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Winning is only the beginning for Luis Arce and the MAS

Whatever one thinks of Evo Morales, and despite the challenges ahead, it is clear that for the moment at least Bolivians have given the world a lesson in democracy

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Women Rights

The Women demand respect, enough violence and harassment

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Was 'coup' against Evo Morales over Bolivia’s lithium?

Evo Morales and current Bolivian president point to struggle for future of country’s natural resource as ulterior motive

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Bolivian ex-Interior Minister Arturo Murillo has been charged in the US with corruption and money laundering

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The death toll in Bolivia continues to rise after violent clashes between security forces and supporters of former President Evo Morales

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This site is dedicated to information and concern about the human rights situation in Bolivia, which is currently under threat.

JEANINE AÑEZ, FORMER INTERIM PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA, ARRESTED, AWAITING TRIAL

On October 30, 2020, the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies decreed that there should be an investigation into the allegations against Jeanine Añez for her role in the ousting of President Evo Morales after the elections of 2019 and the violence that followed when she was in office as interim president.

In March, 2021 the office of the Bolivian Attorney General ordered her arrest for terrorism, sedition and conspiracy and she was taken to prison in La Paz. Several of her ministers were encarcerated at the same time, including Rodrigo Guzman, former Energy Minister and Alvaro Coimbra, former Justice Minister. Some members of the military that had been under her command were also arrested, including former Army Commanders Jorge Mendieta and Williams Kaliman and former Police Chief Yuri Calderón.

On July 6, 2021, Añez’ original term of four months in prison was extended to six more months, with new charges: genocide, grievous bodily harm and injury followed by death.

Jeanine Añez has vigorously denied the charges and insisted she be set free. However, in spite of comments and support from certain groups in the United States and the European Union, she remains in prison pending a trial under the Bolivian justice system.

Two of the most serious occurrences during her regime were the massacres that took place at the Senkata gas factory and the town of Sacaba in November, 2019. Añez signed decrees ordering the Armed Forces to intervene against the people who were protesting the ousting of Evo Morales and demanding that the results of 2019 election, won by the MAS (March Towards Socialism) party, be respected. At least 39 people were killed outright by the Armed Forces, with an estimated 600 people injured.

In addition to the violence during Añez’ regime, there were summary arrests without trial, including the well-known case of lawyer Patricia Hermosa. Now, in an ironic twist of history, Jeanine Añez has been serving her time in the same prison where Hermosa had been locked up.

Sources include: Reuters, Al Jazeera, teleSur  – Compiled by JMF

The tragedy of Bolivia’s coup d’etat

What has happened in Bolivia is arguably the worst possible outcome for the masses of the country, who benefited immensely from the policies of President Evo Morales over the past 14 years. Morales implemented a leftist agenda which successfully managed to reduce poverty and inequality, and increase economic growth. The success of the Bolivarian model (Ed. note: Venezuelan) was seen as a threat to the interests of the United States and right wing governments in Latin America, and regime change efforts were moved into high gear.

As the first indigenous President of the country, Morales had managed to wrest political power from a small group of predatory elites of European descent, and ensured the redistribution of resources so the masses were able to enjoy a better life. For the indigenous people of Bolivia, who comprise over 60% of the population, this was a sea change given that they had been oppressed for 500 years, enduring conditions that approximated 19th century servitude.

Morales’ electoral successes in 2005, 2009, 2014, and in October this year have largely been due to his socio-economic reforms which resulted in unprecedented economic growth, with poverty and extreme poverty declining by 25% and 43% respectively. 

In 2014 the Financial Times called Morales “one of the world’s most popular leaders,” and the Washington Post reported last year: “It’s indisputable that Bolivians are healthier, wealthier, better educated, living longer and more equal than at any time in this South American nation’s history…under Morales, data shows, Bolivia’s economy is closing the gap with the rest of the continent, growing faster than most neighbors over the past 13 years.” This is a major achievement considering that at the time of Morales’ election Bolivia was the poorest nation in Latin America.

Morales was able to bolster social spending by increasing taxation on the hydrocarbon industry, forcing corporations to pay 82% of their profits to the state compared to the previous 18%.  Morales reduced his presidential wage and that of his ministers by 57% to US$1,875 a month, and reduced Bolivia’s dependence on the World Bank and IMF.  At the end of Morales’ first year in office the country had no fiscal deficit for the first time in 30 years. 

The Morales administration had focused on rural infrastructure improvement in order to bring roads, running water and electricity to areas that lacked them. His progressive social policies saw the introduction of non-contributory old-age pensions, and payments to mothers provided babies were taken for health checks and attended school. By 2014 the government had opened 20 hospitals and increased medical coverage to the age of 25. When Morales first came to power the illiteracy rate was the highest in Latin America at 16%, but by 2009 UNESCO declared Bolivia free from illiteracy. Bolivia also has the highest representation of women as politicians in the world. 

The government controlled the prices of petrol and food, food was distributed at subsidized prices, and hundreds of tractors were distributed free of charge. Such policies helped to curb inflation and brought economic stability. 

But Morales’ independent and successful domestic policies were matched by a fiercely independent foreign policy which rejected US hegemonic interference. It is a wonder he lasted as long as he did. In February this year, in his first visit to the US, Morales sat two seats away from President Trump in the UN Security Council and lambasted the US’s disregard for international law and multilateralism. Morales went as far as calling for the UN headquarters to be moved out of the country. 

The US dug into its regime change tool kit which has succeeded in overthrowing countless governments through military coups, kidnapping (Haiti and Honduras), parliamentary coups (Brazil and Paraguay), and in the case of Bolivia – resorted to destabilisation through the mobilisation of violent protests. Right wing paramilitary groups in Bolivia allied to the former ruling elite were funded to wreak havoc in the country on the night the votes were counted after the October 20th poll. The handmaiden of this destabilisation agenda was the white supremacist Luis Comacho, a wealthy lawyer who coordinated paramilitary attacks, and publicly associates with Juan Guaido in Venezuela. 

Even before the last one million votes had been counted, the leader of the opposition and former President Carlos de Mesa rejected the election as fraudulent, stoking protests on the streets. Paid youth with bats and explosives went on the rampage attacking indigenous people, politicians from the ruling party, burning residences and electoral tribunals. 

Morales tried to defuse the situation by inviting the OAS to audit the election results. The OAS determined there were serious problems, but said Morales may have won. The OAS, the headquarters of which are in Washington, nevertheless recommended fresh elections which Morales had accepted. But with the rapidly deteriorating violent situation on the ground, police defecting to the opposition, workers forced out of the state broadcaster, and the Chief of the Armed Forces recommending Morales resign, the President and his top leadership resigned their positions, and Morales subsequently flew to Mexico. 

Morales has called his ouster a US-inspired coup détat, as have the remaining regional left wing governments of Mexico, Argentina, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, as well as our own tripartite alliance. It is the majority indigenous people of Bolivia who will ultimately be the losers as the former ruling elite will regain control of the economy, and reverse Morales’ social and economic achievements, and independent foreign policy.