Bolivia: Reactionaries ratchet up campaign against the government
By
Eduardo Dimas
One of
the weapons most often used to divide the poor has been racism. It is
a feeling nurtured from childhood, a part of family tradition no
matter what the race. “The races must be kept separate because that
is God’s will,” was a slogan taught in South Africa in the
apartheid years.
In
other, more "democratic" countries, racism assumes more
subtle forms. The blacks, Indians and mestizos are relegated to
worse-remunerated jobs that prevent them from studying and rising up
the social ladder. The idea is to keep them in every way at the level
where they were born. Some manage to achieve higher levels of
existence and in many cases forget their origins.
In Latin
America, racism has also served to divide the poor. Despite the
mixture of races, whites, blacks, Indians or Asians are "taught"
to see others as "different," as if the common element of
being poor and exploited did not unite them. Thus, the poor white can
see an Indian, a black or a mestizo as an inferior being. That’s the
objective.
In any
country in the region with …
By
Eduardo Dimas Read Spanish Version
One of
the weapons most often used to divide the poor has been racism. It is
a feeling nurtured from childhood, a part of family tradition no
matter what the race. “The races must be kept separate because that
is God’s will,” was a slogan taught in South Africa in the
apartheid years.
In
other, more "democratic" countries, racism assumes more
subtle forms. The blacks, Indians and mestizos are relegated to
worse-remunerated jobs that prevent them from studying and rising up
the social ladder. The idea is to keep them in every way at the level
where they were born. Some manage to achieve higher levels of
existence and in many cases forget their origins.
In Latin
America, racism has also served to divide the poor. Despite the
mixture of races, whites, blacks, Indians or Asians are "taught"
to see others as "different," as if the common element of
being poor and exploited did not unite them. Thus, the poor white can
see an Indian, a black or a mestizo as an inferior being. That’s the
objective.
In any
country in the region with a numerous indigenous population, one can
find different forms of racism. Guatemala and Bolivia are the two
countries where racism in all its manifestations can most clearly be
seen — and even breathed.
In
Guatemala, the two candidates with the greatest possibilities of
winning, or going into a runoff, are white. Not even Nobel Peace
Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú has a chance. The
Power is for the whites.
In
Bolivia, the rise of an Indian, Evo Morales, to the presidency, with
a program of social benefit and justice for the poor, could not be
accepted by the oligarchy and the bourgeoisie, which are accustomed
to seeing Indians as inferior beings.
They
simply cannot permit an Aymara to endanger their domination and the
transnational corporations’ control over the country’s economy; much
less allow the Indians to read and write, enjoy guaranteed health
care and equal rights. It doesn’t suit their interests.
That’s
the ideological background of — I would say, the pretext for — the
attitude of the white oligarchy, concentrated in the so-called Camba
Nation, toward the government. It is the reason for the steps the
oligarchy has taken to "topple the shitty Indian," as it
described Morales in a plan that Bolivian intelligence services
discovered recently.
That’s
the name of the plan: "A plan to topple the shitty Indian."
It is signed by the so-called Camba Nation and has four points, some
of which have already been put into effect.
• The
first is to support the Cruceñista Youth (from Santa Cruz de
la Sierra, the Camba Nation) so the Constituent Assembly will fail.
The
Assembly has been unable to meet since Aug. 15, because of
demonstrations by the fascist Cruceñista Youth. The situation
has reached such a point that the main leaders of the Assembly have
had to suspend the process and summon all the parties, with a view to
achieving stability in Sucre.
In
response, popular sectors In Defense of the Constituent Assembly have
also staged demonstrations that could have ended in confrontations
and deaths. That seems to be one of the objectives of the leaders of
the Camba Nation — to create chaos and worsen the government’s
situation.
Another
element proposed in the plan is that of "full capital powers,"
that is, turning Sucre into the seat of all government powers, an old
aspiration of the Chuquisaca Department that would directly affect La
Paz, the nation’s capital. According to the plan, the opposition will
use "the counsel and presence of shock troops of the Cruceñista
Youth" turned into the "brown shirts" or "black
shirts" of the Bolivian oligarchy.
• The
second point of the plan is to look for new confrontations between
the departments of Oruro and Potosí, so the government will
have no alternative but to support Oruro’s demands and allow the
department of Potosí to join the ranks of the Camba Nation.
Oruro and Potosí are two mining regions.
• The
third point, according to the Bolivian Information Agency, posits
radical measures to overthrow the government of Evo Morales: "Begin
the pro-autonomy movement by calling for civil strikes and permanent
mobilizations in the seven regions under our control — Santa Cruz,
Beni, Pando, Chuquisaca, Tarija, Potosí and Cochabamba. With
this, we shall create a climate of instability that will degenerate
in street violence, which must have victims who can be used as
banners for our cause."
Further,
"once pressure becomes intolerable, the government will fall of
its own weight. But we must emphasize that the surrender be total; we
do not want the Vice President [as Morales’ successor]. The
government must go to the president of the Senate; this is very
important."
• The
fourth aspect of the Camba Nation plan (once the previous objectives
have been achieved) is to utilize Mayor René Joaquino Cabrera
of Potosí, considered to be "a useful Indian" who
will "serve the Camba Nation to regain its power over the
government."
Once
Joaquino wins the election, "we shall establish the entire
government structure and fill it up with our own people, so Joaquino
will be the president but we shall be the rulers."
These
are the four action plans drawn up by the leaders of the so-called
Camba Nation. The plan has a strong odor of fascism and the classic
reaction of the far right. It is a plan reminiscent of the successful
coup in Chile in 1973 and the failed coup in Venezuela in 2002, which
led to the strengthening of the government of Hugo Chávez,
just to give two examples.
It
should be pointed out that the fall of the Evo Morales government is
of interest not only to the Bolivian oligarchy but also to the
transnational corporations, the government of the United States
(don’t forget that U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Philip Goldberg is a
specialist in "dismembering nations") and some
international organizations such as the Christian Democratic
Organization for the Americas (CDOA) and the International Federation
for the Freedom of Regional Autonomies (IFFRA).
It is
difficult to predict how things are going to end in Bolivia, whether
in a coup d’état or a resignation that, one way or other,
would return power to the oligarchy, or in the strengthening of Evo
Morales’ progressive government.
If we
guide ourselves by the events, it is evident that the oligarchy is on
the offensive and has garnered several successes in its effort to
topple Morales. It is obvious that the Bolivian government is almost
paralyzed, maybe because it does not have the full support of the
army or the rest of the repressive forces of the state, which have
more ties to the oligarchy than to the progressive government.
The
greatest strength of Evo Morales’ government lies in the Bolivian
people who carried him to power despite all the propaganda made by
the media (in the hands of the oligarchy) against him. If he does not
mobilize the people to confront the reactionaries’ assault, I doubt
he will remain in government.
The
Bolivian people have demonstrated that they know what their interests
are and who defend those interests. Maybe Evo and the rest of his
administration are waiting for the opportune moment, I don’t know.
But let us remember that the oligarchy is willing to spill as much
blood as necessary to retake the power. Wouldn’t it be better to ask
the Bolivian people to take to the streets before a crisis occurs? I
invite you to meditate.
