La Novena Cumbre de las Américas debe involucrar a todos los jefes de estado y oficiales del gobierno desde el hemisferio occidental. El presidente Biden está presentándola en Los Ángeles desde el 6 hasta el 10 de junio. Biden está tratando de usar la cumbre como una brecha entre los países socialistas y de inclinación a la izquierda de América Latina y sus vecinos. Sin embargo, parece que la cumbre se está haciendo trizas y una lista creciente de líderes se está cancelando.

A principios de mayo, 14 países del Caribe (CARICOM) dijeron que no participarían si la cumbre excluía a Cuba, Nicaragua y Venezuela. Ronald Sanders, el embajador estadounidense de Antigua y Barbuda dijo, “Los países de CARICOM opinan que la Cumbre de las Américas no es una cumbre de los Estados Unidos, que no lo es.”

El presidente mexicano López Obrador recientemente asistió a una visita de estado a Cuba donde se reunió con el Presidente Díaz-Canal de Cuba y rechazó las sanciones estadounidenses en la nación insular. Al regresar a México, López Obrador tomó la decisión largarse de Biden, enviando un mensaje claro a los otros líderes latinoamericanos y caribeños que adoptaran una postura.

El mismo día, el presidente boliviano Luis Arce escribió en un tweet, “Consecuente con los principios y valores del Estado Plurinacional de #Bolivia, reafirmo que una Cumbre de las Américas que excluye a países americanos no será una Cumbre de las Américas plena, y de persistir la exclusión de pueblos hermanos, no participaré de la misma.”

Incluso el presidente de Brasil, Bolsonaro, notoriamente de derecha, dijo que está evaluando si asistir o no. El presidente hondureño Xiomara Castro declaró ayer: “Si no estamos todas las naciones, no es Cumbre de las Américas.”

En marcado contraste con la cumbre de Biden, un evento diferente, la “Cumbre de las Américas de los Pueblos” tendrá lugar del 10 al 12 de junio en Tijuana, México. Se propone presentar un programa para “la unidad de la clase obrera y los movimientos sociales para crear un foro permanente de solidaridad y la vinculación de las luchas antiimperialistas, anticoloniales y antipatriarcales en el continente americano”.

La cumbre va a discutir el fin de las sanciones estadounidenses contra Venezuela, Cuba y Nicaragua; como oponer dominación, interferencia y guerra estadounidense en América Latina y el Caribe; como legalizar la inmigración, y el papel de obreros y solidaridad sindicalista a través de las fronteras para vencer a las corporaciones multinacionales que solo se preocupan por los beneficios.

Para más información sobre la Cumbre de las Américas de los Pueblos, o para participar en Tijuana, México: https://afgj.salsalabs.org/workerssummitoftheamericas/index.html

#GrandRapidsMI #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #AndresManuelLopezObrador #CumbreDeLasAméricas

Political prisoner Facundo Molares, an Argentinian photojournalist who was incarcerated by the Bolivian Añez regime, is now safely home in his native Argentina.

Molares was arrested during a violent incident between armed forces backing the coup d’etat and protests for democracy in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia on November 19, 2019, two days after the unelected Añez government took over. Molares was documenting the confrontation for the magazine Centenario, but during this incident he had a health crisis and was rushed to the hospital.

The Añez coup regime arrested Facundo in his hospital bed. It is widely believed that Molares was arrested because he is a left-wing activist who was documenting crimes of the Bolivian far-right regime through his photojournalism. Facundo Molares’s father later arrived from Argentina to visit his son in the hospital, but was allowed to see him for only ten minutes, being forced to flee to Argentina because of death threats.

Molares remained in custody in critical condition due to kidney failure and other ailments. The photojournalist and activist was transferred to the Chonchorro prison near La Paz, Bolivia where he received inadequate medical attention and infrequent visits with attorneys.

The family of Molares along with activists associated with the magazine Centenario began a campaign to pressure the Bolivian authorities to release him. The campaign was then joined by international organizations, most notably by COSI (Comite de Solidaridad Internacional) of Venezuela, the Communist Party of Paraguay, and the Committee to Free Facundo Molares in the United States. Molares’s case was reported on by Fight Back! in the U.S. Also, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization called for “the de facto government of Bolivia to immediately release and repatriate Facundo Molares Schoenfeld.” Reaching thousands of U.S. solidarity activists, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression promoted a very effective, “Call-in to save the life of Facundo Molares” to the Bolivian Embassy in Washington DC.

The Bolivian coup government held elections on October 18, 2020. Many election observers were skeptical that the Añez regime, backed by the United States, would allow the progressive opposition, the MAS party, to win the elections that was taken from them a year earlier by force. Many believed the United States, with its infamous ‘color revolution’ plots, would somehow block the MAS party of former president Evo Morales in the elections.

The popular movements in Bolivia mobilized in the mines, among peasants, in indigenous communities and in working class neighborhoods and Morales’ MAS party (Movimiento a Socialismo) won a convincing and unassailable victory in the first round and their candidate Luis Arce was elected with some 55% of the vote on October 18, 2020.

Spurred by popular pressure, the Argentinian foreign ministry advocated for Facundo Molares with the new MAS-led government. This diplomacy led to a Bolivian court granting Facundo home arrest instead of prison. He was shortly thereafter allowed to reside in Argentina and arrived home on December 3, 2020.

Hugo Molares, the father of Facundo, made a statement upon his son’s return to Argentina: “Thank you to those who were together with us, popular militants, alternative media, journalists, people from the most diverse political, social and religious backgrounds, human rights organizations, good hearted people from Argentina, Bolivia and from around the world, exiles, refugees and political prisoners, friends and family.”

Molares is still under the jurisdiction of the Bolivian court, but due to the struggle for his release, he is now in Argentina with his family. American anti-slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglas is famously quoted, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress!” This is certainly true in the international solidarity victory for Facundo Molares.

#Bolivia #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalPrisoners #FacundoMolares #Americas

Chicago, IL – On November 10, 2019, a hastily-assembled coalition of generals, middle class liberals and fascist paramilitaries overthrew the democratic government of Evo Morales in Bolivia. Coming on the heels of a coup attempt in Venezuela and the vicious repression of a people’s uprising in Chile, it seemed to many that the continental struggle against U.S. imperialism had reached a tipping point in the empire's favor.

Today, not even a year later, the official results for Bolivia’s presidential elections were announced. Evo’s comrade and successor Luis “Lucho” Arce received a resounding 55% of the vote. The dictator Jeanine Añez was forced to withdraw from the race a few weeks ago when polls showed her support hovering at 10%. Evo and Lucho’s party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), also won a huge majority in the country’s lower house and Senate.

How did this happen? How did a dictatorship that enjoyed the total support of the United States and its allies allow itself to be voted out of government, not even a year after having seized it?

The answer, ultimately, is simple: they did not have a say in the matter. The Bolivian masses, extraordinarily well-organized, imposed these elections on the reactionary dictatorship.

An unintended coup

Luis Camacho always planned to challenge the results of 2019’s presidential elections, regardless of what they were. The head of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Camacho’s worldview was that of the cattle ranchers, mine operators and loggers who dominated Santa Cruz’s society. This sector of the bourgeoisie had never abandoned the Catholic reactionaries that dominated Bolivia’s military dictatorships during the Cold War. They doubly hated Evo, both for his ‘communist agenda’ of ending poverty and placing Bolivia’s resources in the hands of the people, and, more fundamentally, because he was an Aymara – a person of indigenous heritage – sitting in the presidential palace.

Morales won the 2019 presidential election with 47% of the vote. This was 14 points below what he’d received in the previous election but still enough votes to prevent a runoff election. It was all the excuse Camacho needed to start street violence. The Civic Committee and allies like the Santa Cruz Youth Union organized demonstrations and attacked MAS supporters under the cry of ‘electoral fraud.’ They were joined by their more cosmopolitan class compatriots in La Paz whose worldview, a liberal one that differed little from urban capitalists and professionals the world over, led them to the same endpoint of opposing the Movement Toward Socialism’s stated goals.

Despite the broader nature of the mobilization, it was clear that reactionary forces were driving the effort. Violence not seen in the country in decades was soon found in every city as union halls were set on fire and elected MAS officials were dragged into the street and beaten. Then, the police in several cities mutinied, allying with the protesters and calling for Morales to resign.

The violence caught the left unprepared. The basis of the Bolivian mass movement – and the basis for MAS' success in government – lay in the strategic unity of two political forces: the MAS, which serves as the political instrument of the indigenous peoples’ organizations, particularly coca farmers, migrant workers and women; and the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the country’s left-led labor federation. At the time of the protests, there was a dispute between the MAS and the COB over Evo running for a fourth term. Some trade unions, therefore, did not immediately come to the government’s defense. That is not to say that they joined Camacho’s efforts, of course. The working-class and indigenous peoples of Bolivia – i.e., the vast majority of the population – never participated in the right-wing protests and have never been counted on to side with the forces of reaction.

The situation quickly accelerated after the police mutinies. Juan Carlos Huarachi, the general secretary of the COB, called for Evo to step down after he and other top trade unionists received death threats at their homes. Similar threats came to the heads of the MAS, as well – it was later revealed that someone approached one of Evo’s bodyguards with the promise of paying him $50,000 if he assassinated the president.

Then, General Williams Kaliman, a self-described “anti-imperialist” appointed by Evo Morales to lead the country’s armed forces just a year earlier, held a press conference where he called on the president to step down. He later told reporters he had not intended to provoke a coup, but only wanted to try to prevent further bloodshed. Regardless, he blinked in the face of reactionary violence and that was all that was needed. Within a few hours, Evo and his vice president stepped down, stating that their resignations were not over wrongdoing but to try to save the lives of their families and comrades.

It is safe to say that the coup’s success caught everyone, including the coup plotters themselves, by surprise. Most likely, Camacho did not expect Evo’s allies in the military to suddenly falter; but when they did he and his allies did not hesitate. They marched into the presidential palace, rifles in hand, and removed the indigenous wiphala flag everywhere it could be found.

An unconsolidated coup

The strength of the MAS prevented the coup from fully consolidating itself. On the political terrain, they denied the coup any legitimacy under the law. Despite the resignation of Morales and Vice President Álvaro Linera, the MAS still had an undisputed majority in both houses of parliament. They boycotted the far right’s motion to recognize Morales’ resignation and appoint Jeanine Añez as president, meaning that they did not have the legal quorum to carry the motion forward. The coup plotters did anyways, and so Añez became dictator. Throughout the entirety of this year, all of Añez’s actions have been through decree, as the MAS-led legislature opposes her every move.

It was in the people’s struggle, however, that the eventual defeat of the coup lay. Camacho’s violence and the military’s falter had caught the movement off guard. A misstep, however, cannot change the fact that Bolivia’s mass movement is one that rests on an incredible level of organization and militancy.

The component parts of the movement, from the Bolivian Workers Central to the farmers unions, are organizations with decades of militant class struggle. Within two days of Añez’s coup, the capital of La Paz was encircled by armed roadblocks demanding her resignation. Every organization of the MAS declared a general strike until their demands were met. Police forces, with orders from Añez to ‘pacify’ the people, opened fire on demonstrations and roadblocks across the country, resulting in the massacre of ten indigenous people in El Alto and nine in Cochabamba. Countless MAS cadre and trade unionists were arrested, but the roadblocks could not be dislodged. While many elements of the police were willing to go along with the repression, the military by and large stepped back, even after Añez removed Kaliman and placed an ally in charge of the armed forces.

It was clear that a stalemate had been reached. The Añez regime could not break the people’s movements without invoking a civil war, and it was clear that the military could not be relied upon to take such action. So it was announced that presidential elections would be held in May. Añez’s ‘pacification’ campaign had left 31 people killed and hundreds in jail, but the mass movement prevailed. With the MAS fighting her every step of the way in parliament, the organizations of the movement took time to consolidate their ranks, namely to rebuild the unity between the MAS and COB that had wavered in November. The organizations of the MAS announced their new presidential ticket to be Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca, Evo’s two longest-serving ministers and both well-regarded and popular. Work for their election began immediately.

An unpopular coup

The Añez dictatorship never enjoyed national support. In fact, her committed social base never extended beyond the racists of Santa Cruz. This was evident from the start, as most of the ministers of her government came from the city, including Branko Marinkovic, Camacho’s top lieutenant in the Civic Committee and a wealthy capitalist in his own right.

Añez's decrees in office show her agenda was straightforward: to reverse the gains made during the 14 years of MAS government for the sole benefit of the comprador bourgeoisie and U.S. imperialism. MAS had severed all connections with the International Monetary Fund in order to free Bolivia from foreign finance capital. Añez, meanwhile, took out a $327 million loan. MAS had renationalized the mining industry and seized control of numerous other leading industries. Añez privatized as many as she could. MAS had built state-owned facilities to process lithium, of which Bolivia has the world’s largest deposits, so that the country could become the world’s leading producer of lithium batteries and electric cars. Añez has refused to open the facility, and instead continues to export lithium for the sole benefit of monopoly capitalists abroad, like Elon Musk.

Amid this economic whirlwind, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. No relief was offered to the nearly 40% of Bolivians who lost their source of income during the pandemic. Nearly 140,000 Bolivians caught the disease, and nearly 9000 died. In the face of this global crisis, Añez and her friends simply saw another opportunity to strip the state for parts. They were caught embezzling millions of dollars during the purchase of hundreds of ventilators to battle COVID-19. As a result of Añez’s privatization campaign and her failures during the pandemic, over a million Bolivians – nearly 10% of the country – fell into poverty in the past year.

The dictatorship tried to take advantage of COVID-19 to push back the return to democracy. They saw the same polls that everyone else saw. It was clear that any election would only return the MAS to power. When Añez’s regime delayed the presidential elections to September, and even later, the Bolivian masses had enough. The COB, now in unwavering unity with the MAS, declared a general strike and shut down the entire country. Reactionaries and fascists in Santa Cruz attacked demonstrators once again, and the COB’s headquarters in La Paz was bombed, yet the strike endured until assurances were made that the election would indeed be held on October 18. Even then, all trade unions and affiliates of the MAS made it clear what will happen if the election was stolen. “The moment [Añez] tries to carry out fraud,” said Orlando Gutierrez, a leader of the miners’ union, at a rally in September, “is the moment Bolivia lifts its pause on protests and we take power.”

And so, the elections occurred on October 18. As the results came in, television cameras caught Luis Camacho on stage with tears rolling down his face. He had refused to drop out like Añez had, knowing that the liberal agenda of Carlos Mesa was not what he and his friends in Santa Cruz wanted. His vision of imposing a repressive order on the indigenous workers he hated so much was now gone. They had defeated him and defeated him badly. He received only 14% of the vote.

The tasks ahead are historic. Lucho Arce’s government will not only have to undo the economic damage of Añez’s regime – including figuring out what to do about the IMF loans – but will have to tackle the COVID-19 crisis before they can plan on moving Bolivia forward. They will have to figure out what can be done about the numerous figures responsible for massacres and acts of terrorism, both inside and outside of the apparatuses of the state. They will have to determine what must happen to further bind the armed forces to the Bolivian revolutionary process, as has been successfully done by their comrades in Venezuela. And all of this will have to happen under the shadow of an increasingly vicious and desperate American empire.

What is clear is that the Bolivian revolutionary movement now enters a period of profound unity and militancy. Their project was threatened in a way it never had been before, and the lives of thousands of dedicated revolutionaries were put on the line. Tactical disagreements could no longer get in the way of the strategic unity needed to overcome imperialist hegemony. The strength of the working masses, well-organized and aware of the historic task before them, is one that can never be underestimated.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Bolivia #MAS #Americas

Call-In to save the life of Facundo Molares! Call Bolivian Ambassador Walter Oscar Serrate Cuellar at 202-483-4410 ex. 4 When: Tuesday, February 25, 2020 between 8 am and 4 pm Eastern time Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Committee To Free Facundo Molares.

Demand, “We want Facundo Molares Schoenfeld released so he can go home to his family now!”

Tell them, “I am concerned for the health and well-being of Facundo Molares. Release him now and allow him to go home to his family!”

Facundo Molares is an Argentinian photojournalist illegally imprisoned by the Bolivian dictatorship.

The dictatorship arrested Facundo Morales while he was in a coma at the hospital with kidney failure on November 11, 2019, a day after seizing power in a coup d’état. Facundo was in Bolivia reporting on the elections for the Argentinian magazine “el Centenario”.

While imprisoned, and without access to adequate medical care, Facundo Morales lost the use of one eye and there is concern that if he does not receive needed medical treatment, which may include a kidney transplant, that his life could be in danger.

The Committee To Free Facundo Molares asks you to call Bolivian Ambassador Walter Oscar Serrate Cuellar at 202-483-4410 ex. 4. We want Facundo Morales Shoenfeld released now!

For more information: FREEFACUNDOMOLARES@GMAIL.COM

Free Facundo Molares!

#UnitedStates #International #AntiwarMovement #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Bolivia #PoliticalPrisoner #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #BoliviaCoup #FacundoMolares

Facundo Molares Schoenfeld is an Argentinian photojournalist who was illegally arrested by the Bolivian dictatorship, and who is currently held in terrible conditions in a Bolivian prison. His life is in danger, as he does not receive adequate medical attention for a life-threatening condition.

This photojournalist was on assignment, for the Argentinian left-wing magazine El Centenario, in Bolivia to document the election of Evo Morales and its aftermath in October, 2019. Bolivia suffered a coup d’état by fascist elements and the military, with the support of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, on November 10, 2019. A wave of state violence and repression was unleashed by the dictatorship that took power from the elected president Evo Morales.

Hugo Molares, the father of Facundo, received an anonymous call that his son was ill and travelled from Argentina to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia to visit his son in the hospital on November 11. He found his son in a coma suffering from kidney failure, a pulmonary edema, possible lead poisoning and hantavirus.

As soon as the Bolivian de facto government discovered that Facundo was a left-wing activist they arrested him in the hospital, and accused him of being involved in a clash between supporters of President Evo Morales and fascist gangs where two people were killed. There is no credible evidence that Facundo Molares was involved in this incident. The Bolivian dictatorship made the wild and unsubstantiated allegation that Facundo was part of a ‘shock force’ for Evo Morales.

The Bolivian de facto government transferred Facundo Molares to its highest security prison, Chonchocoro, without clearance from his treating physicians. Chonchocoro is a prison that does not have adequate medical facilities, or sanitary conditions, to treat Facundo’s kidney and other medical problems.

Facundo is cut off from contact with the outside world, but one lawyer who was able to see him reports that Facundo has lost his vision in one eye and his physical and mental health is deteriorating due to the lack of medical attention. It appears that this journalist’s very life is in jeopardy.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization calls on the de facto government of Bolivia to immediately release and repatriate Facundo Molares Schoenfeld.

Freedom for Facundo Molares!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Bolivia #PoliticalPrisoner #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #BoliviaCoup #FacundoMolares

Bolivia suffered a vicious coup d’état on November 10, 2019 that was provoked by right-wing gangs rampaging in the street, traitorous police and military officers, the old guard political elite, and, of course, supported by the United States Embassy. As soon as Evo Morales was elected to a fourth term as president of Bolivia on October 20, with almost 47% of the vote, right-wing elements, centered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, started a campaign to destabilize the progressive government headed by Evo.

Directly after the results announcing that Morales won in the first round of the presidential election, reactionary gangs began attacking supporters of Morales’ party MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) in the streets, making loud, false, accusations of massive voter fraud. When the chief of staff of the army, who had the backing of large segments of the army and police, asked Morales to step down, Morales resigned and fled the country. A dictatorial government was installed on November 10, headed by Jeanene Añez, a politician whose party won 4% of the popular vote in the election. She immediately showed her contempt for her indigenous fellow citizens, who constitute the majority in this country, referring to them as “Satanists.”

In order to stabilize the dictatorship, the Bolivian de facto government initiated a campaign of state-sponsored terror to consolidate its grip on power. The dictatorship committed multiple extra-judicial killings of opponents, which include the massacres of Senkata (El Alto) and Sacaba (Cochabamba). An Argentinian Human Rights Delegation (Delegación Argentina en Solidaridad con Bolivia) was in Bolivia shortly after the coup to study the human rights situation of Bolivia after the coup and stated the following:

We observed that the repressive system put into place by the de facto government has caused dozens of deaths, hundreds of arbitrary arrests, thousands of injuries, innumerable cases of torture, rapes and other crimes violating the physical, psychological and sexual integrity of the victims, who are men, women, children, elderly, and members of collectives.

One case of arbitrary detention that causes great concern is the case of Facundo Molares Schoenfeld, an Argentinian photo-journalist who went to Bolivia in October of 2019 to document the Bolivian election and its aftermath for the left-wing Argentinian magazine el Centenario (https://revistacentenario.com/).

Facundo’s father, Hugo Morales, who is a justice of the peace in his native Argentina, received a call towards the end of October from his son stating that he wasn’t feeling well. After this call Hugo didn’t hear from his son for more than a week. Hugo then received an anonymous call that his son was sick in the hospital in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Hugo immediately went to Bolivia and on November 12. Hugo Molares, along with his partner, visited his son in the hospital and found Facundo in a coma, with a diagnosis of kidney failure, a pulmonary edema, possible lead poisoning and hantavirus.

The Bolivian authorities only allowed Hugo to visit his son for 15 minutes. After Hugo left the hospital to buy some medicine for his son, he was approached in the street and stopped by three men who threatened Facundo’s father with death if he didn’t leave the country immediately.

The dictatorship arrested Facundo in the hospital and detained him without any evidence that he had committed a crime. The de facto government discovered that Facundo was a left-wing activist who had written articles on the conflict in Colombia and was reputed to have been a former member of the FARC. Facundo’s beliefs are widely believed to be the motivation of the dictatorship to prosecute this political prisoner.

The prosecution of the dictatorship made the claim that Facundo was involved in a confrontation between MAS supporters and supporters of the coup in which two people died. The government charged Facundo with homicide, with the only purported evidence being that one person stated that Facundo may have been present during the confrontation between the two groups. There is no evidence that Facundo participated in any of the events between the pro and anti-Evo Morales protesters.

Without any judicial order, or medical authorization from his treating doctors, Facundo was first transferred to Palmorola prison in Santa Cruz on December 2. Shortly after this, the journalist was transferred to the Chonchorro Prison in the Bolivian capital, La Paz. This prison does not have adequate medical facilities to treat kidney disease and the other ailments that Facundo suffers from. He has also not been allowed any visits from his family. Hugo Molares stated, “Our whole family is in deep anguish over his present and immediate future. The news that I get about him is through the consul, who goes to see him at the Chonchorro prison every ten days.”

Due to the concern about Facundo’s health and his illegal detention, a solidarity committee formed in Argentina. The fear is that Facundo will die if he is not released and sent back to Argentina for urgent medical care as he may need a kidney transplant. The solidarity committee is looking for support and states, “The committee welcomes all forms of diplomatic, political and popular struggles that initiates and calls for the repatriation of Facundo Molares.”

The Bolivian dictatorship holds Facundo in the most dire conditions in the Chonchorro prison in La Paz. This prison was built to house 800 prisoners but actually holds 4000. There is rampant violence between various groups in the prison, and there is not the most basic hygiene that a patient such as Facundo requires. Due to the imminent risk to the health and welfare of this Argentinian journalist, the despicable conditions in which the Bolivian dictatorship holds this political prisoner, and the clear falsity of the charges, human rights organizations around Latin America say: Free Facundo Molares!

#Bolivia #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalPrisoner #PoliticalPrisoners #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #BoliviaCoup #FacundoMolares

Minneapolis, MN – 50 protesters rallied at the intersection of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis on November 14 in response to a call for emergency response protests. On November 8, Bolivia’s military staged a coup and ousted democratically elected President Evo Morales. Even though Morales accepted asylum in Mexico, the people’s movements have refused to back down and have been protesting in the capital. Protests internationally have been organized to show solidarity with the indigenous and workers’ movements opposing U.S. interference in Bolivia.

Thousands of drivers returning home from work saw signs saying, “No U.S. coup in Bolivia” and “U.S. out of Latin America,” and heard chants of “Hey hey, ho ho! U.S. coups have got to go!” backed by music from the Unlawful Assembly protest band.

Autumn Lake, representing the MN Anti-War Committee, explained the context to the crowd: “This is a coup, not by a righteous grassroots movement, but by U.S.-backed right-wing racists. This is a coup designed to undermine the social and economic gains made by the first indigenous-led government in the western hemisphere since it had been colonized by European powers. Bolivia to this day is the only country left in the Americas where the majority of the population is indigenous. The movement that led to the election of President Evo Morales is rooted in ensuring that Bolivia’s social and economic practices prioritize the majority-indigenous masses of Bolivia over the interests of foreign capital, lifting broad masses of Bolivians out of poverty. Under Morales, indigenous languages and culture have been thoroughly incorporated into Bolivia’s plurinational model.”

Sarah Martin, a board member from Women Against Military Madness, addressed the U.S. motivations for supporting the coup, saying, “When Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism took power in 2006, the government immediately sought to undo decades of theft by transnational mining firms and seized several of the mining operations of the most powerful firms. This sent a message that business as usual was not going to continue. The mines and gas refineries that used to be the sole property of U.S. firms were nationalized, and their revenue directed to lifting the poor out of poverty. For as long as Bolivia has existed, it has not known a period of greater collective prosperity and genuine democracy. Bolivia, along with Venezuela and Cuba, have the example for self-determination and making life better for the people and this terrifies U.S. capitalists. As it turns out Bolivia has 70% of the world’s lithium. Lithium is an essential metal in our devices as well as batteries for electric cars. When Morales was unable to make deals with Western transnational companies to fairly share the profits, he turned to Chinese firms – this was unacceptable to the main transnational mining companies, including Tesla, and made the Morales govt vulnerable. After the coup, Tesla’s stock rose astronomically.”

The speakers, signs and chants all targeted U.S. involvement in the Bolivian coup. Lake explained, “As was the case in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras, U.S. resources and training were instrumental in opposing the democratically-elected progressive government of Bolivia. General Williams Kaliman, the current head of Bolivia’s military and one of the masterminds of the coup, had previously received training at the infamous ‘School of the Americas,’ as did many others involved. Leaked audio confirmed that reactionary conservative Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were involved in planning the coup with the Bolivian right-wing opposition forces.”

The emergency response protest was organized by the MN Anti-War Committee, MN Peace Action Coalition and Women Against Military Madness. The Anti-War Committee announced that their next protest will be a march on International Human Rights Day, December 10, starting at 4:30 p.m. at Senator Klobuchar’s office at 1200 Washington Avenue South in Minneapolis.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #Bolivia #AntiWarCommittee #Antiracism #Antifascism #BoliviaCoup

Chicago, IL – Events have not gone well for the coalition of generals and reactionaries that overthrew Evo Morales on November 10. Far from consolidating their control over the government and the country, the right-wing forces now stand on the back foot, facing the full force of an organized and enraged mass movement ready to defend their constitution and their elected government.

The first setback for the coup was their failure to assassinate Evo. On the morning of November 12, Bolivia's overthrown president, along with his vice president Álvaro García Linera, arrived in Mexico where they had been granted political asylum. “The president of Mexico saved my life,” the overthrown president said upon landing. It was revealed that there had been at least two attempts to assassinate the political leaders, who also head the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party. One of Evo's security guards had come forward to say that he had been offered $50,000 to shoot the president dead.

All of this clarifies the maneuvers made by MAS on November 10. With many of their cadre being physically attacked and having their homes set on fire, the party pulled of its leadership from public office, including Morales and Linera. The ‘resignations’ were done at the barrel of a gun, but it was clear that the decision had been made by the party in order to avoid a wave of assassinations. In this they were successful – and with Evo and Linera out of the country, all of the energy of the country's revolutionary forces could now be put to defeating the coup.

This is where the second setback for the coup comes in – MAS ensured that the coup was denied any chance at democratic legitimacy. Gleeful in their seeming defeat of the socialists, the far-right opposition anointed Yeanine Añez, the leader of the right-wing bloc in the Senate, to be president of Bolivia. Añez is a theocrat who once said, “I dream of a Bolivia free of indigenous satanic rites, the city is not for Indians, they better go to the highlands.”

Standing at her side during her inauguration was the civilian leader of the coup, Luis Camacho. A millionaire who comes from a family of mine owners, Camacho is an open fascist, leading a Catholic fascist youth organization that played the leadership role in anti-government protests in the city of Santa Cruz. Fascism is, sadly, not an alien political movement in Bolivia. During the 1970s, explicitly fascist Catholic organizations formed the social backbone for the brutal military dictatorships that ran the country on and off throughout the Cold War. Coming from the largely white oligarchy, they were driven then, and now, by a profound hatred of the indigenous workers who they exploited for their wealth.

Unfortunately for Añez and her fascist friends, those indigenous workers now have political power in Bolivia, and they are not going to give it up. MAS, which as an absolute majority in both chambers of the national legislature, boycotted the Senate vote to recognize Morales' resignation and confirm Añez as her successor, denying them a quorum and therefore making her ascension to the presidency illegitimate and unconstitutional. In her place, MAS (and the country's constitution) put forward Adriana Salvatierra, the party's youth leader and president of the Senate, as the rightful president of the country. On November 13, police officers physically attacked her as she tried to enter the Senate, preventing her and other MAS leaders from calling a session during which they planned to reject Morales' resignation. Añez has nothing to stand on – unless the coup forces are able to brutally repress the mass movement into submission, her days are numbered.

And this is where the final setback for the coup comes in, and undoubtedly their greatest – their arrogance has sparked a revolution. As soon as Morales was overthrown, the country's trade unions, peasant unions and indigenous councils that form the membership of MAS and give life to a mass movement of millions began to organize for the coup's defeat. The immediate base of resistance was El Alto, the twin city of the capital La Paz and the largest majority-indigenous city in the Western Hemisphere. There, the leadership of the Rural Workers Union (CSUTCB) called on all of its affiliates to “encircle La Paz” and gave Camacho and his thugs a 48-hour ultimatum to leave the country. If they do not, “they will be responsible for whatever occurs.”

One by one, columns of rural workers marched into El Alto, waving the indigenous wiphala flag and chanting, “Camacho, Mesa [the opposition's presidential candidate], we want your head” and “Now, civil war!” They were soon joined by other organizations from the countryside, and now they have done what they said they would. The capital is completely encircled by roadblocks and demonstrators, demanding the racists be cast from office and democracy restored to Bolivia. The country's largest trade union federation, the revolutionary-led Bolivian Workers Central (COB), has launched an indefinite general strike, shutting down every major economic sector in the country until Morales is returned to power. These are unions that defended themselves with the gun only a few decades prior, during the darkest days of the Cold War in South America. They will not relinquish their hard-won political power. All union and indigenous leaders have made it clear – whatever happens, to the point of civil war, lies at the feet of the white supremacists who would rather destroy democracy than recognize the dignity of indigenous peoples.

Four days on, this coup against the Bolivian government is no settled matter. What is clear is that there will be a fight, and tragically, perhaps a brutal one, over where political power will lie in the nation's future. The Bolivian masses refuse to accept defeat. They will not allow the better world they have built to be bulldozed in the interests of imperialism and reaction. As they defiantly march in the thousands into La Paz, into the unknown, come what may, they do not do so alone. They carry with them all of us, all of the oppressed and exploited masses of this hemisphere, into a battle to determine the future.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Bolivia #EvoMorales #Americas

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) condemns the coup against the elected President of Bolivia, Evo Morales.

We denounce, in the eyes of the world working class, the dirty role of the USA and the Organization of American States (OAS) as well as the reactionary forces of Bolivia that have organized the fascist coup.

That coup against the people of Bolivia confirms that imperialism acts ruthlessly. In Bolivia, almost the same methods are implemented again as in Chile, during the coup d’etat of the dictator Pinochet; when Salvador Allende stayed there and fought against the putschists, becoming a heroic symbol.

We express our internationalist solidarity to the working class, the indigenous, peasants and the people of Bolivia that resist against the coup and the puppets of the imperialists.

We say out loud that murders, kidnappings, arsons against those that defend the right of peoples to decide democratically and freely about their present and future must stop now.

We call on the affiliated unions and friends of the WFTU in Bolivia to continue on the front lines of the struggle, informing the people that the coup was perpetrated so that capitalists can plunder the wealth and destroy the civilization of Bolivia.

On behalf of the 97 million of our affiliates in 130 countries on the five continents, we add our voice to that of the Peoples who resist against the imperialists; we believe it is a good opportunity so that those who still have illusions and believe in class collaboration draw their conclusions, if they are able to do it.

The lesson we maintain is that the class struggle continues. It never stops.

George Mavrikos

#Bolivia #AntiwarMovement #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #Antiracism #Antifascism #WFTU #PinkTide

The event is co-sponsored by the Anti-War Committee and Women Against Military Madness.

A statement issued by organizers says, “We protest in Minneapolis to speak out against the military coup in Bolivia, and the role of the U.S. government in this coup. The people of Bolivia, who are struggling to defend economic and social gains won under the leadership of President Evo Morales, are struggling to stop this coup. The U.S. government is clearly the sponsor of the coup. The goal of the coup is to restore the absolute authority of the Bolivian elites who rule as clients of the United States.”

“The U.S. government has worked overtime to turn back the left-wing tide sweeping Latin America. The struggle in Bolivia, and all of Latin America continues between the forces that want to empower the people and those that want to maintain the power and wealth of the rich,” the statement continues.

Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness explains, “Evo Morales became President in 2006 on the shoulders of a powerful mass movement of indigenous people, and farmers and workers. When he used the gas and mineral wealth of the country to improve the lives of the people and not to enrich the transnational mining companies, he became a target of U.S. regime change. We stand with Bolivians in opposition to this right-wing, military coup.”

Meredith Aby-Keirstead of the Anti-War Committee concurs, “The whole history of the U.S. in Latin America has been to maintain the interests of large U.S. corporations in the region against any attempt by the rank-and-file people to take steps to rebuild society in their interests. The coup in Bolivia is only the latest example of this whole history.”

#MinneapolisMN #MinneaoplisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Bolivia #AntiWarCommittee #Americas

After rallying at the Mission, the crowd marched to Trump Tower and continued with more speeches.

Speakers from various movements spoke about how the U.S. has intervened in their countries, including Brazil, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Others spoke about U.S. imperialism’s interest in Bolivia and why it’s important to have international solidarity.

“But why Bolivia?” asked Jessica Schwartz of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “Is it because Evo Morales is an indigenous, working-class leader? Or is it because Bolivia is sitting on lithium that the U.S. imperialists want for themselves? It is, in fact, all of the above!”

The rally ended with chants and a call for people to join organizations to continue the struggle and demand “Hands off Bolivia!”

The call was put out by Socialist Unity Party/Partido por el Socialismo Unido and Struggle – La Lucha newspaper, with endorsements from Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoner Network, International A