Six on Bolivia: OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election; The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia; FAIR: The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen; Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns aft

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Six on Bolivia: OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election; The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia; FAIR: The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen; Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute; Morales urges Bolivian opposition to 'pacify the country' after riots

OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election, CEPR Co-Director Says 

OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election, CEPR Co-Director Says | Press Releases | CEPR

OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election, CEPR Co-Direc... Dan Beeton The OAS statement yesterday on Bolivia’s election should be retracted, said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Ce...

The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia

"M

ultilateral organizations like the Organization of American States (OAS) have a certain perceived impartiality because they are, in theory, controlled by a diverse group of nations. But sometimes a great power can wield a disproportionate influence. It could theoretically be a coincidence that both the Trump administration and the OAS have tried—without offering any evidence—to discredit Bolivia’s national election in the past couple of weeks. But it’s more likely that this dangerous, ugly, and destabilizing operation is being pushed by Washington.

On October 20, Bolivians went to the polls to choose their president and congress. Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president in a country with the largest proportion of indigenous people in Latin America, was on the ballot for reelection. His main opponent, former president Carlos Mesa, is vastly preferred by the Trump administration. Since Morales was elected in 2005, the US government has been hostile, and Bolivia has not had ambassadorial relations with the United States since 2009. Morales is one of the last remaining members of a cohort of independent, left presidents who have been opposed, and in some cases removed with the help of, the United States.

When the official tally was done, Morales had 47.1 percent of the vote, with 36.5 percent for Mesa in second place. This meant that Morales had won the presidency without going to a runoff, because the rules allow for a first-round win for a candidate that gets at least 40 percent of the vote and a 10-point margin over the closest competitor."

The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia

The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia Will the US and the Organization of American States once again be able to overturn election results?

Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute

"Evo Morales has announced he will resign as president of Bolivia after the military called for him to step down and the police withdrew their support following weeks of unrest over disputed election results.

Evo Morales agrees to new elections after irregularities found Dan Collyns Bolivian president’s decision follows protests over disputed 20 October election result

In a televised address, Bolivia’s president of nearly 14 years said he was stepping down for the “good of the country”. but added in an attack on opponents whom he had accused of a coup attempt: “Dark forces have destroyed democracy.”

Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, later said on Twitter that the police had an “illegal” warrant for his arrest and that “violent groups” had attacked his home in Cochabamba, a city in central Bolivia."

[President's home ransacked, threats from the Army, the Police resign, and he narrowly avoids arrest? - sounds like an "election dispute" to me.]

Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute

Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute Dan Collyns President quits after nearly 14 years in power, hours after promising fresh elections

Allies denounce ‘coup’

"Latin American leftist allies rallied to denounce what they called a coup against one of their own.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said Morales and Bolivia’s indigenous communities were “victims of racism.”

Hooded demonstrators overran Venezuela’s embassy in La Paz on Sunday, the country’s ambassador, Crisbeylee Gonzalez, told state news agency ABI.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described Morales as “a protagonist and a symbol of the rights of the indigenous peoples of our Americas.”

And Brazil’s Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said the coup that removed Morales was evidence of “an economic elite in Latin America that did not know how to share democracy with poor people.”

Argentina’s Fernandez said a coup had been carried out “by the joint actions of violent civilians, police personnel who confined themselves to their barracks, and the passivity of the army.”

On Monday, the Russian government, also an ally of Morales, said violent action by the opposition had forced Morales out, while UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called for “restraint” from all sides."    (AFP)

Morales urges Bolivian opposition to 'pacify the country' after riots

Morales urges Bolivian opposition to 'pacify the country' after riots Bolivia’s Evo Morales called Monday on the opposition that ousted him to “pacify the country” after his shock re...

The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen

View this email in your browser  The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen                       by Alan MacLeod When the military forces the elected president to "step down" (New York Times, 11/10/19), there's a four-letter word for that. Army generals appearing on television to demand the resignation and arrest of an elected civilian head of state seems like a textbook example of a coup. And yet that is certainly not how corporate media are presenting the weekend’s events in Bolivia. No establishment outlet framed the action as a coup; instead, President Evo Morales “resigned” (ABC News, 11/10/19), amid widespread “protests” (CBS News, 11/10/19) from an “infuriated population” (New York Times, 11/10/19) angry at the “election fraud” (Fox News, 11/10/19) of the “full-blown dictatorship” (Miami Herald, 11/9/19). When the word “coup” is used at all, it comes only as an accusation from Morales or another official from his government, which corporate media have been demonizing since his election in 2006 (FAIR.org, 5/6/09, 8/1/12, 4/11/19). The New York Times (11/10/19) did not hide its approval at events, presenting Morales as a power-hungry despot who had finally “lost his grip on power,” claiming he was “besieged by protests” and “abandoned by allies” like the security services. His authoritarian tendencies, the news article claimed, “worried critics and many supporters for years,” and allowed one source to claim that his overthrow marked “the end of tyranny” for Bolivia. With an apparent nod to balance, it did note that Morales “admitted no wrongdoing” and claimed he was a “victim of a coup.” By that point, however, the well had been thoroughly poisoned. CNN (11/10/19) dismissed the results of the recent election, where Bolivia gave Morales another term in office, as beset with “accusations of election fraud,” presenting them as a farce where “Morales declared himself the winner.” Time’s report (11/10/19) presented the catalyst for his “resignation” as “protests” and “fraud allegations,” rather than being forced at gunpoint by the military. Meanwhile, CBS News (11/10/19) did not even include the word “allegations,” its headline reading, “Bolivian President Evo Morales Resigns After Election Fraud and Protests.” Delegitimizing foreign elections where the “wrong” person wins, of course, is a favorite pastime of corporate media (FAIR.org, 5/23/18). There is a great deal of uncritical acceptance of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) opinions on elections, including in coverage of Bolivia's October vote (e.g., BBC, 11/10/19; Vox, 11/10/19; Voice of America, 11/10/19), despite the lack of evidence to back up its assertions. No mainstream outlet warned its readers that the OAS is a Cold War organization, explicitly set up to halt the spread of leftist governments. In 1962, for example, it passed an official resolution claiming that the Cuban government was “incompatible with the principles and objectives of the inter-American system.” Furthermore, the organization is bankrolled by the US government; The Avalon Project : Resolutions Adopted at the Eighth Meeting of Consul... indeed, in justifying its continued funding, US AID argued that the OAS is a crucial tool in “promot[ing] US interests in the Western hemisphere by countering the influence of anti-US countries” like Bolivia. Corporate media ignored CEPR's finding (11/19) that "neither the OAS mission nor any other party has demonstrated that there were widespread or systematic irregularities in the elections." In contrast, there was no coverage at all in US corporate media of the detailed new report from the independent Washington-based think tank CEPR, which claimed that the election results were “consistent” with the win totals announced. There was also scant mention of the kidnapping and torture of elected officials, the ransacking of Morales’ house, the burning of public buildings and of the indigenous Wiphala flag, all of which were widely shared on social media and would have suggested a very different interpretation of events. Max Blumenthal on Twitter “The squalid US-backed fanatics of the Bolivian right ransack the house of the country’s elected president, Evo ... The Red Nation on Twitter “Bolivia coup backers are burning the Wiphala flag, an symbol of Indigenous resistance. This is more than symbol... What Happened in Bolivia’s 2019 Vote Count? | Reports | CEPR Guillaume Long, David Rosnick, Cavan Kharrazian, and Kevin Cashman This paper presents results from statistical analysis of election returns and tally sheets from Bolivia’s Octobe... Words have power. And framing an event is a powerful method of conveying legitimacy and suggesting action. “Coups,” almost by definition, cannot be supported, while “protests” generally should be. Chilean President Sebastian Piñera, a conservative US-backed billionaire, has literally declared war on over a million people demonstrating against his rule. Corporate media, however, have framed that uprising not as a protest, but rather a “riot” (e.g., NBC News, 10/20/19; Reuters, 11/9/19; Toronto Sun, 11/9/19). In fact, Reuters (11/8/19) described the events as Piñera responding to “vandals” and “looters.” Who would possibly oppose that? Morales was the first indigenous president in his majority indigenous nation—one that has been ruled by a white European elite since the days of the conquistadors. While in office, his Movement Towards Socialism party has managed to reduce poverty by 42% and extreme poverty by 60%, cut unemployment in half and conduct a number of impressive public works programs. Morales saw himself as part of a decolonizing wave across Latin America, rejecting neoliberalism and nationalizing the country’s key resources, spending the proceeds on health, education and affordable food for the population. His policies drew the great ire of the US government, Western corporations and the corporate press, who function as the ideological shock troops against leftist governments in Latin America. In the case of Venezuela, Western journalists unironically call themselves “the resistance” to the government, and describe it as their No. 1 goal to “get rid of Maduro,” all the while presenting themselves as neutral and unbiased actors. The media message from the Bolivia case is clear: A coup is not a coup if we like the outcome." Riots in Chile leave at least three dead, state of emergency declared Santiago and other Chilean cities have been engulfed by several days of rioting as protests continue over an inc... Chile's Pinera to crack down on vandals, looters amid unrest Reuters Editorial Chile's President Sebastian Pinera announced a battery of measures on Thurs... Chile's Pinera acknowledges 'abuses' in handling of riots: media Reuters Editorial Chilean President Sebastian Pinera acknowledged "abuses" in the handli... © 2018 Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. 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