while the police were kicking people. Our aim was to enter the building and not let them close down Parliament.
Camacho’s objective and Murillo’s rage
For Mr. Camacho [Luis Fernando Camacho, the mastermind of the 2019 coup and current governor of the right’s bastion, Santa Cruz], the objective was to shut down the Assembly and stay in power for years and years. But he failed, and we prevailed. We were told that a recording from inside had been leaked, and they were threatening to come and sack everything, so we erased all the videos of how we had slept there in the Assembly, and how we defended ourselves. We stayed strong – and most of us were women. I don’t know why we were more women than men. At that point, on the inside, we were representatives from three departments defending the Parliament against the coup. The coup rulers wanted to govern by decree. We were the pebble in their shoe – and also the pebble in the shoe of the International Monetary Fund. We wrote petitions and reports across eleven months and resisted when they decided to shut down the schools completely [during COVID]. For the main part, it was more or less three assemblywomen who did all that.
I filed restraining orders to keep them from escaping the country and Murillo practically died from rage. He started using his people in the intelligence services to follow me. I would take three or four microbuses to get home safely. Really, we lived through terrible moments. Our role was to defend the Motherland from within Parliament because if Bolivia was still in their hands today –in the hands of the fascists– all our natural resources would have been looted, our lithium, our hydrocarbons, and our ecology destroyed. All they care about is the wealth they can extract for themselves. But we didn’t allow it. Many accuse those of us who stayed in Parliament of acting in collusion with the coup government. Our thinking was that, as one of the primary branches of government, we were able to put the brakes on many of their intentions.
Ever since we filed the lawsuit two years ago, we’ve been threatened and physically attacked. I’m doing this for the people. Some say I’ve been manipulated by brother Evo [Morales] or by our President Lucho Arce. That’s pure lies. I decided to do this with my lawyer Víctor Nina because of all we’ve lived through.
Bolivia Profunda
I’m from the Kallawaya people who live in the province of Bautista Saavedra, within the department of La Paz, where both Aymara and Quechua are spoken. My community is Niño Corin, and we are rich in art, medicine, different kinds of music. In practically all the provinces it is very beautiful to live this life. My father is Paulino Patty and my mother, Damiana Mullisaca. My father was a leader who always sought the well-being of his people. That’s how we were raised. We never chose to suffer. But malicious people in the community said “Paulino is dangerous, we have to drive him out,” because he defended the people.
My father fought for liberation from the slavery that was our reality. Even though we had the finest weaving, agricultural products, llamas, and cattle, we produced all this just so the rich could take it from us. They dominated us. That’s how we used to live. So as a young person, I dedicated myself to weaving our clothing and the aguayos (shawls with Andean designs) we carry on our backs. The tourists would come and buy pieces from us. My father never wanted us to leave for the city. He thought we would lose ourselves and fall into ruin. I convinced my father that I would be safe by going with my friend, another young woman. In the city, I worked as a domestic, for five years. The employers hardly gave us any free time to visit our families and finally I returned, to stay with my people.
Back then, we had no cellphones in the provinces, no education, no health care, and no economic help from the government. In our communities, we had nothing while in the cities they had everything. They were the ones in charge. Like [the Indigenous leader] Felipe Quispe used to say: “There are two Bolivias, those who live well in the cities and those in the countryside who have nothing.” [When a city journalist –a woman– once asked him why he had turned to armed struggle,] he said, “Because I don’t want my daughter to become your maid.” Those who had money ran everything. We had to live from what we grew in our chakras, [selling our crops] to pay for our studies, our health care. Thank God we all know a little of the Kallawaya tradition of medicine, so health was not really a problem because we know how to cure ourselves with our plants.
We needed a political instrument that belongs to the people
We understood that we needed a political instrument that belongs to the people and little by little, that project grew. With MAS, we won the confidence of the people even though others would say, “Evo is never going to win. He’s never going to be president.”
The mobilizations to protect our natural gas in 2003 inspired many more to join. The motive for our struggle became the defense of our country’s resources when President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada wanted to sell them off. Bolivia is so rich in everything but the right never considered creating strategic companies to serve the people. For five hundred years they’ve sacked our resources. To all those who complain of the fourteen years of MAS governance, I would say we’ve achieved economic, political, and social stability that’s reached all the provinces – every corner of the country where for five hundred years we had nothing. Our Constitution includes everyone, through the Plurinational State that includes 36 nations of original peoples. Brothers and sisters from the grassroots of our communities created that Constitution. Before, we had nothing in the way of beneficial legislation. Let’s be honest, the laws came from the United States and the ministers had to translate them to Spanish. We weren’t aware of that in the rural areas. Nothing was shared between the city and the countryside, whereas now we live as one people.
My colors are those of MAS, and I won with the little coca we grew
When I returned from the city, I had forgotten how to read and write because that ability is like a muscle, it goes slack with disuse. So I started again in 1993 and earned my middle school degree, then went into an accelerated program and completed high school in a single year. I became a teacher, of children at the primary level. Later I was the director of an institution based on Belgian financing, that created adult education centres where many, many people earned their middle-school degrees.
As women, we have to organize. For almost four years I worked with the Bartolina Sisas, always training new leaders and educating people about new laws. We were very weak politically at that point –just hand-picked for posts– and for that reason, I decided to get involved in politics and become the first councilperson. I’ve always been with MAS, and from the very beginning that’s the banner I chose. We walked from one community to the next. Sometimes I would climb into one of the vehicles of another political party and when I got off, we’d be fighting it out. They come in with lots of money to spread around gifts, and after they left, all I came with were my words. I would bring a little coca because, at that point, my brothers were beginning to plant coca, the same coca our ancestors cultivated. That little bit of coca was helpful, but the main thing is that as MAS, we come from the people.
We are organically strong for that reason. MAS is very well-structured. It’s a force. Our struggle is for the people and the political right needs to understand that. In my house, I had my pension or little restaurant, and we sold breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With that income, we funded the creation of our Political Instrument. I never made alliances with the fascists. We always had instructions from Evo that if we were defeated in elections, then we’d accept defeat, but never make a deal with the right. You have to throw yourself into this work. I eventually won the position of first councilmember.
New elections were coming, but there was always an opportunist –usually a man– waiting in the wings. At that point in time I was in the provincial leadership of the Political Instrument which many confuse with a political party, but it’s an instrument, which means it acts as the right arm of the people. The other parties wanted to ruin me politically because I was always messing up their plans. I wanted to be mayor. In the end, they let me take the position of president of the council. But like Melgarejo said [the notorious president of the 1800s], “I can’t even trust the shirt I am wearing” (“Confiar? Ni en mi camisa!”). When I became council president I had second thoughts after fighting for so long – and I went home and said to my husband, What am I going to do now? I have no idea how to be president. I began to read all the norms, and the Municipal Code, then I sought out an advisor to MAS in the city. We had no cell phones then. And he told me, whenever they attack you, declare a recess. Study the norms and laws, then continue. But they wanted to destroy me because I had denounced irregularities to the Vice Ministry of Transparency, and they accused me of stealing 30,000 bolivianos. They called an assembly, judged me, seized me, and drove me out, beating me.
My father had always taught me never to cave in if I was attacked without justification. I told them when I left, this post is mine and one day I will return to it. For that, they filed a lawsuit against me. They bought the judge. But I appealed that ruling. I lost a second time and appealed again. Years later the case ended up in Sucre [the judicial capital], and there the judge saw that the lower courts had been bribed. The court ruled that no act of corruption had occurred. I was awarded backpay for the fifteen months I should have served. That happened recently, and the people said: Lidia wasn’t guilty all along. They apologized.
Lidia Patty’s lawsuit against the coup regime
On the 4th of November [after the coup regime was voted out of power], our term as assembly members ended, and by the 18th, I filed my lawsuit against the coup leaders. We named Luis Fernando Camacho, [his father] Luis Fernando Camacho Parada [who sealed the participation of the police and armed forces – he had helped bring to power twentieth-century dictatorships], and the high command of both the military and the police. In addition, [Fernando] López, [the coup regime Minister of Defense, and Arturo] Murillo [the coup’s Minister of the Interior known to the people as the Minister of Death]. Áñez is included. We’ve added to the list. We understand that the Public Prosecutor does not act quickly, which raised the fear that the accused could escape Bolivia. Camacho was always named first in the lawsuit. We also included the victims as witnesses, among them Evo Morales, his ministers, and the Ex-Vice President [Álvaro] García Linera. By the 28th of November, we had corrected observations made by the prosecutor, and then the lawsuit was formally admitted.
I did all this as a personal decision, because of what we had lived through during the coup, what our sisters and brothers have lived through. I did not want all the deaths left in impunity. The people have said it, too, they’ve told the MAS parliamentarians of the coup year, “You’ve just walked away from it all as though you were happy about it. You haven’t denounced it or taken a single action. You haven’t even denounced the actions of the International Monetary Fund, or all that the rich robbed of our natural resources”. The regime crushed and shattered our institutions. I felt I owed a debt to my people.
When out of political office, any ordinary citizen can bring a lawsuit according to the Constitution. For killing a single person, the penalty is thirty years in prison. We are talking about thirty-eight deaths. Those who did that cannot receive a thirty-year sentence for thirty-eight deaths – no, no, each person killed by the coup regime must be individualized.
But in the street, many people are happy when they see me, they tell me, “Thank you, Lidia, for defending the Motherland.” I feel proud in that sense, that I served my people.
Question: Did you receive support from your fellow assembly members?
They were afraid. We have to ask, how did Áñez come to power? By proclaiming herself president on the 12th of November. The Assembly seemed to forget the fact that the succession of Jeanine Áñez was illegal and violated the Constitution. We’ve seen that an entire year passed from the time the lawsuit was filed before they finally took action. Impunity reigned. By the terms of their mandate, they are required to take action, but they did nothing.
I myself have been waiting for the Public Prosecutor to act. They just would not act, which leads me to believe that they were on the side of the accused. The justice system was bent over towards the other side. It was not until very recently that they took effective action to detain Fernando Camacho, the principal actor –and the intellectual author– of the crimes from three years past. [Camacho defied four summonses and even challenged the prosecutor’s office to come to arrest him on his home turf, which was done on December 28th last year. He is serving four months of preventive detention.]
The people want to see justice served for the thirty-eight deaths [of 2019], for the political prisoners, and for the injured. To this day, no one knows whether there were people who were disappeared. As progressives in struggle, we have to answer to the people. Fascists consider the interests of their families and their personal gain. The threats of the fascists against me, all that they’re doing – this will pass, everything comes to an end, nothing is eternal. I’ve told you how things unfolded, briefly, because to tell you in detail would take a very long time. Now, they’re doing all they can to sow divisions among those of us on the left, and we must not fall into that trap.
The right practices chaos: Words of professionals who admire Lidia Patty
Lawyer Aldo Michel – “In Bolivia to a terrible degree, acts of violence –acts of great perversity– have again taken place such as the setting on fire of public institutions and homes, kidnappings, tortures, [four] deaths, and other terrorist actions. In the recent past [October and November of 2022], during thirty-six days of a forced shutdown of the city of Santa Cruz, we can say that the local and regional governments exercised a reign of terror. We must not forget that functionaries of the government of Santa Cruz were directed in these actions by Fernando Camacho and Rómulo Calvo, who together with paramilitaries carried out terrorist actions in Plan 3000,” a working-class city within the metropolitan region of Santa Cruz. “This cannot be ignored.” –Aldo Michel, Bolivia TV, Noticias, Informe CIDH, “Debe contemplar nuevas violaciones a los DD.HH.” 27 enero 2023, pm news cycle
Journalist Rubén Atahuichi reported the words of Lidia Patty, filmed by another journalist, Pedro Luna – “Patty gave her opinion on the spy camera, and she says it’s all a hoax,” Atahuichi said to introduce the film clip. Patty commented, “Warm greetings –un jallalla– to all our sisters and brothers. Mr. Camacho says that a camera was placed [in his prison cell], but how can we take this seriously knowing that Camacho recorded his own political ally Mr. [Marco Antonio] Pumari, to show that Pumari was trying to destabilize our country. To save himself from [his running mate] Pumari, Camacho secretly taped Pumari then made that audio public [in which Pumari’s corruption is recorded]. The director of the penitentiary says there was nothing [in Camacho’s cell, and that Camacho’s people had minutely inspected it before he entered]. The prison authorities investigated and released a report. I think Camacho himself planted that camera so he could make that accusation. They’ve lost all dignity. That’s why I think Camacho’s people placed that camera in the cell to make excuses for themselves, to say, “Look, we are allowed no privacy.” Besides, in what penitentiary is anyone allowed privacy? For me, it’s all a show. –La Razón Radio, 2 febrero 2023, from about 1:56:20
Lawyer Víctor Nina – As part of the lawsuit’s evidence-gathering phase, “we have called for an investigation of the crime scenes in a coordinated manner” at police headquarters in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Patty’s lawyer Nina explained, the police guaranteed the coup. “They carried out a fundamental role.” The police forces mutinied. “Strangely, without any basis in law, without any justification,” they demanded the resignation of the president. –Bolivia TV,“ Caso Golpe de Estado I: Piden inspección técnica ocular de la UTOP de Cochabamba y Santa Cruz,” on or around 1 febrero 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS4yuFFixz4
For more news and analysis, check out our podcast Latin America Review: https://linktr.ee/latinamericareview
By Kawsachun News
https://kawsachunnews.com/taking-down-a ... -interview
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
The Bolivian people defeated another coup
People responded en masse after military forces had mobilized to the center of La Paz and surrounded the Palace of the Government
June 26, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
Bolivian President Luis Arce addresses the crowd in Plaza Murillo. Photo: Ivan Bellot
“No one can take away our democracy!”
Bolivian President Luis Arce addressed the people of Bolivia on the afternoon of Wednesday June 26 to declare that the attempted military coup had been defeated.
On the afternoon of June 26, hundreds of military personnel had mobilized under the order of General Juan Zúñiga in the center of La Paz and surrounded the Quemado Palace (the government palace) ahead of a ministerial meeting. They proceeded to break down the main door to the palace with a tank and attempted to enter by force.
Zúñiga then announced that the military personnel would mobilize to the prison and free Bolivia’s “political prisoners” including Jeanine Áñez and Luis Fernando Camacho who are imprisoned over their involvement in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. Áñez later wrote on X that she rejected the attempt by the military to destroy constitutional order and that “MAS with Arce and Evo should leave through the ballot box in 2025. Bolivians will defend democracy.”
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales immediately alerted to the development and called on the Bolivian people to mobilize in defense of democracy.
Bolivia’s foreign minister Celinda Sosa said in a video message, “The Plurinational State of Bolivia denounces to the international community the irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian Army that attack democracy, peace, and security of the country. We call on the international community, on the Bolivian population to make sure that democratic values are respected.”
While the army attempted to storm the palace, hundreds of Bolivian people began to mobilize to demand that democracy be respected and the army stand down. These protests with members of mass organizations, trade unions, and the general population were met with heavy repression by the military police officers who shot tear gas indiscriminately and blocked off access to the Plaza Murillo.
The Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB) representing over 2 million workers, declared an indefinite general strike and “the mobilization of all social and union organizations to the city La Paz to defend and restore the constitutional order and our legally established government in Bolivia.”
After an hour of the military encirclement of the Palace, Bolivian President Luis Arce held a press conference to name José Sánchez as the new military command to replace Zúñiga. Sánchez ordered the military personnel that had mobilized to the center to return to their stations to avoid any bloodshed of the Bolivian people and affirmed that he supported the legal and constitutional government of Luis Arce.
A video also emerged of Arce confronting Zúñiga in the palace and firmly telling him to stand down and respect democracy.
“No se equivoque General”: El duro enfrentamiento cara a cara, @LuchoXBolivia con el General golpista. pic.twitter.com/nVLmBWEf51
— Rolando Segura (@rolandoteleSUR) June 26, 2024
Shortly after the pronouncement by Arce and Sánchez, the tanks that had initially blocked off the plaza and surrounded the palace began to withdraw, and thousands of people flooded the area to affirm their rejection of the attempted coup and support to Arce. “Arce you’re not alone! Long live democracy!” they declared.
The attempted coup in Bolivia had international repercussions. Political leaders across Latin America and the Caribbean vehemently rejected the attempt by a fraction of the Army to subvert Bolivian democracy and celebrated the swift defeat of the attempt. Many highlighted that this took place just five years after the coup d’état which took Evo Morales out of office and installed the de facto leader Jeanine Áñez. After a year of resistance and violent repression to anti-coup protests, the Bolivian people restored democracy and elected Luis Arce.
Xiomara Castro, the president of Honduras and the pro-tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called on all the presidents of CELAC member countries to “condemn the fascism that today threatens democracy in Bolivia and demand the respect of civil power and the Constitution.”
The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) wrote in a statement, “The heroic people of Bolivia have successfully defeated the coup! The people’s movements mobilized to defend the democratic government of President Luis Arce. We will always stand with democracy and sovereignty—today we saw the Bolivian people rise up against the Bolivian elites and their US masters’ attempts to destabilize the country.”
COB and other organizations in Bolivia have celebrated the people’s victory but also called on the Bolivian people and the international community to continue their vigil and state of alert against any further coup attempts.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/06/26/ ... ther-coup/
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Venezuela and Latin America Condemns Reckless Failed Coup Attempt in Bolivia
JUNE 27, 2024
Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist, surrounded by the public movements against the coup and by media, outside the government palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Photo: Juan Karita/AP.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The Venezuelan government has categorically condemned the recent attempt to militarily destabilize democracy in Bolivia, as reported by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil via social media.
During the afternoon hours of this Wednesday, June 26, the Bolivian people and the democratic government, led by Luis Arce, neutralized a coup attempt led by the former Army High Commander José Zúñiga, who had been removed from his position prior to the coup attempt following political statements against the re-election of former President Evo Morales.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and rejects, in the most energetic way, the reckless attempted coup d’état against the elected government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, chaired by Luis Arce Catacora, executed by some traitorous military units in La Paz today,” wrote Minister Gil via social media.
Earlier, the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, made also strong condemnation statements against the coup attempt in Bolivia during a government event in Lara state.
Below, you can read the full unofficial translation of the statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and rejects in the most energetic way, the reckless attempted Coup d’état, against the elected government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia chaired by Luis Arce Catacora, executed by some traitorous military units in La Paz on the day of today.
The Bolivarian Government calls on the International Community, especially the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to mobilize in favor of Bolivian democracy and repudiate this new attempt that tries to impose a fascist and coup regime against the popular forces of our brother country.
Venezuela expresses its absolute support for the Bolivian people and its President Luis Arce, and accompanies them in the necessary actions to defeat this new attack on democracy, by groups protected by the dark forces that have tried to lead Latin America towards a state of systematic violations of the rights won by the social and popular movements of our region.
Caracas, June 26, 2024.
Regional response
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in the voice of its pro-tempore president, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, called for an urgent meeting of the CELAC presidents to address the crisis that was thankfully and effectively dealt with by the Bolivian people within a few hours.
“I urgently call on the presidents of the member countries of CELAC to condemn the fascism that today attacks democracy in Bolivia, and to demand full respect for civil power and the Constitution,” President Castro wrote on social media. “The military forces have once again carried out a criminal coup d’état. We express our unconditional support to our siblings, the people of Bolivia, to the president Luis Arce and to Evo Morales.”
The elected president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, called the uprising of some units of the Bolivian Armed Forces “an attack against democracy,” adding that Mexico “strongly condemns these events. We hold unconditional support for President Luís Arce and his people,” she announced via social media.
“The abuse of democracy and the Bolivian people, displayed in the images published in international and local media this afternoon in Bolivia, is outrageous,” wrote the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel. “We condemn the attempted coup d’état underway and extend all the solidarity of the Cuban government and people to our brother Luis Arce.”
The president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva, also rejected the attempt against the Bolivian democracy. “We condemn any form of coup d’état in Bolivia, and reaffirm our commitment to the people and democracy of our brother country,” Lula wrote.
For his part, current Mexican President López Obrador also rejected “the attempted coup d’état. Our total support and support is for President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, the authentic democratic authority of our fraternal nation.”
The president of Colombia Gustavo Petro condemned the coup attempt and invited “all the Bolivian people to take their place in the democratic resistance,” saying that “Latin America must unite in favor of democracy. The Colombian embassy must grant refuge to those persecuted.”
“There will be no diplomatic relationship between Colombia and the dictatorship,” he wrote on social media. “An antidemocratic coup is and must be met with widespread mobilization of the people.”
Chilean President Gabriel Boric emphasized that his government expressed its support for democracy “in our sister country and for the legitimate government of President Luis Arce,” adding that they “strongly condemn the unacceptable action of force by a sector of that country’s army. We cannot tolerate any breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else.”
The governments of Guatemala and Paraguay also reaffirmed their support for Arce and made strong calls to respect both democracy and the rule of law. “Paraguay condemns the irregular mobilizations of the Bolivian army denounced by President Luis Arce. We make a strong call to respect democracy and the rule of law,” wrote the Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña.
https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-an ... n-bolivia/
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There’s Much More To Bolivia’s Failed Coup Than Another CIA Regime Change Attempt
ANDREW KORYBKO
JUN 27, 2024
Casually dismissing everything as a CIA plot overlooks the preexisting problems that preceded this dramatic event and oversimplifies complex dynamics.
Many X users described Bolivia’s failed coup on Wednesday as another CIA regime change attempt, mostly due to its history of meddling in this landlocked and lithium-rich South American nation, but there’s much more to it than just that. Casually dismissing everything as a CIA plot overlooks the preexisting problems that preceded this dramatic event and oversimplifies complex dynamics. The present piece will concisely clarify what happened, why, the reason that it failed, and what might follow.
General Juan Jose Zuniga was dismissed earlier in the week after threatening to arrest former President Evo Morales if he tries running for a fourth term like the latter said that he wants to do in 2025 despite the Constitutional Court ruling late last year that it would be unconstitutional. Bolivia’s 2019 military coup was set into motion upon Morales winning a contentious fourth term after a 2016 referendum on extending term limits failed but was overruled by the Constitutional Tribunal in 2017.
For those who are interested in learning more about what happened back then, “Here’s How the Hybrid War on Bolivia Succeeded in Carrying Out Regime Change”, which was pretty much due to a significant share of the population already being preconditioned to consider his victory illegitimate. In parallel with that, the US once again co-opted its traditional allies in the armed forces there to get them to intervene against him, which led to a brief de facto dictatorship that was democratically overturned a year later.
Incumbent President Luis Arce from Morales’ “Movement for Socialism” (MAS) won a commanding victory with 55% of the vote compared to his next closest challenger who only scored 28%. The prior military-installed government folded due to the political impossibility of holding onto power under those circumstances, after which some of its members were held accountable before the law for their role in the coup. This included Jeanine Anez, who assumed the presidency during that period and is still in jail.
Over the past year, Arce and Morales had a nasty falling out over the run-up to 2025’s elections, which saw Arce being expelled from Morales’ MAS. Readers can learn more about this intra-leftist dispute here and here, but it basically boils down to personality differences, not any significant policy ones. As the ruling party’s infighting worsened, so too did the economy as its financial crisis began to climax, resulting in growing protests across the country in the immediate run-up to the failed coup.
Earlier this month, Arce was one of President Putin’s two guests of honor (the other being Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa) at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he gave a powerful speech about multipolarity that can be read in full here. It was with their countries’ increasingly strategic partnership in mind, which importantly includes lithium and nuclear energy dimensions, that many X users assumed that the failed coup was a US-backed geopolitical revenge plot.
Nevertheless, the economic-financial and political (specifically intra-leftist) tensions that preceded it show that this interpretation isn’t all that accurate even though the US would have gained had the regime change succeeded, such as if the new authorities radically altered their country’s policies. Moreover, the timing suggests that this was an impromptu personal putsch by Zuniga after he was dismissed earlier in the week, not something that he and the CIA had been cooking up for a while.
After all, Arce personally confronted Zuniga in the presidential palace and convinced his comrades to call off the coup, which coincided with him and Morales putting aside their differences for the greater national good to call on their compatriots to mobilize in support of the government. The coup therefore failed precisely because the armed forces hadn’t colluded with the CIA in any meaningful way, nor did that agency precondition the public to support this latest regime change like they did the 2019 one.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t any US trace whatsoever at all in what happened, which might be discovered during the ongoing investigation, but just that it would have only been opportunistic at most and not part of a plot that they seriously invested in far ahead of time. As for what might unfold in the aftermath, it’s possible that Arce and Morales might reconcile or at least reduce the intensity of their rivalry, all with a view towards making next year’s elections as uncontroversial as possible.
Zuniga’s scandalous claim in the aftermath of the failed coup that Arce had earlier told him to stage some drama in order to boost his popularity amidst the country’s converging crises likely isn’t credible, but it could still have the effect of exacerbating tensions between those two. Not only that, but some of the electorate might also be influenced by what he said too, which could make some of them sour on MAS ahead of the next vote and thus potentially give a boost to their right-wing rivals.
The new socio-political situation could more easily be exploited by the CIA to facilitate any speculatively subsequent efforts to seriously carry out a coup ahead of or during next year’s elections in the event that Morales still decides to run in contravention of last year’s Constitutional Court ruling. This insight suggests that while many X users are arguably crying wolf about the CIA’s role in the latest events, this might actually end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy by sometime next year if Bolivia isn’t careful.
https://korybko.substack.com/p/theres-m ... ias-failed
People responded en masse after military forces had mobilized to the center of La Paz and surrounded the Palace of the Government
June 26, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
Bolivian President Luis Arce addresses the crowd in Plaza Murillo. Photo: Ivan Bellot
“No one can take away our democracy!”
Bolivian President Luis Arce addressed the people of Bolivia on the afternoon of Wednesday June 26 to declare that the attempted military coup had been defeated.
On the afternoon of June 26, hundreds of military personnel had mobilized under the order of General Juan Zúñiga in the center of La Paz and surrounded the Quemado Palace (the government palace) ahead of a ministerial meeting. They proceeded to break down the main door to the palace with a tank and attempted to enter by force.
Zúñiga then announced that the military personnel would mobilize to the prison and free Bolivia’s “political prisoners” including Jeanine Áñez and Luis Fernando Camacho who are imprisoned over their involvement in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. Áñez later wrote on X that she rejected the attempt by the military to destroy constitutional order and that “MAS with Arce and Evo should leave through the ballot box in 2025. Bolivians will defend democracy.”
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales immediately alerted to the development and called on the Bolivian people to mobilize in defense of democracy.
Bolivia’s foreign minister Celinda Sosa said in a video message, “The Plurinational State of Bolivia denounces to the international community the irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian Army that attack democracy, peace, and security of the country. We call on the international community, on the Bolivian population to make sure that democratic values are respected.”
While the army attempted to storm the palace, hundreds of Bolivian people began to mobilize to demand that democracy be respected and the army stand down. These protests with members of mass organizations, trade unions, and the general population were met with heavy repression by the military police officers who shot tear gas indiscriminately and blocked off access to the Plaza Murillo.
The Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB) representing over 2 million workers, declared an indefinite general strike and “the mobilization of all social and union organizations to the city La Paz to defend and restore the constitutional order and our legally established government in Bolivia.”
After an hour of the military encirclement of the Palace, Bolivian President Luis Arce held a press conference to name José Sánchez as the new military command to replace Zúñiga. Sánchez ordered the military personnel that had mobilized to the center to return to their stations to avoid any bloodshed of the Bolivian people and affirmed that he supported the legal and constitutional government of Luis Arce.
A video also emerged of Arce confronting Zúñiga in the palace and firmly telling him to stand down and respect democracy.
“No se equivoque General”: El duro enfrentamiento cara a cara, @LuchoXBolivia con el General golpista. pic.twitter.com/nVLmBWEf51
— Rolando Segura (@rolandoteleSUR) June 26, 2024
Shortly after the pronouncement by Arce and Sánchez, the tanks that had initially blocked off the plaza and surrounded the palace began to withdraw, and thousands of people flooded the area to affirm their rejection of the attempted coup and support to Arce. “Arce you’re not alone! Long live democracy!” they declared.
The attempted coup in Bolivia had international repercussions. Political leaders across Latin America and the Caribbean vehemently rejected the attempt by a fraction of the Army to subvert Bolivian democracy and celebrated the swift defeat of the attempt. Many highlighted that this took place just five years after the coup d’état which took Evo Morales out of office and installed the de facto leader Jeanine Áñez. After a year of resistance and violent repression to anti-coup protests, the Bolivian people restored democracy and elected Luis Arce.
Xiomara Castro, the president of Honduras and the pro-tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called on all the presidents of CELAC member countries to “condemn the fascism that today threatens democracy in Bolivia and demand the respect of civil power and the Constitution.”
The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) wrote in a statement, “The heroic people of Bolivia have successfully defeated the coup! The people’s movements mobilized to defend the democratic government of President Luis Arce. We will always stand with democracy and sovereignty—today we saw the Bolivian people rise up against the Bolivian elites and their US masters’ attempts to destabilize the country.”
COB and other organizations in Bolivia have celebrated the people’s victory but also called on the Bolivian people and the international community to continue their vigil and state of alert against any further coup attempts.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/06/26/ ... ther-coup/
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Venezuela and Latin America Condemns Reckless Failed Coup Attempt in Bolivia
JUNE 27, 2024
Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist, surrounded by the public movements against the coup and by media, outside the government palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Photo: Juan Karita/AP.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The Venezuelan government has categorically condemned the recent attempt to militarily destabilize democracy in Bolivia, as reported by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil via social media.
During the afternoon hours of this Wednesday, June 26, the Bolivian people and the democratic government, led by Luis Arce, neutralized a coup attempt led by the former Army High Commander José Zúñiga, who had been removed from his position prior to the coup attempt following political statements against the re-election of former President Evo Morales.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and rejects, in the most energetic way, the reckless attempted coup d’état against the elected government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, chaired by Luis Arce Catacora, executed by some traitorous military units in La Paz today,” wrote Minister Gil via social media.
Earlier, the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, made also strong condemnation statements against the coup attempt in Bolivia during a government event in Lara state.
Below, you can read the full unofficial translation of the statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and rejects in the most energetic way, the reckless attempted Coup d’état, against the elected government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia chaired by Luis Arce Catacora, executed by some traitorous military units in La Paz on the day of today.
The Bolivarian Government calls on the International Community, especially the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to mobilize in favor of Bolivian democracy and repudiate this new attempt that tries to impose a fascist and coup regime against the popular forces of our brother country.
Venezuela expresses its absolute support for the Bolivian people and its President Luis Arce, and accompanies them in the necessary actions to defeat this new attack on democracy, by groups protected by the dark forces that have tried to lead Latin America towards a state of systematic violations of the rights won by the social and popular movements of our region.
Caracas, June 26, 2024.
Regional response
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in the voice of its pro-tempore president, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, called for an urgent meeting of the CELAC presidents to address the crisis that was thankfully and effectively dealt with by the Bolivian people within a few hours.
“I urgently call on the presidents of the member countries of CELAC to condemn the fascism that today attacks democracy in Bolivia, and to demand full respect for civil power and the Constitution,” President Castro wrote on social media. “The military forces have once again carried out a criminal coup d’état. We express our unconditional support to our siblings, the people of Bolivia, to the president Luis Arce and to Evo Morales.”
The elected president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, called the uprising of some units of the Bolivian Armed Forces “an attack against democracy,” adding that Mexico “strongly condemns these events. We hold unconditional support for President Luís Arce and his people,” she announced via social media.
“The abuse of democracy and the Bolivian people, displayed in the images published in international and local media this afternoon in Bolivia, is outrageous,” wrote the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel. “We condemn the attempted coup d’état underway and extend all the solidarity of the Cuban government and people to our brother Luis Arce.”
The president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva, also rejected the attempt against the Bolivian democracy. “We condemn any form of coup d’état in Bolivia, and reaffirm our commitment to the people and democracy of our brother country,” Lula wrote.
For his part, current Mexican President López Obrador also rejected “the attempted coup d’état. Our total support and support is for President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, the authentic democratic authority of our fraternal nation.”
The president of Colombia Gustavo Petro condemned the coup attempt and invited “all the Bolivian people to take their place in the democratic resistance,” saying that “Latin America must unite in favor of democracy. The Colombian embassy must grant refuge to those persecuted.”
“There will be no diplomatic relationship between Colombia and the dictatorship,” he wrote on social media. “An antidemocratic coup is and must be met with widespread mobilization of the people.”
Chilean President Gabriel Boric emphasized that his government expressed its support for democracy “in our sister country and for the legitimate government of President Luis Arce,” adding that they “strongly condemn the unacceptable action of force by a sector of that country’s army. We cannot tolerate any breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else.”
The governments of Guatemala and Paraguay also reaffirmed their support for Arce and made strong calls to respect both democracy and the rule of law. “Paraguay condemns the irregular mobilizations of the Bolivian army denounced by President Luis Arce. We make a strong call to respect democracy and the rule of law,” wrote the Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña.
https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-an ... n-bolivia/
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There’s Much More To Bolivia’s Failed Coup Than Another CIA Regime Change Attempt
ANDREW KORYBKO
JUN 27, 2024
Casually dismissing everything as a CIA plot overlooks the preexisting problems that preceded this dramatic event and oversimplifies complex dynamics.
Many X users described Bolivia’s failed coup on Wednesday as another CIA regime change attempt, mostly due to its history of meddling in this landlocked and lithium-rich South American nation, but there’s much more to it than just that. Casually dismissing everything as a CIA plot overlooks the preexisting problems that preceded this dramatic event and oversimplifies complex dynamics. The present piece will concisely clarify what happened, why, the reason that it failed, and what might follow.
General Juan Jose Zuniga was dismissed earlier in the week after threatening to arrest former President Evo Morales if he tries running for a fourth term like the latter said that he wants to do in 2025 despite the Constitutional Court ruling late last year that it would be unconstitutional. Bolivia’s 2019 military coup was set into motion upon Morales winning a contentious fourth term after a 2016 referendum on extending term limits failed but was overruled by the Constitutional Tribunal in 2017.
For those who are interested in learning more about what happened back then, “Here’s How the Hybrid War on Bolivia Succeeded in Carrying Out Regime Change”, which was pretty much due to a significant share of the population already being preconditioned to consider his victory illegitimate. In parallel with that, the US once again co-opted its traditional allies in the armed forces there to get them to intervene against him, which led to a brief de facto dictatorship that was democratically overturned a year later.
Incumbent President Luis Arce from Morales’ “Movement for Socialism” (MAS) won a commanding victory with 55% of the vote compared to his next closest challenger who only scored 28%. The prior military-installed government folded due to the political impossibility of holding onto power under those circumstances, after which some of its members were held accountable before the law for their role in the coup. This included Jeanine Anez, who assumed the presidency during that period and is still in jail.
Over the past year, Arce and Morales had a nasty falling out over the run-up to 2025’s elections, which saw Arce being expelled from Morales’ MAS. Readers can learn more about this intra-leftist dispute here and here, but it basically boils down to personality differences, not any significant policy ones. As the ruling party’s infighting worsened, so too did the economy as its financial crisis began to climax, resulting in growing protests across the country in the immediate run-up to the failed coup.
Earlier this month, Arce was one of President Putin’s two guests of honor (the other being Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa) at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he gave a powerful speech about multipolarity that can be read in full here. It was with their countries’ increasingly strategic partnership in mind, which importantly includes lithium and nuclear energy dimensions, that many X users assumed that the failed coup was a US-backed geopolitical revenge plot.
Nevertheless, the economic-financial and political (specifically intra-leftist) tensions that preceded it show that this interpretation isn’t all that accurate even though the US would have gained had the regime change succeeded, such as if the new authorities radically altered their country’s policies. Moreover, the timing suggests that this was an impromptu personal putsch by Zuniga after he was dismissed earlier in the week, not something that he and the CIA had been cooking up for a while.
After all, Arce personally confronted Zuniga in the presidential palace and convinced his comrades to call off the coup, which coincided with him and Morales putting aside their differences for the greater national good to call on their compatriots to mobilize in support of the government. The coup therefore failed precisely because the armed forces hadn’t colluded with the CIA in any meaningful way, nor did that agency precondition the public to support this latest regime change like they did the 2019 one.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t any US trace whatsoever at all in what happened, which might be discovered during the ongoing investigation, but just that it would have only been opportunistic at most and not part of a plot that they seriously invested in far ahead of time. As for what might unfold in the aftermath, it’s possible that Arce and Morales might reconcile or at least reduce the intensity of their rivalry, all with a view towards making next year’s elections as uncontroversial as possible.
Zuniga’s scandalous claim in the aftermath of the failed coup that Arce had earlier told him to stage some drama in order to boost his popularity amidst the country’s converging crises likely isn’t credible, but it could still have the effect of exacerbating tensions between those two. Not only that, but some of the electorate might also be influenced by what he said too, which could make some of them sour on MAS ahead of the next vote and thus potentially give a boost to their right-wing rivals.
The new socio-political situation could more easily be exploited by the CIA to facilitate any speculatively subsequent efforts to seriously carry out a coup ahead of or during next year’s elections in the event that Morales still decides to run in contravention of last year’s Constitutional Court ruling. This insight suggests that while many X users are arguably crying wolf about the CIA’s role in the latest events, this might actually end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy by sometime next year if Bolivia isn’t careful.
https://korybko.substack.com/p/theres-m ... ias-failed
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
Essential Lesson for Bolivia: “Unity in Diversity”
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 27, 2024
Ollantay Itzamná
Why the recent coup attempt in Bolivia failed and the 2019 coup was consummated.
In 2019, the Bolivian government was isolated from the popular movements. The popular middle classes, manipulated by the coup plotters, won the streets in the absence of the social movements and peoples.
In 2024, the government of Luis Arce, after the recent apotheosic popular assemblies in which he participated, was connected with the popular sectors. And it was these sectors who immediately occupied the Plaza Murillo, cell phones in hand, before the violent entry of the military into the Government Palace to remove the president. There was no popular fear.
In 2019 the political equation was: demobilized peoples + mobilization of the “pititas” under the command of Luis Camacho + military insubordination + flight of the government = Consummation of the Coup d’Etat, followed by a year-long bloody dictatorship.
In 2024 the equation was: popular sectors in the streets + government of Luis Arce confronting the coup leaders with his “body” = failure of the coup attempt, coup leaders arrested and publicly presented as criminals by the legitimate authorities.
In 2019, the “self-isolated” government, frightened, deconvened the people and fled.
In 2024, the government, supported by popular sectors, exercised its authority, ordered the military to return to their barracks, ordered the arrest of the coup plotters.
An important lesson of this popular victory over the insubordinate military was the “unity in diversity” shown by the different political currents within the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) itself, which managed to demonstrate the depth of its political conscience.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/06/ ... diversity/
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Sifting Through the Debris of Another Failed Coup in Latin America
Posted on June 28, 2024 by Nick Corbishley
This was probably the shortest lived coup d’état in Bolivia’s history. But who was behind it?
As NC readers are no doubt well aware by now, the South American country of Bolivia suffered yet another coup attempt on Wednesday — its second in just five years, and according to the Argentine newspaper El Cronista, its 36th since gaining independence from Spain 199 years ago. Research cited by CNN (in an article that, predictably, doesn’t once mention the US’ storied role in regime change operations) claims that Bolivia has actually suffered 39 coups, including this one, since 1945 alone — more than any country on the planet.
This was probably the shortest lived coup in all that time.
Whereas the 2019 coup was successful, at least in terms of meeting its immediate goals — the coup leaders, with the help of Bolivia’s armed forces and the tacit support of the US government and the Organization of American States (OAS), were able to topple the Evo Morales government and force Morales into exile — this one fizzled out in a matter of hours, leaving big unresolved questions about who was actually behind it.
A Powerless Coup
The coup began on Wednesday afternoon (local time) with an armoured military vehicle ramming the doors of Bolivia’s Palacio de Gobierno. When the doors gave way, dozens of armed soldiers surged into the building. The former Commander General of Bolivia’s armed forces, Juan José Zuñiga, who had been relieved of his position just a day earlier, stepped out of the vehicle and demanded a “change of cabinet.”
Speaking to the cameras, Zuñiga fired off a list of grievances and demands:
“Ministers are going to be changed, but our State cannot continue like this, doing whatever it wants. We are showing our annoyance, it is our duty, an obligation that your Armed Forces take back this homeland again. Enough of impoverishing the people and humiliating the Army… We have come to express our annoyance. We are going to take the Casa Grande (the Big House, the new seat of political power in Bolivia).”
Zuñiga claimed that he and his fellow coup plotters had coordinated the seizure of the National Palace with local police units. Tellingly, the former commander also called for the release of former interim President Jeanine Áñez, who is currently serving 10 years in prison for orchestrating the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. Asked if he recognised the authority of President Luis “Lucho” Arce Catacora, Zuñiga responded: “For the moment.”
Zúñiga’s biggest bugbear appears to have been Evo Morales, the former president and founder of Bolivia’s governing party, Movimiento al Socialismo. Just days before the coup the then-military commander criticised former Morales’ aspirations to return to politics in an interview with a local television channel, warning that he and his soldiers would, if necessary, take action to prevent such an outcome:
“He can no longer be president of this country. If necessary, I will prevent him from trampling on the Constitution, from disobeying the people’s mandate.”
This was enough to lose Zúñiga his job.
“According to Article 246 of the Constitution, members of the Armed Forces must not discuss politics,” political scientist Lily Peñaranda told the Spanish broadcaster RTVE. “And Zúñiga was accused of having discussed politics precisely in that interview.”
Throughout the melee on Wednesday, the Arce Government remained at its stations in the Casa Grande, which replaced the National Palace as the seat of executive power in La Paz in 2018. Surrounded by his cabinet, Arce announced that Bolivia “cannot allow another coup to take Bolivian lives” [presumably in reference to Jeanine Áñez’s bloody coup against Evo Morales in 2019]:
”We urge everyone to defend democracy. And here we are, standing firm in la Casa Grande, with the entire cabinet. We salute the social organisations and cordially invite them to once again show the path of democracy to the Bolivian people.”
Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry issued the following statement:
The Plurinational State of Bolivia denounces to the international community the irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian army, which threaten the country’s democracy, peace and security.
We call on the international community and the Bolivian population to respect democratic values and support the government of President Luis Arce Catacora, constitutionally and legitimately elected by the sovereign will of the Bolivian people.
Crucially, Bolivia’s still-influential former president, Evo Morales, who is locked in an escalating power struggle with Arce, denounced from his Twitter account “that a Group of the Challapata Special Regiment ‘Mendez Arcos’ have taken over Plaza Murillo with snipers.” Morales called on the supporters of democracy in Bolivia to “defend the Homeland from military groups that are acting against democracy and the people.”
The response was swift. The country’s largest trade union, the Bolivian Workers’ Union, denounced the coup and declared a general strike. It also called for the “relocation of all social and union organisations to the city of La Paz to defend and restore constitutional order.”
Within minutes, Plaza Murillo began filling with protesters calling for an end to the coup. The scenes were reminiscent of the 2002 coup attempt against Venezuela’s then-President Hugo Chavez that resulted in thousands of people surrounding the Palacio de Miraflores and ultimately taking back power from the US-backed coup plotters. In La Paz, as in Caracas, the coup fizzled out the moment it became clear that the public remained firmly behind the sitting government. In La Paz, the plotters did not even have the support of the armed forces.
In the photo below, Arce is facing off against the coup instigators on the steps of the National Palace. By this stage, the coup was already as good as over:
The game-changer came when Arce himself named three new military commanders for the armed forces. With this one move, Arce regained control of events. The first act of Zúñiga’s replacement, Commander José Wilson Sanchez, was to call for the restoration of order and the return of all soldiers who had participated in the operation to their barracks. Within minutes the military had abandoned the centre of La Paz and Zúñiga and a number of his co-conspirators had been captured.
Both Zúñiga and former Navy commander Juan Arnez Salvador were arrested together with roughly a dozen other military officers. They could face prison terms of up to 30 years. In a declaration to the Organization of American States on Thursday morning, Bolivia’s ambassador said that around 200 military officers took part in the short-lived operation.
The coup was over roughly three hours after it had begun. As Reuters reported on Thursday, the Bolivian government had received prior intelligence that a coup attempt could occur, allowing it to take preemptive measures. But who was ultimately behind this failed coup? That is the question now being asked, not only in La Paz but in the capitals of many other Latin American countries, particularly those not fully aligned with Washington.
A Tangle of Motives
The US is obviously prime suspect, largely thanks to its long, storied history of plotting, staging, or on some occasions merely supporting regime change operations in Latin America. According to a study by Harvard University, between 1898 and 1994, Washington plotted and staged at least 41 coups d’état in Latin America. That’s more than one every two and a half years.
So far this century, even with the US largely distracted by operations in other parts of the world (the Middle East, East Asia, Ukraine…), there has been one attempted coup in Venezuela and one attempted Juan Guaído-led uprising (both unsuccessful), a coup in Honduras (successful, though the wife of the target of the coup is now Honduras’ president), two coups in Bolivia (one successful, at least in the short term, the other unsuccessful), an internal coup in Peru (successful), and at least one coup in Haiti (successful), since which time (2004) the country has lost pretty much all of its sovereignty.
Besides all of its priors, the US also has its fair share of motives for wanting to depose Bolivia’s current government:
Lithium. Bolivia has something that no other country does: the world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, which is home to the world’s largest known deposits of lithium. It is not just plentiful, it is relatively easy to extract. Together with Chile and Argentina, Bolivia forms the so-called “lithium triangle”, the largest global deposit of so-called “white gold”.
In the last couple of years, Argentina’s lithium has drawn the attention of the US military, government and corporations, including, of course, Tesla, whose founder, Elon Musk, had the following (since deleted) exchange on Twitter:
La Paz is taking a different approach to managing its lithium reserves. Last year, it sealed significant deals involving two Chinese companies, the giant battery maker CATL and Citic Guoan Group, and one Russian firm, Rosatom, as well as a combined $2.8bn in investment commitments. Until now, the country has struggled to increase industrial production or develop commercially feasible reserves.
Meanwhile, its vast stores of lithium continue to attract the attention of the US government, military and intelligence agencies. Here’s General Laura Richardson, chief of US Southern Command, breaking down the situation for the US House of Representatives.
Russia and the BRICS. In April, Luis Arce announced his government’s application to join BRICS+. As we reported at the time, that application has already been endorsed by the Putin government in Russia. Following a meeting with his Bolivian counterpart, Celinda Sosa, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
“Russia supports Bolivia’s aspirations (to join the BRICS). In its role as president of the BRICS this year, Russia is interested in ensuring that the highest possible number of countries that apply to the bloc, either to become full members or to establish stable and permanent associations with it, receive a concrete positive response.”
Since then, India’s government has also lent its blessing. Three weeks ago, Arce visited Russia where he attended the Saint Petersberg International Economic Forum. He also spoke with Vladimir Putin about “expanding cooperation” with Russia to produce lithium batteries. In December, Bolivia signed an agreement with the Russian company Uranium One Group to build a semi-industrial pilot plant with Direct Lithium Extraction (DLI) technology in the Uyuni Salt Flats. The goal is to produce 14,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year.
Israel’s Gazacide. In late October, Bolivia became the first country in Latin America to break off relations with the State of Israel “in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip.” In April, Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa said at the UN National Security Agency:
“Clearly Israel has decided to disavow the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, of international law, of human rights, in order to perpetrate a genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Revolutionary Change. As an editorial in Mexico’s La Jornada from earlier this month lays out, the US, together with Bolivia’s comprador class, has an even more pressing reason to depose of Luis Arce and his government: to put an end to many of the revolutionary political and economic changes MAS has instituted over the past 18 years:
Like many countries with a colonial past, Bolivia had a majority indigenous population for centuries, but it was governed by a racist, ruthless, violent and inept Creole elite, enriched not by merit or ingenuity, but by the appropriation of natural resources and exploitation of indigenous peoples in conditions of slavery or semi-slavery. In this context, MAS is not a simple political party, but rather the institutional crystallisation of the struggles of the oppressed, the political instrument that allowed indigenous people to stop being objects and take on a role as subjects of public affairs, guardians of their autonomy and creators of a new and opposing institutionality to the one that was built to subject them.
Over the past two decades, this movement-party lifted more than half of the country’s poor out of poverty and extreme poverty. It recovered the State’s stewardship over mining and hydrocarbons, put an end to the crude interference of US spy agencies, made unprecedented progress in the construction of national sovereignty and was an example for the world by proclaiming itself a plurinational State, in which indigenous nations are on an equal footing with Western-inspired institutions. To accomplish all these achievements, it has had to withstand oligarchic insurrections, a coup d’état, the constant siege of foreign powers eager to seize the country’s strategic resources (such as lithium and water), multiple forms of destabilisation as well as the natural wear and tear of all governing forces.
Rumours of an Inside Job
Clearly, the US has motives a plenty for toppling Bolivia’s MAS government. It also has considerable form — including, of course, its support for the 2019 coup against Morales. But for the moment there is no smoking gun. Evidence may emerge in the coming weeks and months confirming US involvement in Wednesday’s events, but in the meantime all we have is informed speculation and conjecture.
It is, of course, possible that the US was not involved at all and that the generals were acting on their own accord, or on behalf of Bolivia’s oligarchy. There is also a possibility, albeit slim, that the coup was organised by the Arce government itself in order to rally public support ahead of general elections next year as well as see off any risk of Morales’ carrying out his own power grab in the lead up to those elections.
So far, the only evidence supporting this claim (as far as I’m aware) is a statement given by Zúñiga to journalists as he was led away following his arrest. Asked repeatedly whether it was an “auto-golpe,” Zúñiga said yes:
“The president told me: the situation is screwed up, it is critical. We need to prepare something to raise my popularity. ‘Shall we bring out the armoured vehicles?’ I asked Luis Arce Catacora and he replied- ‘Bring them out’. Then on Sunday night, the armoured vehicles begin to arrive. Six cascabeles and six urutús, plus 14 Z from the Achacachi Regiment.”
What makes this somewhat believable is that Arce’s government is indeed struggling as the country’s multi-year economic boom begins to fizzle, leaving behind a significant shortage of US dollars. As The Diplomat reported in its June 12 article, Bolivia Turns to China Amid Historic Economic Crisis, “Bolivia is facing one of the worst economic and financial crises in its history,” and sitting governments always struggle to win elections during an economic crisis:
GDP growth is at its lowest level in two decades, with an economic recession, payments crisis, high inflation, and high unemployment rates to boot. The Bolivian Central Bank is also running out of foreign currency, particularly U.S. dollars, which much of the Bolivian middle class relies on for financial stability and market predictability. Recent scandals in Bolivia’s energy production, including long-term shortages of natural gas and electricity in remote areas, add to the turmoil.
So too do the rising tensions between supporters of Arce’s government and Morales loyalists have been on the rise. Some of the clashes have turned ugly. In January, two civilians are alleged to have died and 11 police officers to have sustained injuries in protests by supporters of Morales against judges who had disqualified his presidential candidacy for 2025. Morales accused Arce, who was once his Minister of Economy and close ally for many years, of being behind the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court, which disqualifies Morales from running for presidency after having already held the office on two occasions.
But the only evidence supporting claims that this was coup was an inside job are the parting words of the failed coup leader. And that is maybe just a little too convenient. After all, if the coup ended up failing, as it did in spectacular fashion, what better alibi than to claim it was an inside job? Such a tactic would also have the added benefit of sowing further divisions within Movimiento al Socialismo as well as in the country as a whole.
There is another aspect of this narrative that doesn’t quite pass the smell test. If Zúñiga was indeed acting on Arce’s orders, why would he call for the release of political prisoners that are sworn ideological enemies of Morales and Arce’s political party — including Jeanine Áñez, the leader of the 2019 coup that culminated in the collapse of Morales’ government as well as the deaths of “at least 39 people,” according to an investigation by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
For the moment, there is a a lot about this coup that doesn’t quite add up. What is clear is that the resulting uptick in political uncertainty and economic volatility is the last thing a weakened, divided Bolivia needs right now. This failed coup should also serve as a warning of heightened political instability across the globe as economic and financial pressures continue to rise.
Presumably, many governments in Latin America that are not fully aligned with the US will be on heightened alert in the weeks and months ahead, as Washington continues to vigorously stir the pot in its own “backyard.” As the US loses geopolitical and geostrategic influence in other parts of the world, it will inevitably focus more and more of its energies and attention closer to home. And that will inevitably mean more meddling in the affairs of other countries in its direct neighbourhood.
One government that needs to be taking particular care is Gustavo Petro’s in Colombia, once the US’ main staging post for US military operations in the region. Like its neighbours Bolivia and Venezuela, Colombia, under Petro, has applied to join BRICS+. It has also cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv and is one of embarrassingly few countries in the world to have actually imposed (probably backfiring) economic sanctions on Israel in response to Israeli war crimes in Gaza. In recent months Petro himself has repeatedly warned that a coup is being planned against his government. Those warnings should now be taken a lot more seriously.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06 ... livia.html
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Bolivia: the coup did not fail; it is still being prepared
Eduardo Vasco
June 27, 2024
Regardless of what happens in the American elections, Latin America will be in the eye of the storm from now on.
What happened on June 26th in Bolivia was not yet a coup d’état. It was a failed putsch given by the commander of the Armed Forces, Juan José Zuñiga, in an improvised manner, believing that it would be supported by the other coup officers.
But Zuñiga got ahead of himself.
He had declared, two days earlier, in an interview, that he would not accept a new candidacy from Evo Morales for president of the Republic. As the statement caused enormous controversy, President Luis Arce announced that Zuñiga would be dismissed. So, the military anticipated, organized a group from the Challapata Special Regiment “Mendez Arcos” and tried to invade the Government Palace.
But no one else accompanied him. No barracks were raised, anywhere in the country. However, contrary to what one might think, the police did not play a leading role in containing the putsch. Although she also did not join Zuñiga’s adventure, she is even more reactionary than the army and was at the forefront of the 2019 coup.
Evo and Arce himself called on the people to mobilize against the coup attempt. Hundreds of people expelled Zuñiga’s military from Murillo Square, demonstrating combativeness as they had done in thousands in 2019.
But it was less popular mobilization and more the lack of initiative from the military that led to the failure of the Zuñiga putsch.
Bolivia is experiencing a strong political crisis, both among the right and among the MAS. Those who could be considered the main leaders of the right – the former coup-president Jeanine Añez, who took office after the 2019 coup, and one of the main authors of that coup, the extremist Luis Fernando Camacho – are in jail.
One of the objectives announced by Zuñiga was to release Añez and Camacho, perhaps precisely so that they could unify the coup right-wing. The most worrying thing is that, in the absence of political leaders, the military itself seeks to lead the coup – as Zuñiga tried to do.
Contrary to what was done by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, the MAS was unable to purge the coup officers from the armed forces. There was no purge at any time, neither during the Evo governments nor under Arce. Thus, the Bolivian armed forces are highly reactionary and linked to American imperialism. CIA agents are deeply infiltrated within the Bolivian military.
If, on the one hand, the other officials did not follow Zuñiga, and the OAS – which had sponsored the 2019 coup – this time condemned the putsch, the stance of the United States government is revealing. While the entire world rejected the coup, the American government only stated that it was monitoring the situation and asked for calm and moderation. This is a clear sign that the U.S. is involved in organizing a coup in Bolivia.
It appears that Bolivian officials let Zuñiga burn himself to test the chances of a real coup being successful. As commander of the armed forces, Zuñiga knew that other officers have serious coup inclinations and that is why he made the attempt, otherwise he would not have been so bold.
The crisis on the left is even greater than that on the right. The MAS and popular movements are deeply divided between the Evo and Arce wings. In recent years, Morales has shown signs of capitulation by handing over Cesare Battisti to Bolsonaro and the Italian government, participating in Bolsonaro’s own inauguration as president and accepting that Arce was the MAS candidate in the elections that took place due to popular pressure, which reversed the coup, and removed Añez from power.
However, Arce is a moderate bureaucrat who, especially in domestic politics, has behaved like a kind of Bolivian Lenin Moreno, although not as right-wing. He has spared no effort to remove Morales and his allies from the MAS leadership and thus take the party for himself. Both Morales and Arce intend to run for office in the next presidential elections, and only one of them will be able to represent MAS. The internal struggle, which is already extremely turbulent, tends to intensify.
There is no way to resolve the MAS crisis and reunite the party. The only solution favorable to the Bolivian people is the separation of the bases and the left wing from the right wing and the formation of a new party, workers, socialist and independent, that will act shoulder to shoulder with the Bolivian Workers’ Central to prevent the real coup that is being prepared, to purge the armed forces of their coup and pro-imperialist elements and guarantee power for Bolivian workers and peasants, who in their majority support Evo Morales against Arce.
The defeat of the coup impulses in Bolivia is essential to prevent the continental coup plans made by American imperialism, which have already succeeded in Argentina and Ecuador and which have Brazil as their main target, because the USA cannot tolerate Brazil with a government like this one under Lula for a long time. Certainly the military and the Bolivian right maintain links with Milei’s extreme right and also with the Brazilian extreme right. Milei imposed a dictatorship with the use and abuse of the police and army in Argentina. Noboa imitated the Argentine and did the same in Ecuador soon after. The generals continue with impunity in Brazil a year and a half after January 8th and Bolsonarism remains strong.
Latin America, unfortunately, is still today the “backyard” of the USA. Faced with the complicated international situation, especially in Ukraine, East Asia and the Middle East, with successive defeats, American imperialism needs to ensure control of the continent. This is one of the few points on which Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree. Therefore, regardless of what happens in the American elections, Latin America will be in the eye of the storm from now on.
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/ ... -prepared/
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 27, 2024
Ollantay Itzamná
Why the recent coup attempt in Bolivia failed and the 2019 coup was consummated.
In 2019, the Bolivian government was isolated from the popular movements. The popular middle classes, manipulated by the coup plotters, won the streets in the absence of the social movements and peoples.
In 2024, the government of Luis Arce, after the recent apotheosic popular assemblies in which he participated, was connected with the popular sectors. And it was these sectors who immediately occupied the Plaza Murillo, cell phones in hand, before the violent entry of the military into the Government Palace to remove the president. There was no popular fear.
In 2019 the political equation was: demobilized peoples + mobilization of the “pititas” under the command of Luis Camacho + military insubordination + flight of the government = Consummation of the Coup d’Etat, followed by a year-long bloody dictatorship.
In 2024 the equation was: popular sectors in the streets + government of Luis Arce confronting the coup leaders with his “body” = failure of the coup attempt, coup leaders arrested and publicly presented as criminals by the legitimate authorities.
In 2019, the “self-isolated” government, frightened, deconvened the people and fled.
In 2024, the government, supported by popular sectors, exercised its authority, ordered the military to return to their barracks, ordered the arrest of the coup plotters.
An important lesson of this popular victory over the insubordinate military was the “unity in diversity” shown by the different political currents within the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) itself, which managed to demonstrate the depth of its political conscience.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/06/ ... diversity/
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Sifting Through the Debris of Another Failed Coup in Latin America
Posted on June 28, 2024 by Nick Corbishley
This was probably the shortest lived coup d’état in Bolivia’s history. But who was behind it?
As NC readers are no doubt well aware by now, the South American country of Bolivia suffered yet another coup attempt on Wednesday — its second in just five years, and according to the Argentine newspaper El Cronista, its 36th since gaining independence from Spain 199 years ago. Research cited by CNN (in an article that, predictably, doesn’t once mention the US’ storied role in regime change operations) claims that Bolivia has actually suffered 39 coups, including this one, since 1945 alone — more than any country on the planet.
This was probably the shortest lived coup in all that time.
Whereas the 2019 coup was successful, at least in terms of meeting its immediate goals — the coup leaders, with the help of Bolivia’s armed forces and the tacit support of the US government and the Organization of American States (OAS), were able to topple the Evo Morales government and force Morales into exile — this one fizzled out in a matter of hours, leaving big unresolved questions about who was actually behind it.
A Powerless Coup
The coup began on Wednesday afternoon (local time) with an armoured military vehicle ramming the doors of Bolivia’s Palacio de Gobierno. When the doors gave way, dozens of armed soldiers surged into the building. The former Commander General of Bolivia’s armed forces, Juan José Zuñiga, who had been relieved of his position just a day earlier, stepped out of the vehicle and demanded a “change of cabinet.”
Speaking to the cameras, Zuñiga fired off a list of grievances and demands:
“Ministers are going to be changed, but our State cannot continue like this, doing whatever it wants. We are showing our annoyance, it is our duty, an obligation that your Armed Forces take back this homeland again. Enough of impoverishing the people and humiliating the Army… We have come to express our annoyance. We are going to take the Casa Grande (the Big House, the new seat of political power in Bolivia).”
Zuñiga claimed that he and his fellow coup plotters had coordinated the seizure of the National Palace with local police units. Tellingly, the former commander also called for the release of former interim President Jeanine Áñez, who is currently serving 10 years in prison for orchestrating the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. Asked if he recognised the authority of President Luis “Lucho” Arce Catacora, Zuñiga responded: “For the moment.”
Zúñiga’s biggest bugbear appears to have been Evo Morales, the former president and founder of Bolivia’s governing party, Movimiento al Socialismo. Just days before the coup the then-military commander criticised former Morales’ aspirations to return to politics in an interview with a local television channel, warning that he and his soldiers would, if necessary, take action to prevent such an outcome:
“He can no longer be president of this country. If necessary, I will prevent him from trampling on the Constitution, from disobeying the people’s mandate.”
This was enough to lose Zúñiga his job.
“According to Article 246 of the Constitution, members of the Armed Forces must not discuss politics,” political scientist Lily Peñaranda told the Spanish broadcaster RTVE. “And Zúñiga was accused of having discussed politics precisely in that interview.”
Throughout the melee on Wednesday, the Arce Government remained at its stations in the Casa Grande, which replaced the National Palace as the seat of executive power in La Paz in 2018. Surrounded by his cabinet, Arce announced that Bolivia “cannot allow another coup to take Bolivian lives” [presumably in reference to Jeanine Áñez’s bloody coup against Evo Morales in 2019]:
”We urge everyone to defend democracy. And here we are, standing firm in la Casa Grande, with the entire cabinet. We salute the social organisations and cordially invite them to once again show the path of democracy to the Bolivian people.”
Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry issued the following statement:
The Plurinational State of Bolivia denounces to the international community the irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian army, which threaten the country’s democracy, peace and security.
We call on the international community and the Bolivian population to respect democratic values and support the government of President Luis Arce Catacora, constitutionally and legitimately elected by the sovereign will of the Bolivian people.
Crucially, Bolivia’s still-influential former president, Evo Morales, who is locked in an escalating power struggle with Arce, denounced from his Twitter account “that a Group of the Challapata Special Regiment ‘Mendez Arcos’ have taken over Plaza Murillo with snipers.” Morales called on the supporters of democracy in Bolivia to “defend the Homeland from military groups that are acting against democracy and the people.”
The response was swift. The country’s largest trade union, the Bolivian Workers’ Union, denounced the coup and declared a general strike. It also called for the “relocation of all social and union organisations to the city of La Paz to defend and restore constitutional order.”
Within minutes, Plaza Murillo began filling with protesters calling for an end to the coup. The scenes were reminiscent of the 2002 coup attempt against Venezuela’s then-President Hugo Chavez that resulted in thousands of people surrounding the Palacio de Miraflores and ultimately taking back power from the US-backed coup plotters. In La Paz, as in Caracas, the coup fizzled out the moment it became clear that the public remained firmly behind the sitting government. In La Paz, the plotters did not even have the support of the armed forces.
In the photo below, Arce is facing off against the coup instigators on the steps of the National Palace. By this stage, the coup was already as good as over:
The game-changer came when Arce himself named three new military commanders for the armed forces. With this one move, Arce regained control of events. The first act of Zúñiga’s replacement, Commander José Wilson Sanchez, was to call for the restoration of order and the return of all soldiers who had participated in the operation to their barracks. Within minutes the military had abandoned the centre of La Paz and Zúñiga and a number of his co-conspirators had been captured.
Both Zúñiga and former Navy commander Juan Arnez Salvador were arrested together with roughly a dozen other military officers. They could face prison terms of up to 30 years. In a declaration to the Organization of American States on Thursday morning, Bolivia’s ambassador said that around 200 military officers took part in the short-lived operation.
The coup was over roughly three hours after it had begun. As Reuters reported on Thursday, the Bolivian government had received prior intelligence that a coup attempt could occur, allowing it to take preemptive measures. But who was ultimately behind this failed coup? That is the question now being asked, not only in La Paz but in the capitals of many other Latin American countries, particularly those not fully aligned with Washington.
A Tangle of Motives
The US is obviously prime suspect, largely thanks to its long, storied history of plotting, staging, or on some occasions merely supporting regime change operations in Latin America. According to a study by Harvard University, between 1898 and 1994, Washington plotted and staged at least 41 coups d’état in Latin America. That’s more than one every two and a half years.
So far this century, even with the US largely distracted by operations in other parts of the world (the Middle East, East Asia, Ukraine…), there has been one attempted coup in Venezuela and one attempted Juan Guaído-led uprising (both unsuccessful), a coup in Honduras (successful, though the wife of the target of the coup is now Honduras’ president), two coups in Bolivia (one successful, at least in the short term, the other unsuccessful), an internal coup in Peru (successful), and at least one coup in Haiti (successful), since which time (2004) the country has lost pretty much all of its sovereignty.
Besides all of its priors, the US also has its fair share of motives for wanting to depose Bolivia’s current government:
Lithium. Bolivia has something that no other country does: the world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, which is home to the world’s largest known deposits of lithium. It is not just plentiful, it is relatively easy to extract. Together with Chile and Argentina, Bolivia forms the so-called “lithium triangle”, the largest global deposit of so-called “white gold”.
In the last couple of years, Argentina’s lithium has drawn the attention of the US military, government and corporations, including, of course, Tesla, whose founder, Elon Musk, had the following (since deleted) exchange on Twitter:
La Paz is taking a different approach to managing its lithium reserves. Last year, it sealed significant deals involving two Chinese companies, the giant battery maker CATL and Citic Guoan Group, and one Russian firm, Rosatom, as well as a combined $2.8bn in investment commitments. Until now, the country has struggled to increase industrial production or develop commercially feasible reserves.
Meanwhile, its vast stores of lithium continue to attract the attention of the US government, military and intelligence agencies. Here’s General Laura Richardson, chief of US Southern Command, breaking down the situation for the US House of Representatives.
Russia and the BRICS. In April, Luis Arce announced his government’s application to join BRICS+. As we reported at the time, that application has already been endorsed by the Putin government in Russia. Following a meeting with his Bolivian counterpart, Celinda Sosa, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
“Russia supports Bolivia’s aspirations (to join the BRICS). In its role as president of the BRICS this year, Russia is interested in ensuring that the highest possible number of countries that apply to the bloc, either to become full members or to establish stable and permanent associations with it, receive a concrete positive response.”
Since then, India’s government has also lent its blessing. Three weeks ago, Arce visited Russia where he attended the Saint Petersberg International Economic Forum. He also spoke with Vladimir Putin about “expanding cooperation” with Russia to produce lithium batteries. In December, Bolivia signed an agreement with the Russian company Uranium One Group to build a semi-industrial pilot plant with Direct Lithium Extraction (DLI) technology in the Uyuni Salt Flats. The goal is to produce 14,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year.
Israel’s Gazacide. In late October, Bolivia became the first country in Latin America to break off relations with the State of Israel “in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip.” In April, Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa said at the UN National Security Agency:
“Clearly Israel has decided to disavow the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, of international law, of human rights, in order to perpetrate a genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Revolutionary Change. As an editorial in Mexico’s La Jornada from earlier this month lays out, the US, together with Bolivia’s comprador class, has an even more pressing reason to depose of Luis Arce and his government: to put an end to many of the revolutionary political and economic changes MAS has instituted over the past 18 years:
Like many countries with a colonial past, Bolivia had a majority indigenous population for centuries, but it was governed by a racist, ruthless, violent and inept Creole elite, enriched not by merit or ingenuity, but by the appropriation of natural resources and exploitation of indigenous peoples in conditions of slavery or semi-slavery. In this context, MAS is not a simple political party, but rather the institutional crystallisation of the struggles of the oppressed, the political instrument that allowed indigenous people to stop being objects and take on a role as subjects of public affairs, guardians of their autonomy and creators of a new and opposing institutionality to the one that was built to subject them.
Over the past two decades, this movement-party lifted more than half of the country’s poor out of poverty and extreme poverty. It recovered the State’s stewardship over mining and hydrocarbons, put an end to the crude interference of US spy agencies, made unprecedented progress in the construction of national sovereignty and was an example for the world by proclaiming itself a plurinational State, in which indigenous nations are on an equal footing with Western-inspired institutions. To accomplish all these achievements, it has had to withstand oligarchic insurrections, a coup d’état, the constant siege of foreign powers eager to seize the country’s strategic resources (such as lithium and water), multiple forms of destabilisation as well as the natural wear and tear of all governing forces.
Rumours of an Inside Job
Clearly, the US has motives a plenty for toppling Bolivia’s MAS government. It also has considerable form — including, of course, its support for the 2019 coup against Morales. But for the moment there is no smoking gun. Evidence may emerge in the coming weeks and months confirming US involvement in Wednesday’s events, but in the meantime all we have is informed speculation and conjecture.
It is, of course, possible that the US was not involved at all and that the generals were acting on their own accord, or on behalf of Bolivia’s oligarchy. There is also a possibility, albeit slim, that the coup was organised by the Arce government itself in order to rally public support ahead of general elections next year as well as see off any risk of Morales’ carrying out his own power grab in the lead up to those elections.
So far, the only evidence supporting this claim (as far as I’m aware) is a statement given by Zúñiga to journalists as he was led away following his arrest. Asked repeatedly whether it was an “auto-golpe,” Zúñiga said yes:
“The president told me: the situation is screwed up, it is critical. We need to prepare something to raise my popularity. ‘Shall we bring out the armoured vehicles?’ I asked Luis Arce Catacora and he replied- ‘Bring them out’. Then on Sunday night, the armoured vehicles begin to arrive. Six cascabeles and six urutús, plus 14 Z from the Achacachi Regiment.”
What makes this somewhat believable is that Arce’s government is indeed struggling as the country’s multi-year economic boom begins to fizzle, leaving behind a significant shortage of US dollars. As The Diplomat reported in its June 12 article, Bolivia Turns to China Amid Historic Economic Crisis, “Bolivia is facing one of the worst economic and financial crises in its history,” and sitting governments always struggle to win elections during an economic crisis:
GDP growth is at its lowest level in two decades, with an economic recession, payments crisis, high inflation, and high unemployment rates to boot. The Bolivian Central Bank is also running out of foreign currency, particularly U.S. dollars, which much of the Bolivian middle class relies on for financial stability and market predictability. Recent scandals in Bolivia’s energy production, including long-term shortages of natural gas and electricity in remote areas, add to the turmoil.
So too do the rising tensions between supporters of Arce’s government and Morales loyalists have been on the rise. Some of the clashes have turned ugly. In January, two civilians are alleged to have died and 11 police officers to have sustained injuries in protests by supporters of Morales against judges who had disqualified his presidential candidacy for 2025. Morales accused Arce, who was once his Minister of Economy and close ally for many years, of being behind the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court, which disqualifies Morales from running for presidency after having already held the office on two occasions.
But the only evidence supporting claims that this was coup was an inside job are the parting words of the failed coup leader. And that is maybe just a little too convenient. After all, if the coup ended up failing, as it did in spectacular fashion, what better alibi than to claim it was an inside job? Such a tactic would also have the added benefit of sowing further divisions within Movimiento al Socialismo as well as in the country as a whole.
There is another aspect of this narrative that doesn’t quite pass the smell test. If Zúñiga was indeed acting on Arce’s orders, why would he call for the release of political prisoners that are sworn ideological enemies of Morales and Arce’s political party — including Jeanine Áñez, the leader of the 2019 coup that culminated in the collapse of Morales’ government as well as the deaths of “at least 39 people,” according to an investigation by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
For the moment, there is a a lot about this coup that doesn’t quite add up. What is clear is that the resulting uptick in political uncertainty and economic volatility is the last thing a weakened, divided Bolivia needs right now. This failed coup should also serve as a warning of heightened political instability across the globe as economic and financial pressures continue to rise.
Presumably, many governments in Latin America that are not fully aligned with the US will be on heightened alert in the weeks and months ahead, as Washington continues to vigorously stir the pot in its own “backyard.” As the US loses geopolitical and geostrategic influence in other parts of the world, it will inevitably focus more and more of its energies and attention closer to home. And that will inevitably mean more meddling in the affairs of other countries in its direct neighbourhood.
One government that needs to be taking particular care is Gustavo Petro’s in Colombia, once the US’ main staging post for US military operations in the region. Like its neighbours Bolivia and Venezuela, Colombia, under Petro, has applied to join BRICS+. It has also cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv and is one of embarrassingly few countries in the world to have actually imposed (probably backfiring) economic sanctions on Israel in response to Israeli war crimes in Gaza. In recent months Petro himself has repeatedly warned that a coup is being planned against his government. Those warnings should now be taken a lot more seriously.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06 ... livia.html
******
Bolivia: the coup did not fail; it is still being prepared
Eduardo Vasco
June 27, 2024
Regardless of what happens in the American elections, Latin America will be in the eye of the storm from now on.
What happened on June 26th in Bolivia was not yet a coup d’état. It was a failed putsch given by the commander of the Armed Forces, Juan José Zuñiga, in an improvised manner, believing that it would be supported by the other coup officers.
But Zuñiga got ahead of himself.
He had declared, two days earlier, in an interview, that he would not accept a new candidacy from Evo Morales for president of the Republic. As the statement caused enormous controversy, President Luis Arce announced that Zuñiga would be dismissed. So, the military anticipated, organized a group from the Challapata Special Regiment “Mendez Arcos” and tried to invade the Government Palace.
But no one else accompanied him. No barracks were raised, anywhere in the country. However, contrary to what one might think, the police did not play a leading role in containing the putsch. Although she also did not join Zuñiga’s adventure, she is even more reactionary than the army and was at the forefront of the 2019 coup.
Evo and Arce himself called on the people to mobilize against the coup attempt. Hundreds of people expelled Zuñiga’s military from Murillo Square, demonstrating combativeness as they had done in thousands in 2019.
But it was less popular mobilization and more the lack of initiative from the military that led to the failure of the Zuñiga putsch.
Bolivia is experiencing a strong political crisis, both among the right and among the MAS. Those who could be considered the main leaders of the right – the former coup-president Jeanine Añez, who took office after the 2019 coup, and one of the main authors of that coup, the extremist Luis Fernando Camacho – are in jail.
One of the objectives announced by Zuñiga was to release Añez and Camacho, perhaps precisely so that they could unify the coup right-wing. The most worrying thing is that, in the absence of political leaders, the military itself seeks to lead the coup – as Zuñiga tried to do.
Contrary to what was done by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, the MAS was unable to purge the coup officers from the armed forces. There was no purge at any time, neither during the Evo governments nor under Arce. Thus, the Bolivian armed forces are highly reactionary and linked to American imperialism. CIA agents are deeply infiltrated within the Bolivian military.
If, on the one hand, the other officials did not follow Zuñiga, and the OAS – which had sponsored the 2019 coup – this time condemned the putsch, the stance of the United States government is revealing. While the entire world rejected the coup, the American government only stated that it was monitoring the situation and asked for calm and moderation. This is a clear sign that the U.S. is involved in organizing a coup in Bolivia.
It appears that Bolivian officials let Zuñiga burn himself to test the chances of a real coup being successful. As commander of the armed forces, Zuñiga knew that other officers have serious coup inclinations and that is why he made the attempt, otherwise he would not have been so bold.
The crisis on the left is even greater than that on the right. The MAS and popular movements are deeply divided between the Evo and Arce wings. In recent years, Morales has shown signs of capitulation by handing over Cesare Battisti to Bolsonaro and the Italian government, participating in Bolsonaro’s own inauguration as president and accepting that Arce was the MAS candidate in the elections that took place due to popular pressure, which reversed the coup, and removed Añez from power.
However, Arce is a moderate bureaucrat who, especially in domestic politics, has behaved like a kind of Bolivian Lenin Moreno, although not as right-wing. He has spared no effort to remove Morales and his allies from the MAS leadership and thus take the party for himself. Both Morales and Arce intend to run for office in the next presidential elections, and only one of them will be able to represent MAS. The internal struggle, which is already extremely turbulent, tends to intensify.
There is no way to resolve the MAS crisis and reunite the party. The only solution favorable to the Bolivian people is the separation of the bases and the left wing from the right wing and the formation of a new party, workers, socialist and independent, that will act shoulder to shoulder with the Bolivian Workers’ Central to prevent the real coup that is being prepared, to purge the armed forces of their coup and pro-imperialist elements and guarantee power for Bolivian workers and peasants, who in their majority support Evo Morales against Arce.
The defeat of the coup impulses in Bolivia is essential to prevent the continental coup plans made by American imperialism, which have already succeeded in Argentina and Ecuador and which have Brazil as their main target, because the USA cannot tolerate Brazil with a government like this one under Lula for a long time. Certainly the military and the Bolivian right maintain links with Milei’s extreme right and also with the Brazilian extreme right. Milei imposed a dictatorship with the use and abuse of the police and army in Argentina. Noboa imitated the Argentine and did the same in Ecuador soon after. The generals continue with impunity in Brazil a year and a half after January 8th and Bolsonarism remains strong.
Latin America, unfortunately, is still today the “backyard” of the USA. Faced with the complicated international situation, especially in Ukraine, East Asia and the Middle East, with successive defeats, American imperialism needs to ensure control of the continent. This is one of the few points on which Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree. Therefore, regardless of what happens in the American elections, Latin America will be in the eye of the storm from now on.
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/ ... -prepared/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Bolivia
BOLIVIA: BEHIND THE MILITARY COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST LUIS ARCE
June 28, 2024 , 2:00 pm .
The coup d'état against Evo Morales and the 2019 coup attempt suggest that the security forces are disconnected from national politics (Photo: AFP)
On Wednesday, June 26, there was an unusual movement of some military units of the Bolivian army in the vicinity of Murillo Plaza in La Paz, where the headquarters of the executive branch of the Andean country is located, which was immediately described as an attempted coup d'état by President Luis Arce.
The group of troops was led by General Juan José Zúñiga, now dismissed, who in front of the media said that there would soon be a "possession" and the appointment of a new cabinet. Likewise, he argued that the military was showing its "annoyance" about the climate in Bolivia, which is why he called to stop the "humiliations."
The skirmish left around 12 people injured and caused some minor damage to the Palacio Quemado after an armored vehicle broke into the building. At the beginning of the coup attempt, President Arce called for the defense of democracy to prevent "coup attempts from taking Bolivian lives."
Shortly after, the rebellious soldiers began to withdraw from the square and the Attorney General's Office reported that it had initiated criminal proceedings against Juan José Zúñiga and the entire contingent of soldiers who participated in the revolt. As the leader of the coup attempt, he will be charged with armed uprising against the State, seduction of troops and attack against the President and other members of the State, for which he could be sentenced to between 5 and 15 years.
With the Bolivians taking to the streets to protest in favor of democracy, the condemnation of the action by presidents, political leaders, even ironically by those who participated in the coup d'état in 2019 against Evo Morales and the appointment of a new military high command, this unfortunate chapter of Bolivian politics seemed to close, which, due to the response, the media and collective condemnation, as well as the exemplary punishment, should not be repeated.
However, the viral image of President Luis Arce entrenched in the headquarters of the Executive Power and facing the coup general, as well as the withdrawal of the military contingent due to "citizen pressure", are not enough to turn the page and think that a similar process could happen again.
It is enough to look for the origin failure in the recent past to understand that in the Bolivian State there is a structural weakness that, although it became deeper with the 2019 coup d'état, had already been showing signs before. And it is not enough to name José Sánchez as the new commander of the Army, Gerardo Sabala as the new head of the Air Force and for Wilson Guardia to become head of the Navy to change the military structure in the country.
The 2019 coup against Evo Morales reveals that the security forces, both the police and the army, are disconnected from national politics, a kind of supra-power that can remove civil powers and appoint others if it deems necessary. This logic goes back to the power of influence exercised by US operations in the region to dismantle leftist and progressive movements and install servile governments that would conform to its imperial agenda.
The first signs that the coup-plotting general had a defined political position could be seen last year when he suggested that anti-patriots were seeking support in the barracks to overthrow the government of Luis Arce. From that moment on, a bitter dispute between former president Evo Morales and Zúñiga became evident. The former president accused the general of being a thief, since he had supposedly embezzled military funds amounting to 2.7 million bolivianos in 2013, to which the former army commander replied that the former president could not return to power.
What happened in the past not only demonstrated Zúñiga's differences with Evo Morales, but also that, using his "supra power," he sought to overthrow the government that appointed him general in 2022 and ratified him in 2023.
The 2019 coup was an irreparable blow to the Bolivian State that could not be reversed with Arce's victory. And this disarticulation deepens at a time when the MAS-IPSP coalition, which brings together social and popular movements, is unable to achieve a consensus that guarantees victory in the next elections, much less to confront and prevent the US plan to fragment the plurinational State.
Interviewed by former President Rafael Correa, Arce said that the coup attempt was not only carried out by the military, but also by retired military personnel and civilians. He also promised a thorough investigation "to find the real intellectual culprits" arguing that "someone is behind it, someone is financing, someone is promising things."
https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/bo ... -luis-arce
June 28, 2024 , 2:00 pm .
The coup d'état against Evo Morales and the 2019 coup attempt suggest that the security forces are disconnected from national politics (Photo: AFP)
On Wednesday, June 26, there was an unusual movement of some military units of the Bolivian army in the vicinity of Murillo Plaza in La Paz, where the headquarters of the executive branch of the Andean country is located, which was immediately described as an attempted coup d'état by President Luis Arce.
The group of troops was led by General Juan José Zúñiga, now dismissed, who in front of the media said that there would soon be a "possession" and the appointment of a new cabinet. Likewise, he argued that the military was showing its "annoyance" about the climate in Bolivia, which is why he called to stop the "humiliations."
The skirmish left around 12 people injured and caused some minor damage to the Palacio Quemado after an armored vehicle broke into the building. At the beginning of the coup attempt, President Arce called for the defense of democracy to prevent "coup attempts from taking Bolivian lives."
Shortly after, the rebellious soldiers began to withdraw from the square and the Attorney General's Office reported that it had initiated criminal proceedings against Juan José Zúñiga and the entire contingent of soldiers who participated in the revolt. As the leader of the coup attempt, he will be charged with armed uprising against the State, seduction of troops and attack against the President and other members of the State, for which he could be sentenced to between 5 and 15 years.
With the Bolivians taking to the streets to protest in favor of democracy, the condemnation of the action by presidents, political leaders, even ironically by those who participated in the coup d'état in 2019 against Evo Morales and the appointment of a new military high command, this unfortunate chapter of Bolivian politics seemed to close, which, due to the response, the media and collective condemnation, as well as the exemplary punishment, should not be repeated.
However, the viral image of President Luis Arce entrenched in the headquarters of the Executive Power and facing the coup general, as well as the withdrawal of the military contingent due to "citizen pressure", are not enough to turn the page and think that a similar process could happen again.
It is enough to look for the origin failure in the recent past to understand that in the Bolivian State there is a structural weakness that, although it became deeper with the 2019 coup d'état, had already been showing signs before. And it is not enough to name José Sánchez as the new commander of the Army, Gerardo Sabala as the new head of the Air Force and for Wilson Guardia to become head of the Navy to change the military structure in the country.
The 2019 coup against Evo Morales reveals that the security forces, both the police and the army, are disconnected from national politics, a kind of supra-power that can remove civil powers and appoint others if it deems necessary. This logic goes back to the power of influence exercised by US operations in the region to dismantle leftist and progressive movements and install servile governments that would conform to its imperial agenda.
The first signs that the coup-plotting general had a defined political position could be seen last year when he suggested that anti-patriots were seeking support in the barracks to overthrow the government of Luis Arce. From that moment on, a bitter dispute between former president Evo Morales and Zúñiga became evident. The former president accused the general of being a thief, since he had supposedly embezzled military funds amounting to 2.7 million bolivianos in 2013, to which the former army commander replied that the former president could not return to power.
What happened in the past not only demonstrated Zúñiga's differences with Evo Morales, but also that, using his "supra power," he sought to overthrow the government that appointed him general in 2022 and ratified him in 2023.
The 2019 coup was an irreparable blow to the Bolivian State that could not be reversed with Arce's victory. And this disarticulation deepens at a time when the MAS-IPSP coalition, which brings together social and popular movements, is unable to achieve a consensus that guarantees victory in the next elections, much less to confront and prevent the US plan to fragment the plurinational State.
Interviewed by former President Rafael Correa, Arce said that the coup attempt was not only carried out by the military, but also by retired military personnel and civilians. He also promised a thorough investigation "to find the real intellectual culprits" arguing that "someone is behind it, someone is financing, someone is promising things."
https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/bo ... -luis-arce
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."