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

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