You Can’t be Neutral About the Racist Coup D’ĂŠtat in Bolivia


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Another Trudeau, another Canadian-backed coup in Latin America
By Derrick O’Keefe – Nov 18th 2019
The Trudeau minority government has failed to condemn a coup d’ĂŠtat against a democratically elected progressive leader in Latin America, even as the newly installed regime massacred people in the streets, hunted elected socialist leaders, and expelled accused subversives from the country.
Iâm writing, of course, about the Sept. 11, 1973, overthrow of the Allende government in Chile. Despite protests, and repeated NDP motions in Parliament, in the days following the coup, Pierre Trudeauâs government quickly recognized the military junta that became one of the most notorious and murderous dictatorships of the 20th century. (Only after sustained protest did the Liberal government of the day reverse its position of excluding most Chilean refugees, a change in policy that saw thousands fleeing the coup eventually settle here.)
History now repeats itself, and the tragi-farce of Liberal claims to progressive internationalism is exposed again.
ĂĂąez and the right-wing are now moving to fundamentally alter the balance of forces on the ground before allowing any new elections.
Last weekâs coup d’ĂŠtat in Bolivia, which forced President Evo Morales into exile in Mexico, saw the installation of self-declared âinterimâ president Jeanine ĂĂąez, a Christian extremist who has contempt for the countryâs secular constitution and is overtly racist towards Boliviaâs Indigenous peoples. ĂĂąez, to take just one example, has referred to the New Yearâs celebrations of the Indigenous Aymara nation as âsatanic.â She represents a political party whose presidential candidate finished fourth, with less than five per cent of the vote, in the recent elections. Moralesâ party has a majority of the representatives in both elected chambers of Boliviaâs legislature.
Despite acknowledging ĂĂąezâs history of anti-Indigenous statements, the Canadian government announced they would support Boliviaâs âinterimâ regime â on the pretext of helping ĂĂąez in her caretaker role as new elections are organized.
But of course ĂĂąez and the right-wing are now moving to fundamentally alter the balance of forces on the ground before allowing any new elections. And theyâre also moving to change the continental balance of forces, reversing alliances and partnerships built up over the past 13 years. Theyâve already announced the expulsion of 700 Cuban doctors from Bolivia and cut ties with the government of Venezuela. Needless to say, these are not the actions of a caretaker administration merely overseeing new elections.
Given the narrow base and explicit racism of those who have claimed power, and Boliviaâs history of militant and highly organized union and Indigenous movements, it should come as no surprise that the coup has been met with mass resistance. And the regime, predictably, has responded with mass repression. On Friday at least nine people were killed and over 100 injured in Cochabamba alone.
The massacre came one day after self-proclaimed President Jeanine ĂĂąez issued a decree protecting the military from prosecution for violent acts. Amid this escalating violence and reports of widespread anti-Indigenous racism, protesters are demanding the resignation of ĂĂąez, a right-wing Bolivian legislator who named herself president at a legislative session without quorum last week.
While Trudeauâs Liberal government moved to support the ĂĂąez regime, opposition politicians and groups across Canada have begun to speak out against the coup. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh issued a statement on Twitter denouncing the anti-Indigenous racism of the new regime, while the Canadian Labour Congress and other civil society organizations condemned the coup.
RELATED CONTENT: Bolivia: Coup-Born Governmentâs Witch Hunt Intensifies
In 2004 in Haiti and 2009 in Honduras, the removal of the elected president was followed by years of repression targeting progressive political forces and social movements.
In addition to lethal violence against those protesting the coup, there are many indications the regime has begun the process of systematically targeting the most popular party in Bolivia and its elected representatives. ĂĂąez has stated that Evo Morales will face arrest if he returns to complete his term of office, even though the majority in the chamber of deputies has not accepted his resignation because it was forced by the military and abetted by paramilitary violence targeting Moralesâ family and those of other government ministers. The coup regime is not content just to ban the most popular political figure in the country; itâs targeting his whole party.
This is a dynamic that has played out in recent coup d’ĂŠtats backed by Canadian governments, both Liberal and Conservative. In 2004 in Haiti and 2009 in Honduras, the removal of the elected president was followed by years of repression targeting progressive political forces and social movements. (Far from the mainstream mediaâs radar, a months-long popular rebellion in Haiti continues to call for the ouster of that countryâs corrupt and discredited president.)
As of Monday evening, thousands remained on the streets of La Paz and other cities demanding the restoration of the democratic and constitutional government of Bolivia. Many of the chants note the failure of the international media to cover their opposition to the coup.
Some in Canada have declined to condemn events in Bolivia as a coup, and failed to press the Trudeau government for a reversal of its support for the racist, self-declared interim president. This has in many cases been presented as ânuance,â or as acknowledging wrongdoing on âboth sides.â In reality it is a failure to provide the most basic solidarity required, especially from those of us living in a country backing the coup. Just as there were many valid critiques of Aristide in Haiti, or of Zelaya in Honduras, the important and good faith analyses of the contradictions and mistakes of the MAS government in Bolivia must not be weaponized as an excuse not to call a coup a coup. Itâs cowardly and just plain wrong to remain silent or neutral in the face of blatant right-wing and revanchist racism, violence, and repression.
While Canadaâs Liberal government continues its long ignoble tradition of backing regime change in Latin America, the least we can do here is to speak out and amplify the ongoing resistance.
Featured image: Indigenous women in La Paz protesting the coup, Nov. 18. (Photo: Medea Benjamin)
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