Bolivia: The Great Resistance Assembly Deliberated in Cochabamba
November 26th.-
The expanded session began with a moment of silence for the fallen victims of the coup d’état in Bolivia and shouts of “Gloria a los caídos”, “Patria o muerte, venceremos” in Lauca Ñ, in the department of Cochabamba.
An emotional moment was when a young man from El Alto, who recently joined the ranks of the struggle for the defense of democracy in the country, took the floor: “I was at the Senkata plant (where one of the massacres occurred) I stopped there to observe the place, and I asked that democracy be respected because this Mr. Fernando Camacho, president of the civic committee for Santa Cruz brought racism and discrimination to the city of La Paz and El Alto, and not only there, but also to the 9 departments of the Plurinational State of Bolivia”.
He continued: “I am not a politician and I do not have a political background, but one day I began to summon people and they responded, and we went down to the city of La Paz with 7 marches and they gassed us, but we received the support of all the citizens”. He continued with his reflection: “Now I see that a leader is formed like this,” he affirmed before an ovation from MAS militants, leaders, ex-leaders and executives.
He recounted the events that occurred during the Senkata massacre in El Alto: “In the Senkata massacre in which we were on vigil, it is not true that we were going to assault the gas plant to blow it up, it is a lie (the interior minister, Arturo Murillo sustained that justification before the repression) came to gas us and shot us, there are 16 dead and the defense minister denies it, we have evidence of lead bullets, where are we going to get bullets? Who would believe that we have killed each other? We came to sign this Unity Pact to restructure and reorganize the Movement towards Socialism. There are leaders who have sold out and this has to be said head on, they do not represent our vote, nor do they defend the Bolivian people. I am forming myself as a new leader to defend the humble class like that of our president Evo Morales”.
Finally, he closed his speech: “We are not politicians, but we are going to become politicians, we are going to fight for democracy, and we are going to run for general elections. I call on the people of the city of La Paz, El Alto and the Social Movements that supported us in this struggle when we asked for the resignation of the self-proclaimed president Áñez, whom we do not know, my only president is Evo Morales”.
Let us remember that in Bolivia there is a generation of young people who do not know what it is like to live under de facto and neoliberal governments. This generation experienced the democratic government of President Evo Morales, which had the greatest political, economic and social stability with a 13-year continuity of democracy, something unprecedented in the history of Bolivia. This new generation experienced this period as something natural and not as what it really was, a conquest resulting from the struggle of the Bolivian people, and especially the indigenous movement, whose fight has more than 500 years of history since 1492.
The country in its history as a Republic since 1825 was marked by 180 years of neoliberal governments and coups that broke the country in the past and spilled Bolivian blood. In 2006, with the refoundation of the Plurinational State, Bolivia became the first country in the world to declare itself plurinational. In this way, the government and the redistribution of wealth included those who were historically excluded and invisible, women and indigenous people.
The words of this young man: “I am forming myself as a new leader”, mark the prediction of the indigenous leader Túpak Katari: “I will return and I will be millions”.
With these same words, the vice-president of Bolivia, Álvaro García Linera, signed his resignation under pressure on November 10. Evo Morales for the Bolivian people is not just another president, it is the continuation of the struggle of the indigenous leader Túpak Katari, Evo is our liberator and therefore the Bolivian people have decided to fight for democracy and until Evo Morales returns to Bolivia.
Then cocalero leader Andronico Rodriguez, Vice President of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba, a federation of which Evo Morales Ayma is the president, took the floor. Rodríguez led the Ampliado Nacional de las organizaciones sociales en resistencia al golpe de Cochabamba at the headquarters of the federation of the tropic in Lauca Ñ, located in the department of Cochabamba.
The National Expansion of Social Organizations in Resistance to the Coup was conducted with social organizations from different parts of the Plurinational State of Bolivia: El Alto, the Chore of the municipality of Yapacani, of the municipality of San Julián, of the north of Potosí, etc., where the national situation and the national social mobilizations that are being carried out in defense of democracy against the de facto and coup government were analyzed. There, a Commitment of Unity of Social Movements was signed for the struggle in defense of democracy against the de facto and coup government.
Those who in use of their faculties granted by the political constitution of the state resolved:
1- WE RATIFY OUR MORAL AND MATERIAL SUPPORT TO OUR BROTHER EVO MORALES AYMA, PRESIDENT OF THE PLURINATIONAL STATE OF BOLIVIA.
2- THE STATE OF EMERGENCY IS RATIFIED AND A FOURTH INTERMEDIATE IS DECLARED FROM TODAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019, UNTIL THE DE FACTO GOVERNMENT FULFILLS THE AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS RECENTLY ASSUMED WITH THE SOCIAL SECTORS MOBILIZED IN THE COUNTRY.
3- WE DEMAND THAT THE PLURINATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND EXECUTIVE BODY IMMEDIATELY APPROVE THE LAW OF GUARANTEES TO GUARANTEE THE EXERCISE OF FUNDAMENTAL CIVIL, POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN FAVOR OF THE ELECTED POLITICAL AUTHORITIES AND UNION LEADERS.
4- WE ASK THE BOLIVIAN WORKERS’ CENTER (COB) TO RECTIFY THE POSITION OF STRENGTHENING THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE UNPROTECTED POPULATION, AND WE REPUDIATE THE DE FACTO TOTALITARIAN AND MURDEROUS GOVERNMENT, AND ASK FOR THE RESIGNATION OF THE SUPPOSEDLY SELF-PROCLAIMED PRESIDENT.
5-WE ASK THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF THE MAS IPSP TO CALL FOR A NATIONAL AMPLIFICATION OF THE MAS IPSP, WITHIN NO MORE THAN 5 DAYS.
6-WE DEMAND THE PUBLIC REPARATION OF THE NATIONAL SYMBOLS LIKE THE WHIPALA AND TO SANCTION THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BURNING OF THE PATRIOTIC SYMBOL.
7-WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THE DETAINEES AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL AND AN END TO THE ILLEGAL PERSECUTION AND DETENTION.
8- BY A MAJORITY OF THE NATIONAL EXPANDED SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN RESISTANCE TO THE COUP D’ÉTAT, IT WAS APPROVED THAT THE UNION CONFEDERATION OF INTERCULTURAL WOMEN OF BOLIVIA-CSMIB BE PART OF THE UNITY PACT.
9- THE COMMITMENT OF UNITY FOR THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE TO SEEK SOCIAL JUSTICE WAS SIGNED.
10- WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE ABROGATION OF D.S. 4078, WHICH THREATENS THE LIVES OF THE BOLIVIAN POPULATION.
Source URL: Internationalist 360
