What is happening in Bolivia - A Retrospective Narrative with a Close Observation of Evo Morales

What happened in Bolivia is not about the right or the left, or an attempted coup by the police and the military. What happened was the joining of forces against a president who had long stopped representing the majority or the will of the people.

For quite some time, in response to Evo’s policies, various strikes and demonstrations throughout different departments of the country began to surface: the medical professionals in La Paz, representatives of civic societies in Potosí, Chuquisaca, and later in Santa Cruz as reports of electoral fraud began to surface.

Unlike what was portrayed by Evo’s government and some international news coverage, the protests in Santa Cruz were peaceful in nature, characterized with joyful dance, music, prayer and communal pots arranged to feed the masses and those who struggled the most. These were led by Fernando Camacho, president of the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz.

The department of Potosí had been striking since October 8th against the newly approved Supreme Decree 3738, which created a government entity to exploit lithium from that department in a coalition with a transnational, leaving very little for the department itself and its people. For over six months, local authorities attempted to meet with Evo without success. This movement was led by Marco Antonio Pumari, president of the Civic Committee of Potosí, an indigenous man and son of a miner. According to him, the “industrialization of lithium should be the hope of Potosí and not it’s death”.

Rodrigo Echalar, self-declared Troskyst, and president of Chuquisaca’s Civic Committee declared a strike stating: “Let’s be clear, the Civic Committee is working responsibly… so that this mobilization reaches its ultimate consequence, until Evo Morales relinquishes power”. Their protests go back years with the Incahuasi Camp, a mega natural gas field exploited mainly by transnationals in a geographically disputed area between the department of Chuquisaca and Santa Cruz.

In Santa Cruz, the demand for Evo Morales to resign was not immediate, as the department first called for a second electoral round, then the annulment of the election, and finally the strong demand for Morales' resignation came as a result of the deaths of two peaceful protesters. These two men's death were the result of an attack Evo's supporters made with wooden planks, rocks, and firearms.

In Potosi, the Civic Committee leader Pumari also started demanding Evo's resignation following the grave attack on a caravan of Potosí miners. The miners were protecting buses filled with peaceful protestors - including students and mothers - who were on their way to La Paz. As the buses were passing and the miners running alongside, they got ambushed, shot at, gassed with teargas bombs, and the buses got completely destroyed with rocks thrown at every window. Many of the protestors who did not manage to escape were taken hostage, including women, undressed, beaten, doused with gasoline, and threatened to be burnt. Many of the miners were shot countless times, by what many declared to forcefully have been "sharp shooters" - which were then found to be foreign militia infiltrated in the country to follow Evo's orders and keep him in power - death was inevitable. Pumari blamed this series of attacks and events on Evo Morales, as he requested his imprisonment.

Throughout this time, Evo Morales allowed the police to use tear gas to disperse the crowds, armed his side of the protestors with rocks, wooden sticks, and dynamite to confront the peaceful protestors standing across the entire country for democracy and against the fraud. Ironically, the dynamites had even been banned by his own government in 2016. There are videos of government trucks being used to transport people with sticks. Other videos of people being paid off to protest, and certain people protesting against those that promised a paycheck since as it turned out, they did not get paid. Groups of “supporters” were brought to the Murillo Plaza in La Paz, the epicenter of the city, in “defense” of Evo who provided them with latrines, food and mattresses. They were then even protected by the police. Eventually they left, perhaps realizing they were being used.

Meanwhile, the nationwide civil strike strengthened with emphasized leadership, a growing feeling of community, strong resistance, never halting peaceful vigilance, and lawful and orderly movements. At first, Evo ridiculed this, by saying, “they block tying up little strings… I am tempted to give them a workshop or a seminar to show them how to strike and march”. However, as more and more people - many of them from the youth - joined the civil disobedience movement throughout various of the country's departments, Evo and his government responded more aggressively: “If they want a strike, no problem, we will accompany them by sieging the cities, enclosing them completely… let’s see how long they last”. During an interview with Sputnik, a Russian news agency, Juan Ramon Quintana (Minister of the Presidency) followed Evo Morales' declarations with: “Bolivia will become a huge battleground, a modern Vietnam…”. And, Gustavo Torrico (a MAS La Paz Department Representative) said on public TV: “What’s left to be seen… is if parents are willing to have their children in the streets during confrontations. I don´t know how many mothers are willing to scarify their children… and feel the death of their son”.

Waldo Albarracín, the head of the public university of La Paz (UMSA), an institution long known for its activism and civil disobedience, led many protests and spoke openly about the situation Bolivia finds itself in. He was injured in many occasions, his son was beaten in what is believed to be retaliation for Albarracin’s anti-Evo stance, and most recently, Albarracin’s home was set on fire.

At the outset of November, Evo authorized a “loyalty bonus” of Bs. 3,000 to the police, and Bs. 5,000 and 9,000 to the armed forces. As expressed by a sergeant from the police: “Yes, they deposited Bs. 3,000… this is… so that we will not retaliate against the government… with this they have bought us” - to avoid mutiny.

The start of police rebellion could perhaps be placed in Potosí when a policeman declared “you may step on me, but I will not raise my arms against my people”. Following this, with time, mutiny resounded across the entire country - in Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Sucre, Tarija… the joy of the people across the nation was exorbitant, as hope for freedom and liberty strengthened, and the belief of a final victory seemed like it was becoming a reality. Nevertheless, the deaths of those protesting against Evo continued as the militia on Evo's side became further armed and ruthless. Not a single case of rape or beating that resulted in death could be attributed to the protesters, yet Evo and his party twisted the news, publicly reporting claims that displayed the opposite of the truth, claiming the victims were the people on his side, as if they were the victims of the peaceful protestors. His entire party made official reports, press conferences, and constant public discourses to twist the news in their favor, and blame the deaths they caused on the pro-democracy peaceful protestors... Evo Morales’ lies and cynicism became rampant, and these complete lies, twisting the truth, continue to date – though now, from Mexico with his public declarations, press conferences, constant tweets, and his illicit form of directing his people from the place of his political asylum.

The only time the military came out to assist was to address the attacks and shootings on the miners’ buses. As protests and deaths escalated, and as their secret service informed them that more people were being armed, the military General Kaliman, publicly suggested the president resign. It is within the law for Kaliman to provide recommendations to his Supreme Commander, the President.

Bolivia remains in turmoil, not because Evo left, yet because the rest of his people - from coca leaf growers, to the foreign guerrilla groups invading Bolivian land, to foreign militia under his command and acting violently in his support - have not. Death and destruction has now magnified. Quintana, said to be the one of all the plans' masterminds, disappeared and became untraceable for many days. The vice-president’s brother, Raul, was seen marching against the peaceful protesters alongside the men that were throwing dynamite, following this, he also disappeared and became untraceable. Many questions and surprises involving important players arise. For example what happened to Romero Bonifaz, the Government Minister, after taking “refuge” at the Argentinian Embassy? Furthermore, Sacha Llorenti, Bolivian U.N. Ambassador under Evo Morales' rule, who refuses to resign. Adriana Salvatierra, President of the Bolivian Senate also under Evo Morales, who resigned in public and few days later created a false attack in front of for the media, attempting to justif re-entering government premises to claim back her post.

It is now more than evident that all the clashes, violence that continues, augments in magnitude, and causes bloodshed of the people of Bolivia, all have the clear signature of Evo Morales, who leads the disruptions from the comfort of his newly received mansion in Mexico. Evo Morales does not seek peace, unity, or democracy. He seeks to continue victimizing himself, to separate the country based on outdated and no longer prominent racial division speeches, to foment hatred through false accusations to the "far right", to world powers such as the USA, and through constant racial discourse... Evo Morales wants complete destabilization of Bolivia, to claim the power back, and justify his return for "pacification" purposes – when truly, he is the cause of all of the violence, blood, and disruption.

As the first indigenous president, Evo Morales addressed racial issues and brought hope to masses that had many times been left behind. He brought along a sense of novel self-esteem, opportunity, inclusion and progress, to the majority of Bolivians. With a strong economy initially driven by the high and augmenting prices of commodities such as hydrocarbons, he managed to instate social programs and reforms that took many out of extreme poverty. However, this brings us to the reason for which there are limits of terms possible in command, limits of years in power consecutively. As he remained in power for so many years on end, greed, ambition, and the benefits of ultimate power took over. Evo Morales became a dictator, suppressing any that he believed were part of his "opposition" by filing unjustified lawsuits, putting them in jail, exiling them indefinitely fro the country, making fake propaganda against many, and even ordering killings in some occasions. He changed the constitution, many legislations, and regulations to meet his needs and his self-interests. Eventually, his party enveloped the judicial, legislative, and executive powers fully... These are few of the many abuses of power that were led by Evo Morales throughout his 14 years in power.

Now Evo Morales has left to Mexico, under political asylum, but one may also ask, why did he take left and right hand along with him - Alvaro Linera and Gabriela Montaño? Why does Mexico allow him to tweet, give endless press conferences, make official declarations on international TV news channels, and continue elaborating on his false story and inciting violence from afar?

Where is Quintana? Why have they found one of the most dangerous and prepared Guerrilla men from the FARC in Yapacaní, Bolivia? Why are there more than 100 intelligence agents from Venezuela and Cuba running mysterious missions and operations in Bolivia? Why has the Bolivian police found people destroying property and carrying backpacks full of money? Why were Molotov bombs and police uniforms found in the Ministry of Culture's building? Why was a Cuban "doctor" found carrying $50,000 in cash? Why did they find guerrilla militants from Venezuela armed with high caliber firearms and killing Bolivians during confrontations? Why did they arrest Venezuelan and a Cuban diplomats in Bolivia who apparently were found to be in close contact with Evo Morales? Who or what finances these failed states, providing diplomats with money to pay off people for vandalism, violence and disruption? As with Maduro’s regime and Ortega's regime in Nicaragua, where do the Russians ties come in throughout all of this chaos?

Evo’s departure did not leave a void within a legitimate government structure, but within what is one of the world's largest and most illicit form of "business", along with unimaginable amounts of interests involving numerous world powers. Until this is not addressed and contained, Bolivia will not reach its final peace.

Author: Shiela Palza & Carolina Monroy Rosso