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