I think it’s about time the right wing coup in Bolivia got it’s own thread. Not sure how to cliffs the situation for anyone not following it and I’ll make this post a wiki so anyone with more knowledge can add to it or correct me, but Cliffs:
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president who also happens to be a socialist, was first elected in 2006. His administration focused on the implementation of leftist policies, poverty reduction, and combating the influence of the United States and multinational corporations in Bolivia. He is the head of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.
In February 2016, a referendum was held on the question of whether Morales should be allowed to run for a fourth term; he narrowly lost. In December 2016 the MAS nominated Morales as their candidate for the 2019 presidential election regardless, stating that they would seek various avenues to ensure the legality of such a candidacy. In November 2017, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Bolivia ruled that—in contrast to the constitution—all public offices would have no term limits, blaming American imperialism and influence for the referendum’s outcome, thus allowing Morales to run for a fourth term in 2019. In May 2019, Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, supported Morales participation in the 2019 election.
People on the right (presumably backed by the US on some level, because it’s a stretch to imagine no US involvement in any attempt to oust a socialist leader in Latin America) were upset that he was running again. From last December:
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1073125371866963968
So the elections went ahead, and he ended up winning by more than 10 percent over his nearest rival, meaning despite winning a plurality vs majority, no run-off was required and he was re-elected.
The results were immediately disputed and led to widespread protests across the country. Responding to the concerns and violent protests, Morales asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to conduct an audit of the vote count. Morales said he would call for a second-round runoff vote with Mesa if the OAS’ audit found evidence of fraud. Morales asked the protesters to observe a truce while the OAS conducted the audit but Mesa asked his supporters to maintain their strikes and street protests.
On November 9, 2019 the Organization of American States (OAS) published a preliminary report that there were “clear manipulations” including physical records with alterations and forged signatures, and evidence of wide-scale data manipulation. The next day Morales announced that fresh elections would take place. The police joined the protests against Morales[269] and on November 10 according to The New York Times: “the commander of Bolivia’s armed forces, Gen. Williams Kaliman, said the military chiefs believed he should step down to restore ‘peace and stability and for the good of our Bolivia.’”
On November 12 Morales flew to Mexico and accepted asylum there.Morales, along with the governments of Mexico, Cuba, Uruguay, Nicaragua, the Nicolás Maduro-led disputed government of Venezuela, as well as the President-elect of Argentina, maintain that his removal was a coup.
So was there election fraud followed by Morales stepping down in response to calls for him to resign, or was it a right-wing coup? I don’t even know how hard the mainstream media is selling the fraud + resign angle, but here’s the coup version.
Now there are ongoing riots
I don’t claim to be an expert on this, but just figured we should have a thread and it needed an OP.
