Bolivia’s Coup Government Uses Repression and Pandemic to Avoid Election

Katheryn Ledebur, of the Andean Information Network, based in Cochabamba, Bolivia, talks about the consequences of the on-going repression of the right-wing coup government. On theanalysis.news podcast, with guest host Greg Wilpert. Transcript Greg WilpertI'm Greg Wilpert, guest host for the podcast theAnalysis.news. The situation in Bolivia at the moment isquite tense. On one hand, Bolivia is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic just as everywhere else, buton top of that, about nine months ago, Bolivia went through a coup that deposed the leftist governmentof President Evo Morales and replaced him with a far-right president Jeanine Áñez. Evo Morales'sopponents, including the Organization of American States (OAS), accused Evo Morales of havingcommitted fraud in the election last year.Morales had agreed to new elections though, but that wasn't good enough, and the police and themilitary intervened, forcing Morales and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, to resign. Since then,numerous protests in support of Morales have taken place, including a recent general strike in thesecond week of August. Joining me today is Kathryn Ledebur. She is the director of the AndeanInformation Network and a researcher, activist, and analyst, with over two decades of experience inBolivia.Thanks for joining me, Kathryn. Kathryn LedeburThanks so much for having me, Greg. Greg WilpertSo let's start with the political situation in Bolivia at the moment. I mentioned in my intro that there wasa general strike, so let's start with that. And the situation of course, with the general strike and thepolitical situation that is, mixes with the situation of the coronavirus. And that's one of the things thatactually came up in the news recently, that the government has accused protesters of hinderingshipments of medical supplies, and that could cause deaths.But before we get into that, I want to just ask you about, well, who was organizing, who was behind thestrike, how long did it last? How effective was it? And how many people basically supported it? I mean,was it a general strike? What was the situation? Kathryn LedeburThe general strike was quite broad through most of Bolivia's rural areas. It was an amalgam of differentsocial movement actors, the COB (Bolivian Workers' Center, the largest labor union in the country),mining unions, rural farmers, coca growers from both regions, Bartolina Sisa (National Confederation ofCampesino, Indigenous, and Native Women of Bolivia). And there were non-violent blockades. In somecases, there were sections of the road blocked with dirt, or hills knocked out. But for the most part, itwas a very strong protest against the changing of the election date for the second time, this timewithout any legislation, and after the threats, the Áñez government made against the head of theelectoral court. The Áñez administration said, and later the electoral court parroted the same version, that the elections scheduled originally for next week, September 6th, would occur at the peak of thepandemic, and that there would be too many health risks to carry it out successfully.This was something that the head of the electoral court just two weeks earlier had said was doable, andthat there was a clear plan. So there's a lack of clarity of where we're going here, or of following rules.And people were very, very concerned, and began to block the roads. It's also important to know that atthe same time, the intense political persecution has continued of social movement leaders, of hundredsof MAS (Movement for Socialism–Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples) public officialsat all levels, or former officials.And the concern was building because there has not been a response to a request for dialogue ...