“We Will Coup Whoever we Want”: Elon Musk Sparks Online Riot With Quip About Overthrow of Boliviaâs Evo Morales
July 25, 2020.-Â Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stirred up a Twitter storm after seemingly suggesting that he has no objections to carrying out regime change operations for his companyâs benefit. But some argued Musk was clearly joking.
The provocative comments were made after the billionaire businessman suggested that another government stimulus bill to help boost Americaâs faltering economy would ânot be in the best interests of the people.â
One unpersuaded commentator fired back: âYou know what wasnât in the best interest of people? The US government organizing a coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia so you could obtain the lithium there.â
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Musk, apparently unphased by the accusation, responded: âWe will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.â In a follow-up tweet, he claimed that Tesla gets its lithium from Australia.
The post triggered Twitter pandemonium. Journalist Max Blumenthal claimed that Muskâs unapologetic tweet âpractically takes credit for the Bolivian lithium coup.â
âRenewableâ energy kingpin Elon Musk practically takes credit for the Bolivian lithium coup just months after planning a meeting with Bolsonaro ahead of a Tesla factory in lithium rich Brazil https://t.co/PcizH4pLfQ https://t.co/7kTrA7fPsV pic.twitter.com/zaVqte1KHW
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 25, 2020
Others described Muskâs musings as âflippantâ and âmurderous and cruel,â even as they acknowledged his ârefreshing candor.â
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Not everyone took the Tesla CEOâs pronouncement at face value, however. Some observers argued that Musk was clearly joking, even if his jest was in poor taste.
âI get this is meant to be a joke, but this is really bad. Innocent people suffer when military coups backed by the US happen. You are making light of that suffering,â read one reply.
Boliviaâs former president, Evo Morales, resigned and fled the country last November following accusations of election fraud. In an interview with RT, he called the events âa coupâ aimed at installing a right-wing leader who will open up Boliviaâs lithium reserves â some of the largest in the world â to exploitation by industry.
Earlier in November 2019, Bolivia axed a massive lithium project with German company ACI Systems Alemania (ACISA). Although itâs true that Tesla receives lithium from Australia, it is also said to be one of ACISAâs clients.
Featured image: Elon Musk and the brine pools of a lithium mine in Chile Š REUTERS / Hannibal Hanschke; Ivan Alvarado
