Nov 19, 2008By Amy Goodman Evo Morales knows about “change you can believe in.” He also knows what happens when a powerful elite is forced to make changes it doesn’t want. Morales is the first indigenous president of Bolivia, the poorest country in South America. He was inaugurated in January 2006. Against tremendous internal opposition, he nationalized Bolivia’s natural-gas fields, transforming the country’s economic stability and, interestingly, enriching the very elite that originally criticized the move. Yet last September, the backlash came to a peak. In an interview in New York this week, Morales told me: “The opposition, the right-wing parties ... decided to do a violent coup. ... They couldn’t do it.” In response, presidents from South American nations met in Chile for an emergency summit, led by the two women presidents, Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Cristina Kirchner of Argentina. The group issued a statement condemning the violence and supporting Morales. |
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Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization |
Democracy Center Book Launch in London!Join us for the presentation of the book on Wednesday 10 of December 6 to 8.30pm
UNITE - 128 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8TN 
Dignity and Defiance is the story of one country, Bolivia, but it is representative of many countries around the world. The book tells the story of Bolivia's famous Water Revolt against Bechtel, and its aftermath. It travels to jungles and jails to trace the human impact of the U.S. war on drugs. It pedals by bike across the Bolivian highlands to document the disaster left behind by an Enron/Shell oil spill. It digs deep to trace how IMF economic policies led to bloodshed on the steps of the Bolivian Presidential Palace.
Dignity and Defiance also tells the story, from the ground up, of how people have fought courageously to keep globalization from swallowing their lives and to make it work to their benefit – as activists, workers, and immigrants. Ultimately the book is a story of inspiration, and it goes to the heart of what has drawn so much global attention to Bolivia.
Dignity and Defiance offers a powerful mix of story telling and analysis by a collection of writers who have made Bolivia their home and who have worked closely with Bolivian colleagues to get the story right. Bolivia's recent history, like Latin America's and the world's, is about people demanding justice and self- determination in a world of new global forces. By looking up close at what this means for one nation, readers will have an opportunity to deepen their grasp of issues and trends that are universal and that are likely to shape all our lives for decades more to come. |
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www.newstatesman.com
South America Emma Felber Published 14 November 2008 The plot of the Quantum of Solace makes reference to a real struggle carried out by the social movements of Bolivia - but it wasn't an action hero that secured changes, it was ordinary people  Has Evo Morales found a new comrade in 007? A rusty pipe hangs from an improvised water tower, and drips miserably into the desert air. A crowd of simple-looking people in traditional Andean clothes, their dark faces furrowed with worry, surround it with empty buckets and containers, waiting for the water to come gushing out, but the pipe has run dry. They turn away in dismayed resignation. |
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Evo highlights Obama’s victory election... |
Evo highlights Obama’s victory election and looks forward to building new relations with USA
La Paz, November 05, (ABI).- President Evo Morales showed his approval this Wednesday for the electoral victory of the democrat 47 years old Barack Obama and hopes from the new Chief of this country, the bilateral relations should take another course.
"The Government of Bolivia congratulates to Ms. Obama for a historic victory because he is a man that comes from discriminated sectors, who comes from slaved sectors, certainly historic. I am sure he is going to keep on doing history " Evo morales said.
This way, he refers to the victory of Obama, who turned into the first African American president in the history of the United States.
Obama was born in Hawai his parents are Barack Obama Sr. from Kenia and his mother Ann Dunham an American.They married when both were studying in the University of Hawai.
The Bolivian president expressed his enthusiasm to the journalists because he considers from the new American Chief the deteriorated relations between both countries could be improved.
Weeks ago, he said that in spite of whoever would be the Chief of the USA the Bolivian Government will seek to improve the relations with the American Government.
He also expressed his desire that the new President of the USA raises the economic blockade to Cuba and withdraw the troops of some countries.
Rq ABI
Translation/Fcc |
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Bolivia: Defeat of the Right |
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by Immanuel Wallerstein In the amazing series of elections in South America in the last five years, the most radical results were in Bolivia, with the election of Evo Morales as President. It is not because Morales stood on the most radical platform. It was rather that, in this country in which the majority of the population are indigenous peoples, this was the very first time that an indigenous person was elected president of the republic. This in itself was a profound social revolution, and was not at all appreciated by the descendants of European immigrants who had always controlled the country. The big question when Morales was elected was whether he could stay long in office, or whether the Bolivian right, perhaps in collusion with the armed forces, could oust him. He has now demonstrated that he can. There were three major elements in his program. Bolivia's national income today is primarily drawn from its gas exports, essentially to Brazil and Argentina. The gas is located in the eastern provinces, the so-called Half Moon. And these areas are the ones in which there are the lowest percentages of indigenous peoples. The majority are Euro-descendants. Until Morales came to power, the prices at which the gas was sold were ridiculously low. And the income remained largely with the eastern provincial governments. |
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Letter to Condoleeza Rice regarding Bolivia |
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Latin American Experts Call on US to Disclose Funding To Dr. Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
C c : Phillip Goldberg, U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia
Henrietta Fore, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
Representative Eliot Engel, Chair, Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Committee of Foreign Affairs
Senator John McCain
Senator Barack Obama
Dear Dr. Rice,
We are writing out of deep concern over recent events in Bolivia that have left dozens dead and cost millions of dollars in lost revenue to the Bolivian government and the Bolivian people. We are especially concerned that the United States government, by its own admission, is supporting opposition groups and individuals in Bolivia that have been involved in the recent whole-scale destruction, violence, and killings, above all in the departments of Santa Cruz, Pando, and Chuquisaca.
Since the United States government refuses to disclose many of the recipients of its funding and support, there is currently no way to determine the degree to which this support is helping people involved in violence, sabotage, and other extra-legal means to destabilize the government of Bolivia. |
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Picket in front of USA embassy in London 17/09/08 |
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Paul Haste and Charley Allan witness London’s Latin American community and British trade unionists and MPs come together in solidarity
 Bolivian activist talking about the latests events in Bolivia
SCORES of solidarity campaigners picketed the US embassy in London on Wednesday night before a huge rally at the National Union of Journalists to demand an end to US interference in Latin America.
Responding to ongoing coup attempts in Bolivia and Venezuela, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said that it was ironic that he was protesting outside the US embassy when its government had nationalised more of its economy in the last few days than Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had in the last decade.
“The US is standing up for privilege, for the interest of the few against the interest of the many and will go to any length to achieve it,” he stormed.
“It will go to the lengths that it did in Chile and will drown the revolution in blood if it gets the opportunity,” referring to the CIA-orchestrated coup against Salvadore Allende 35 years ago.
“But there is one big difference — we are prepared, we have learned the lessons and we are already organised.”
 Compañeros Latinoamericanos mostrando solidaridad con Bolivia y Venezuela
The crowd chanted “No More Coups” while waving colourful solidarity banners as embassy workers left for the day.
Dozens of people spoke at the open mic in English and Spanish, with some making the point that, in the dying days of US President Bush’s regime, many people thought that he would attack Iran — yet it was clear that Latin America was the real target.
 Bolivian and Venezuela banners
Loud cheers went up whenever speakers brought up the expulsion the US ambassador in Bolivia because of his links to coup-plotters and Venezuela doing the same in solidarity, with cries of “Yankee go home” filling Grosvenor Square.
At the NUJ headquarters, Bolivian ambassador Maria Beatriz Souviron explained how the traditional political system in Bolivia had been swept away with the election of Evo Morales.
“He has given people hope for the first time. There has not just been a change in who controls the state, but also a change in culture in a country that has been racist for so long.”
Bolivia Solidarity Campaign organiser Amancay Colque, who helped organise the actions with Hands Off Venezuela, brought harrowing news from the northern state of Pando, where the far-right governor threatened to split from Bolivia and had paid mercenaries to machine-gun rural workers loyal to Morales.
She explained how the elite was fuelling racism to try to divide Bolivians and that, in the right’s eastern stronghold of Santa Cruz, it was now impossible for an Aymara or Quechua indigenous Bolivian to even walk down the street without being attacked.
John McDonnell MP pointed out that “what is happening is not a personal attack on Morales or Chavez but an attack on the seeds of socialism that they are spreading.
 The Rally after the picket in the National Union of Journalists
“What the US is terrified of is the prospect that socialism will catch light all across the Americas, so of course it has to go on the attack. But it is exactly for this moment that solidarity campaigns exist.”
Venezuelan charge d’affaires Felix Plasencia said that he was “honoured to stand with Bolivia as all Latin America struggles for dignity, sovereignty and independence. We have finally thrown off the US Monroe Doctrine that treated us as their ‘backyard’ for 200 years.
“The aim now is to extend this people’s power throughout Latin America and the solidarity shown to Bolivia as it fights back against counter-revolutionaries is a significant step in uniting our countries,” he added to great applause.  Full room some people couldn't get in. |
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The fascist coup has started in Santa Cruz |
"We are sufficiently strong to split the country,” threatens a PODEMOS Santa Cruz deputy Somos lo suficientemente fuertes como para partir al país", amenaza un diputado cruceño de Podemos
The fascist coup has started in Santa Cruz, denounces the Bolivian government
(Bolpress) translated by NIck Buxton.
The Bolivian government communicated today to the national and international community that a civil coup has been put into action in the departmental capital city of Santa Cruz, led by the President of the Civic Committee, Branco Marinkovic, and supported by Prefect Ruben Costas. The national government will not respond to “provocations by fascist groups” and will defend democracy and national unity without declaring a state of emergency in the convulsed regions.
The government denounced several times in the last few weeks that there were preparations for violent protests with internal and external support. Today the predicted events materialized and began a “civic prefectural coup against the unity of the country and democracy,” said the government minister Alfredo Rada.
Students and activists of the [neo-fascist] group the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UCJ) and shock groups of thugs paid by the business-led civic movement from Santa Cruz attacked on Tuesday offices of Internal Revenue, the National Institute of Land Reform (INRA) and the National Company of Telecommunications (ENTEL).
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Civil coup unfolds in Bolivia, democracy in danger by violent/racist opposition |
VIO Venezuela News and Action![]()
With little more than a month past since Bolivian President Evo Morales won a recall referendum with 67% of the vote, Bolivia's secessionist opposition has taken to the streets beginning in Santa Cruz, one of the wealthiest regions of the country. Three days of mayhem and violence have wracked the city of S anta Cruz resulting in at least 8 deaths so far, spurred on by calls broadcast over the national media to join in "civil disobedience" against the government. Journalists considered sympathetic to the government have also been harassed and injured. Opposition mobs ransacked the recently nationalized telephone office, and took control of the internal revenue and agrarian reform offices.
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza quickly called for the violent actions of opposition groups to end. Calls to dialogue with the government were issued and the destruction and illegal seizures of government buildings, a human rights NGO, and a gas pipeline were condemned. The violence was not merely symbolic, but also carried economic consequences; damage to the pipeline slowed exports to Brazil, and repairs to the pipeline could cost an estimated $100 million.
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Indigenous Film Festival in Bolivia Suspended Due to Violence |
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Press release: For Immediate Attention Organizers Denounce Suspension of the 9th CLACPI Festival in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Violence and racism quell the indigenous film festival in Santa Cruz. La Paz, Sept. 10, 2008 The violence experienced on September 9 in the city of Santa Cruz has forced organizers to suspend, for security issues, the events planned in this city to launch the IX International Festival of Indigenous Peoples Film and Video. Following occupations by "civic" groups of the opposition of different Public institutions and communication media centers related to the government, fearing potential attacks to participants of the festival. These have reasons forced the indigenous organizations to suspend the Festival in Santa Cruz. |
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Bolivia: Historic Vote Confirms Will for Change |
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boliviarising.blogspot.com Federico Fuentes With 99% of the votes counted, Bolivia’s first indigenous president won a crushing 67.43% majority in the August 10 recall referendum. Surpassing the 53.7% he received in the 2005 national elections, which until then was the highest vote recorded by a presidential candidate in Bolivia’s history, the result confirmed the broad support for the Morales government’s project for wide-ranging social change. The vote was one of multiple referendums on whether to ratify or recall the president, vice-president, and eight of the nine departmental prefects (governors), held in an attempt to break the deadlock caused by opposition to the process of change by the right-wing oligarchy whose base of support lies in Bolivia’s resource-rich and predominantly white eastern region. Relationship of forces The vote not only ratified Morales and Vice-President Álvaro García Linera in their posts, it also revoked the mandates of two opposition prefects, José Paredes in La Paz and Manfred Villa Reyes in Cochabamba. Their positions will undoubtedly be filled in the upcoming elections by prefects aligned with the government, increasing the number of prefects from Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) from two to four. |
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