Morales to WSF "I hope that this Forum will issue proposals to stop the neo-liberal model"

Message from Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, to the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi

First of all I want to greet the World Social Forum and all the compañeros and compañeras, brothers and sisters who participate here in order to continue formulating a programmatic, political and ideological line to change the world, this world of injustices and inequalities. Forums, international and world events always guide us as union leaders, and now - I must say - as presidents. I hope this Forum will issue proposals allowing to change and to assert how to stop the neo-liberal model which has been to harmful to my country, Bolivia, as well as to Latin America and, for sure, to other countries of the world. I believe that there are two [programmatic ... political and ideological] lines in the world:

1. Governments and presidents betting for life and

2. Presidents and governments betting to end lives with their politics.

In less than one year after I became President I have found two kinds of peoples, governments or - to put things clear - programs: some governments send troops to save lives and others send troops to end lives. This is the deep difference, some of them are there to look for hegemony and others are there to save lives in the framework of solidarity and reciprocity. So to which of them shall we associate? I say: to the governments of presidents and comandantes who are saving lives unconditionally and with solidarity. Others, from the stand of hegemony, continue thinking of how to dominate the world at the price of lives and without any respect for human rights.

Therefore it is necessary to think of life, to think of mankind, to think of how to save mankind, that is, how to save the planet Earth; the indigenous movement shows its important contribution of how to live in harmony with the planet Earth, the Pacha Mama - Mother Earth, - as we say in Bolivia. It makes me happy to see the constant growing of environmental movements, the so-called “green movements”, as well as humanist movements, all fighting for mankind. We must all join throughout world to save mankind by saving the planet Earth, putting an end to any militarist, interventionist, and haughty politics. To think of dominating with armed forces is not the correct way. It is a form to continue attempts against life itself, that is, against human rights.

For one moment I think our union and social leaders in the region should learn English in order to share fighting experiences in Africa. It is hard to understand that some African countries are so rich [in resources] but are poorer than Bolivia, that Bolivia is so rich but has so many poor. Regrettably the natural resources are so destroyed that in order to recover them we must ready, based upon political conscience, to stand as peoples for the recovery of our natural resources to change the social situation in the countries from the South.

This South-to-South relationship has already achieved importance throught agreements and contacts among presidents and governments - if not among the peoples themselves - but it is necessary to hold these meetings because there is something that worries me: that in some African countries those excluded, marginalized and discriminated against could assume office and perhaps liberate themselves as human beings, but if they do not think of liberation of our natural resources, real change will be impossible. Perhaps some oligarchic groups think of us as pobrecitos. They say: well, now these poor little people - these Blacks, these Indians are already in government; yes, we do govern and if we do not touch their economic interests they will support us; but to truly govern is to set free, to nationalize natural resources.

I find important this meeting, South-to-South alliances, but more fundamentally [I find important] the alliances between the peoples of our countries. I feel that we have some gaps to fill: in Latin America we are champions in ousting presidents but I feel that these [African] countries lack such an experience and the task now is how to create a larger conscience so that together we can fight. I would stand for a South-to-South agreement with the Middle East, Africa, South Africa and Latin America as a basis to stem Empire’s arrogance.

Translated from Spanish by Manuel Talens, Tlaxcala; revised by Les Blough

Republished from Axis of Logic

'This little Indian won't be leaving office'

Federico Fuentes, 25 January 2007

On January 22, 2002, then Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) senator Evo Morales was expelled from parliament, accused of being a “narco-terrorist”. Exactly five years later, as the nation’s first indigenous president, Morales gave his first annual report to parliament. This time it was not Morales who exited prematurely.

Morales began his speech by thanking those who had expelled him in 2002, particularly senator Luis Vasquez Villamor, then from the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, now representing the right-wing party Podemos. “Thanks to these people I am here today, they were my campaign managers.” Angered by these comments, just minutes into Morales’s speech the Podemos bench left the room.

They were not the only ones to leave upset. US ambassador Phillip Goldberg did not take kindly to Morales’s demand for the legislative body to pass a bill requiring US citizens to obtain visas before entering the country, as Bolivians must do to enter the US, for reasons of “dignity, reciprocity and security”.

At one point in his speech, Morales said his critics “should be worried because this little Indian won’t be leaving office easily”.

Outside, thousands of indigenous campesinos (peasants) and workers gathered to celebrate the day with Morales, waiting for him to deliver his report to those who had brought him to power.

A poll published in the main La Paz daily, La Razon, a year after Bolivia’s powerful indigenous movement took control of parliament, showed that Morales’s approval across the major cities was 59% — higher that his historic 53.7% vote in the December 2005 elections. The rate was higher in the countryside, where Morales’s main support base is.

This reflects the support that Bolivia’s national revolution, led by Morales and with Bolivia’s indigenous people as its core, has among the Bolivian masses, who, having regained their spirit and dignity are fighting to liberate Bolivia and decolonise its racist state structures.

A year of indigenous power

This strong support is in large part due to the progress made on one of Morales’s key election promises — the nationalisation of hydrocarbons. Having overthrown two presidents in their struggle to regain control over their natural resources, particularly gas, over 90% of Bolivians approved when Morales sent the military into the gas fields on May 1 to return control of hydrocarbons to the state.

Six months later after intense negotiations, which resulted in the resignation of hardline pro-nationalisation hydrocarbons minister Andres Soliz Rada and a war of words between the Bolivian government and Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras, 44 new contracts were signed. The new rules meant that the state gained control over hydrocarbons, from below the ground through to the end of the industrialisation phase, and the corporations were to become service providers. The state would receive 82% of the revenue, which the corporations previously took for themselves.

The government also successfully renegotiated a doubling of the price for gas sold to Argentina, and hopes to do the same soon with Brazil.

The result — nearly US$1.3 billion in revenue from gas (an increase of $635 million). Combined with a growth rate of 4.3%, a reduction of parliamentary salaries by 50% and macroeconomic stability, the government has been able to use this strong economic position to begin to deliver on some of its promises, reversing the impact of neoliberalism in Bolivia.

Morales has personally travelled around the country to redistribute the gains from the gas nationalisation. These include (with substantial help from Cuba and Venezuela) 2000 Cuban doctors, 20 new hospitals, a literacy campaign in which 73,000 out of 300,000 participants have already graduated, the Juancito Pinto annual bonus for all school children under the age of 10 to help cover the costs of schooling, and tractors as part of the government land reform plan.

This high level of support has also allowed the government to move forward with its “agrarian revolution”, violently opposed by the large landowners who have begun to set up paramilitary groups.

Challenges ahead

While there were some important gains made in implementing the government’s economic plans over the past year, its key political plank — the Constituent Assembly — remains stalled by the opposition.

According to Morales, the Constituent Assembly “is the best democratic instrument … to profoundly change our country. It is the best instrument to unify, to integrate our national territory.” He added that the assembly is “the hope of Bolivians to patent the necessary structural transformations, and the changes in the economic and social sphere”.

Three other key challenges the government faces are pushing forward with the industrialisation of gas and mining to maintain and further improve economic stability, better management at the microeconomic level in order to ensure more resources and redistributed wealth reach those sectors and regions that need it most, and better coordination in the face of the rise of a new opposition.

Morales noted that still pending in the process of nationalising hydrocarbons was obtaining 50%-plus-1 of the shares in companies operating in Bolivia, and the refoundation of the state oil company YPFB, which is still not in a position to carry out the industrialisation of gas. The increased revenue from the nationalisation, as well as help from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, through the newly formed joint project Petroandina, will allow the government to move ahead on these tasks, Morales said.

Morales also used his one-year anniversary to announce the “second nationalisation” of the mining industry. Last year, mining exports equalled $1.1 billion, of which only 1.5% went into state coffers. Morales proposed that at least half of this now go to the state, while the exportation of raw minerals will be limited to give primacy to Bolivia’s industrialisation.

To help this, the government proposed recovering ownership of the Vinto tin smelter, sold off illegally under previous neoliberal governments. The Morales government has already begun to rebuild the state mining company Comibol, having integrated 5000 ex-cooperative miners into the company.

National Coalition for Change

In order to ensure better management of the state apparatus, particularly in the opposition-controlled regions, as well as coordination among the social movements and their representatives in parliament and the Constituent Assembly, Morales initiated the National Coalition for Change on January 23.

The coalition is to involve 16 national social organisations — including indigenous, campesino and workers’ organisations — and will “coordinate the social power of the social movements with the executive and legislative power and the constituent delegates, and will fundamentally define the political, revolutionary, democratic and cultural line”, explained the president of the lower house of parliament, Raul Novillo.

This coordination is necessary to confront the rise of a new opposition, based in the pro-business civic committee of Santa Cruz and the prefectures of the four eastern departments (states) referred to as the “half moon”. Raising the banner of autonomy in order to maintain its hegemony over the east, the Santa Cruz elite (tied to the gas transnationals and the US) have attempted to mobilise the predominately white middle and upper classes against the Morales government.

Stressing the need for social stability, furthering economic improvements and defending autonomy within a clear framework of national unity and control of essential areas — such as natural resources, police and taxes — will be crucial to isolating this new opposition and winning over and consolidating large sections of the middle classes and the armed forces to supporting Bolivia’s revolution.

Similar structures are to be established at the departmental (or state) level from February, which along with departmental delegates selected by the national government will help in coordination and organisation at this level. Such coordination has been impeded because six out of nine prefectures are controlled by the right.

On January 24, the three opposition parties in the Senate united to elect one of their own as president of the upper house, National Unity senator Jose Villavicencio. This revival of the “mega coalition” of the neoliberal parties that sustained the previous governments is one more part of the oppositions plan to block Morales’s attempts to lead a democratic and cultural revolution.

That day, Bolpress reported that other official sources said this new opposition directorate would ask for the revision of the parliamentary session that passed the new agrarian reform law. Villavicencio has also announced that the Senate would review another bill in that session relating to cooperation with the Venezuelan military on Bolivian soil.

In response, Morales was quoted by the Bolivian Information Service on January 24 as saying that “the right, the neoliberals, the auctioneers have united, but there is no need for us to protest”.

“The experience we have is that there are social forces who are demanding their rights. Within this framework I am sure that the people will identify if [the Senate] works against this process of change.”

Morales recalled how the opposition had tried to block the passage of the agrarian reform law, as well as the ratification of the gas contracts, by boycotting the Senate, and argued that “it was the mobilisation of the people that unblocked the Senate”.

First published in Green Left Weekly

Bolivia’s Government Faces Right-Wing Offensive
Popular forces struggle for unity against attacks

By Federico Fuentes

Federico Fuentes is a frequent writer for the Australian socialist newspaper, Green Left Weekly, and maintains the blog Bolivia Rising. He is a member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective, a tendency within the Australian Socialist Alliance. Republished from Socialist Voice

A chain of events triggered by the passage of a new agrarian reform law, part of Bolivian president Evo Morales’ "agrarian revolution" has brought to sharp relief the drive by the right-wing opposition to overthrow Morales’ government, even if it means pushing Bolivia into civil war.

On November 28, in front of thousands of cheering campesinos in La Paz, the left-wing president announced that the Senate had managed to pass the law, after three senators broke ranks with the opposition, which has been boycotting the Senate and preventing it from convening. The previous day, Morales had threatened to issue the law as a simple decree to get around the Senate.

This determined move gave the government greater powers to redistribute land that was not performing a "social function." In retaliation, the right-wing opposition launched a new phase in its destabilization campaign, shifting the centre of gravity of the struggle to its home turf. A series of "cabildos" – open town meetings – were convoked for December 15 in the four eastern departments (provinces).

The core of Bolivia’s right-wing opposition is the business elites from Santa Cruz, predominantly tied to gas transnationals and large agribusiness, and the U.S. embassy. Their public face is the civic committee of Santa Cruz and the four opposition-controlled governorships of the east.

The largest of these cabildos, held in Santa Cruz, brought around half a million people onto the streets. The meeting resolved to not recognize the new constitution being drafted by the Constituent Assembly if it did not include a form of departmental autonomy which would grant high levels of political, economic, and administrative decentralization to the governorships.

Rising tensions in the East saw clashes in the days leading up to and following the cabildo. Armed fascist youth organized by the Crucenista [Santa Cruz] Youth Union patrolled the streets, threatening and attacking indigenous people, many of whom support MAS, having migrated east over the last few years in search of employment.

That same day, several thousand people rallied in La Paz and El Alto to condemn the divisive calls by the right and to proclaim themselves in favour of national unity and the process of change being led by Morales.

Conflict shifts to the heart of Bolivia

However it was the calls that day by the governor of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, in favour of a new referendum on autonomy, and in support of "independence for Santa Cruz" which swung the site of battle to the heart of Bolivia. Despite attempting to clarify afterwards that he had been wrong in referring to "independence," his statements – in a department where 64% voted against autonomy in the July 2 nationwide referendum, and where MAS and Morales are particularly strong – triggered a showdown.

Although there was an immediate response by the social movements, the mass mobilizations were deferred until after the New Year break. By January 8, tens of thousands of mostly indigenous campesinos, cocaleros (coca farmers), and water irrigators, together with workers and other social movements had occupied the centre of Cochabamba demanding Reyes Villa resign for not listening to the will of the people. Attacked by the police, protester anger grew as they burnt down part of the building housing the offices of the governorship

Events turned ugly on January 11, when residents from the middle class northern suburbs of Cochabamba, incited by Reyes Villa and the mass media, marched into the centre of the city armed with sticks, golf clubs, and even firearms to confront the campesinos. They broke through police lines and viciously attacked the protestors. During several hours of street clashes over a hundred people were injured – including five who remain in a critical condition – and two were killed.

In response, Evo Morales cut short his international agenda to attend to the growing crisis. He returned on January 12 in his dual capacity as president of the Republic and of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba (also known as the Chapare region), a key force in the mobilizations. Although saying the conflict was one between the social movements and the authorities of Cochabamba, he squarely pointed the finger of blame at Reyes Villa, while asking the social movements to contribute to a solution via dialogue and remaining within the law.

"Now I am much more convinced that the indigenous peasant movement represents the moral reserve of humanity," said Morales. He called on the social movements to reflect and avoid any further violence or revenge attacks. He proposed to rush through a new law to allow a recall referendum on all elected officials, to avoid further confrontations between those who held positions "legally," but not "legitimately," in the eyes of the population.

A national crisis?

That same day, a cabildo of the protestors voted to radicalize their actions by cutting off Cochabamba from the rest of the country and vowing not to leave until Reyes Villa resigned. Reyes Villa, fearing for his physical and political future, went into "exile" in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Civic Committee welcomed Reyes Villa with open arms, having already called for a 24-hour stoppage on January 16 to support the besieged governor.

Three days later, a cabildo was convened in El Alto, where residents declared themselves in a "war to the death" until they received the resignation of both Reyes Villa and La Paz governor José Luis Paredes, who had also recently come out in favour of autonomy. They gave Paredes 48 hours to resign or else be forced out, as confrontation and violence threaten to spill out of the city of Cochabamba.

On the other side of the country, the story was different. A rally called for January 15 by the newly formed Popular Civic Committee of Santa Cruz – made up of organizations of the lower classes opposed to the official right wing controlled civic committee – suspended their mobilization, due to threats of violent attacks against them by the Crucenista Youth Union.

Saturnino Pinto, president of the Popular Civic Committee said that the mobilization would be postponed "until the authorities follow the law and tell us where we can meet without confrontations."

Reporting on the second cabildo held in Cochabamba on January 16, Pablo Stefanoni noted that the leaders of the key social organizations that had led the demonstrations were now "uncomfortably faced with the determination of the campesinos. They were facing pressure from both sides: the calls from the presidential palace and from their base, each time more radicalized after various days of sleeping in plazas and precarious trade union headquarters." ( See http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/01/17/elmundo/i-02501.htm )

In the end they put forward a resolution that, while continuing to call on the prefect to resign and maintaining the "state of emergency," gave the departmental council – controlled by a MAS majority – a mandate to continue meeting in Reyes Villa’s absence to work out a legal way to remove him. Stefanoni wrote "persistent whistling blocked out the voice of the speaker and threats forced the [departmental] council to meet ‘in order to name a new prefect.’

"But the pressure coming from the government had its effect. Bit by bit the leaders who respond to Evo Morales – especially the cocaleros – began disappearing and the massive presence in the plaza diminished."

Afterwards, a small group of ultra-radicals decided to proclaim their own new prefect and "revolutionary government" and to enter the governor’s office, only to be easily repelled by the police. By the following day, even the "new" prefect was complaining that he had been abandoned by everyone.

Whilst unrest continues in El Alto, it seems that Morales has been able to stop the right-wing offensive by winning a possible truce, albeit very temporary.

One country, two political projects

No one doubts, however, that the conflict is far from over as these two political projects – that represented by Santa Cruz elite, and that of the indigenous majority, led by Morales – continue to battle for the future of this country, situated in the heart of South America.

With the advent of neoliberalism in Bolivia in 1985, the Santa Cruz elite which had gained economic influence during the previous dictatorships, moved to directly occupy positions in the state administration. Through the establishment of several pro-oligarchy parties who "fought it out" in Bolivia’s manipulated democracy, they were able to preside over an illusory stability.

However, the resurgence of struggle in 2000 by the indigenous people of the west (Aymara uprising in the altiplano) and centre (Water War of Cochabamba) in 2000, and the rise of the indigenous- and campesino-led Popular Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People – which runs under the registered name of MAS in elections – shattered this stability. The oligarchy’s traditional institutions and political parties become thoroughly discredited.

With the overthrow of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003, these elites were gradually displaced from the positions they traditionally held and lost the direct access they had to decision making at the national level.

Moreover, confronted with an organized indigenous-majority west, hostile to neoliberalism and where support for Morales is overwhelming (polls in December showed 62% support in La Paz, 79% in El Alto), they began to articulate a political bloc, geographically based in the east (where Morales support drops to a modest 35%). First they focused on defence of "autonomy," later adding "democracy" to put up a better camouflage of their real goals.

Their aim was to solidify their hegemony in the east where the social movements are much weaker and in many cases aligned with the elites, shielding themselves from the encroaching west. Thus emboldened, they would move towards regaining their influence in the west.

The plan has been to confuse the population, projecting an image of instability domestically and internationally, coupled with calls for "international intervention" and stalling, by any means necessary, the "Democratic and Cultural Revolution" initiated by the massive election victory of Evo Morales in December 2005.

By demobilizing and promoting disillusionment among Bolivia’s combative social movements, they hope to create the conditions to bring down Morales and the MAS government.

A key element in the strategy of the right has been to try to paralyze the work of the Constituent Assembly. They have had some success at this. Despite having been convened on August 6, it has yet to resolve its rules of procedure.

Their calls for "autonomy" are aimed at securing control of national resources and wealth for the governorships they control, whilst they wait in the wings to recapture control of the central government. Their kind of "autonomy" would gravely undermine the ability of MAS government to implement its program.

At the same time, by playing up regional divisions and stoking up separatist sentiments with talk of "independence," they are conjuring up fears of the disintegration of Bolivia.

Part of this project is the designation of Phillip Goldberg as the new U.S. ambassador to Bolivia on October 13. Goldberg’s history includes playing a key role in the break up of the former Yugoslavia, a skill which the U.S. government obviously believes could come in handy in Bolivia.

Clearly the current objective of the right is to overthrow Morales. However, the balkanization of Bolivia, including splitting the eastern departments away from the indigenous west and taking the majority of Bolivia’s gas reserves and fertile land with them, cannot be ruled out. If the Santa Cruz elite come to conclude that they have lost all hope on the political level, they could well choose to plunge the country into a civil war, holding out the option of separation of the departments they control from Bolivia.

One reason why the division of the country seems unlikely in the immediate future is the situation in the armed forces. Most commentators agree that any attempt to carve up the country would be opposed, at least at this stage, by the overwhelming majority of the armed forces,

The spectre of separatism, however, could both work in favour or against the indigenous movement and the Morales government. The right wing is also using this fear as a way to gain a stronger foothold in the high command of the military.

Although Morales has been trying to incorporate the armed forces into his project, very few are willing to speculate as to what is happening internally within an army that has throughout its history intervened to back both pro-imperialist and nationalist regimes.

The shape of things to come

This latest push by the opposition has demonstrated its continuing hegemony over large sections of the population in the east, although it has also revealed an emerging, yet still very weak, popular movement amongst the poorer sections in the surroundings of Santa Cruz.

The street presence of the opposition, the concerted media campaign, along with the troubles in the Constituent Assembly, also seem to have swung a section of the urban middle class, who voted for Morales a year ago on the idea that "if a blockader is in government then the blockades will stop," behind the consolidating bloc that claims to defend "democracy" and "autonomy."

However it has also revealed that Bolivia’s powerful social movements, who for now are almost entirely behind the Morales government in its democratic and cultural revolution, have not forgotten that their power lies in mass mobilization. They demonstrated this on the streets of Cochabamba and EL Alto.

Part of the political struggle is the need to project a viable and convincing course to defend the territorial integrity of Bolivia and overall social stability. These issues weigh heavily on the minds of middle-class elements and also important sections of the armed forces. They add weight to the need to concentrate on widening the scope of political struggle against the right. The right, well aware of this, seek to avoid political struggle through provocations, street violence, and threats to defy constitutional authority wherever they sense they have the strength to do so.

MAS Senator Antonio Peredo Leigue, writing on January 15, pointed out that "work needs to be done towards the organization and coordination of these movements. The right counts in their favor these faults; they project their provocations confident of finding a reaction amongst the popular sectors. In this way, they want to justify the conspiracy against the government."

He adds, "The leadership of Evo Morales has reined in, once again, the danger of a national confrontation. It is necessary that this leadership be recognized in order to halt provocations. In this context, the process of change will advance more decisively and the right will be left isolated. The task of the mobilized people is the deepening of democracy."

The Bolivian masses have a huge task on their hands, and no one doubts that the big clashes are still to come. As the powerful opposition to the U.S. government continues to grow – led by Cuba and Venezuela, and recently joined by Ecuador and Nicaragua in the expanding Bolivarian axis – the U.S. is looking for how it can counterattack.

The role of Morales as an indigenous president within this alliance, who is consciously reaching out to awakening indigenous movements of the region, is crucially important. The indigenous government in Bolivia is the high-water mark in the struggle for indigenous self-determination in the Americas – the main reason it is so hated and despised by the imperialist powers and why they are determined to crush it.

The current push in Bolivia, perhaps seen as the weak link in this axis, is undoubtedly aimed at smashing this powerful piece of the Bolivarian alliance. The task of all progressives and socialists inside and outside Bolivia is to unite with and defend the Bolivian masses and their government against the attacks of imperialism and its Bolivian agents.

Bolivia and Venezuela initiate an unprecedented stage in their bilateral relationship

Miguel Lozano, Caracas, January 15,

Prensa Latina & Agencia Boliviana de Informacion

With 26 signed bilateral agreements, Venezuela and Bolivia have initiated an unprecedented stage in their relationship, which for diplomatic sources goes beyond the usual bonds of trade and point towards a strategic alliance.

Jorge Alvarado, charge d’afairs in the Bolivian embassy in Caracas and, ex-president of Yacimientos Petrliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB, Bolivian state-owned petroleum company), believed that they are dealing with a new model, far removed from traditional concepts.

Having recently arriving at this new post at the beginning of 2007, Alvarado spoke with Prensa Latina about the perspectives of some of the links that the president of his country, Evo Morales, believes to be steps toward definitely burying the neoliberal economic model.

Like a good energy expert, and given the predominance of this sector in the future of his nation, the diplomat decides to begin the conversation with the perspectives for cooperation in the area of hydrocarbons, which covers 5 agreements already signed.

In respect to this, Alvarado recalled that Bolivian hydrocarbons use to be in the hands of transnational companies through illegally obtained contracts, that handed over to them property of the gas fields that had already been discovered by the Bolivian state.

Now – he adds – new contracts have been signed with the rules of the game set by Bolivians, and with the path being opened towards the industrialisation of gas, an economic base for the future.

Through this process, Bolivia receives important aid from Venezuela, above all in relation to the recuperation of liquid gas, which is 10% of the total volume.

Apart from what methane represents for the production of plastics, it would also allow the erection of a fertiliser plant, which in an eminently agricultural country would guarantee the necessary fertiliser and exports.

Alvarado explained that this area of industrialisation would be very important for the development of Bolivia, and with the help of Venezuela, two plants would be installed, one in the south and one in the eastern central region.

Equally so, Venezuela is willing to enter into important investments to discover new reserves where the transnationals did not want to look, and once new deposits are discovered, could participate in the production.

The diplomat explained that in the Cochabamba Summit, president Evo Morales proposed advancing towards energy security for the countries of South America, as the basis for the construction of unity.

In the opinion of Alvarado, Bolivia, the first producer of gas in Latin America, and Venezuela, one of the biggest producers of petroleum, have to play a preponderant role in energy security and unity of the Latin American countries.

In the area of commerce, he explained that his country already exports soya and black beans to Venezuela, and is thinking of expanding the sale of chicken meat, whilst it imports some 250 thousand barrels of diesel daily, under favourable conditions.

Regarding education and healthcare, he added, they are already using 250 to 300 of the 5000 scholarships for the formation of professionals and specialists, fundamentally in the area of hydrocarbons.

With healthcare, Venezuela helps with equipment for hospitals, and has the perspective of constructing some, and with Venezuelan and Cuban support, illiteracy will be eradicated in three years, which at the moment affects 10% to 15% of the population.

Alvarado notes that, unfortunately, the borders of Bolivia have been seriously abandoned in the past and Venezuela is helping in the construction of some military sites in these zones for defence.

This – he points out – is not to say that Venezuela is sending military personnel like the US is accustomed to, rather it goes towards helping guarantee the presence of Bolivian troops in the borders.

In regards to infrastructure, he indicated that Bolivia received a very significant donation of two million dollars worth of asphalt that allowed it to attend to zones where it was impossible to walk during times of rain.

At the same time, he expressed that there are other projects like the opening of a Venezuelan bank to give credits to small and medium industries, the principal sources of employment in Bolivia.

He also emphasised the donation of tractors to mechanise agriculture, which would allow for production at a lower cost than that with the current archaic conditions left over from colonial times.

As an immediate priority, the diplomat considered that it was necessary to work towards make effective as soon as possible all the signed conventions, with the purpose of guaranteeing the rapid execution of the agreements.

That is my primary objective, but I am also looking for markets for our products and seeing which Venezuelan exports we could take to Bolivia, he underlined.

In strategic terms, Alvarado thinks that it is about relations between brother countries within the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA), a treaty initiated by Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia, with the perspective of integrating Nicaragua and Ecuador.

It is a treaty that equally favours all the member countries and pushes forward mutual aid, which is different to the free trade agreements directed at opening markets for the United States so that they can bring in their subsidised products.

Translated from Prensa Latina

Bolivia and the Bolivarian Revolution

Ricardo Angel Cardona, 14/01/07

Cochabamba is currently the centre of profound changes occurring in Bolivia. It has been like this since 1810, when patriots lead by Esteban Arze defeated the realists in the epic battle of Aroma, conveying a profound conviction to the people of Virreinato de La Plata that they would soon be free “because that is how the people of Cochabamba want to live”.

Today it is the same in respect to the Bolivarian Revolution in Bolivia, where in the frontline are situated the campesinos and workers, although there are also impoverished middle classes. There exists a common front in order to halt the disloyal intentions of the prefect Reyes Villa to enforce separatist autonomies, rejected in the recent popular referendum.

The attempts to proclaim autonomies in the departments of Bolivia are good, in principal, to help decentralise and deconcentrate administrative decisions and institutions such as ABC, for example, which is dedicated to construction and maintenance of roadways. That is why the Constituent Assembly has given itself the mission to regulate the reach and functioning of the denominated departmental autonomies, and give the departments the level of decentralised economic and financial decision making that they deserve, in accordance with the unitary spirit of the nation.

But, just as in other parts of the world, the geostrategists from the north are interested in dividing countries that are rich in hydrocarbons, and rebelling against the established order and North American peace. Groups of oligarchic power would prefer to divide the country to satisfy their own interests, rather that conciliate with the national government of Evo. That is why the working people, conscious of the need to maintain the unity of the homeland have risen up, with marches and popular cabildos to isolate the quisling prefects.

The people are aware that there exists a favourable international context for their aspirations to rise up out of poverty and nationalise political power, which today is subjugated by the nefarious influence of the empire. The US has not convinced itself yet that Bolivia has escaped from its control, since it has always considered it a country that was simple and docile to its desires, given the fact that neoliberal politicians had subordinated themselves without great problems to its financial, military, economic, cultural and technological dictates.

Bolivarian Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia make up ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, which has as its mission the establishment of economic, financial, social, cultural, human and spiritual flow between nations. It is a response to ALCA [Free Trade of the Americas Agreement], pushed by the US, and which even the bourgeois press has gives a short lifespan. On the other hand, trade between these four countries is tending to increase, in health, literacy campaigns, medication, energy, hydrocarbons, value adding with the installation of new factories and refineries, credits and open trade for food products, especially for those that Bolivarian Venezuela and Cuba import and Bolivia and Nicaragua can product in the short term.

Bolivia has the capacity to produce quantities of food, with figures that could hover around the tens of millions of tons of Andean and Amazonic cereals. Bovine meat from the altiplano and flat plains, artesian textiles, industrial manufacturing etc, would allow these component countries of ALBA to avoid having to import these things from overseas. ALBA is real integration for the long term, between people who are diverse, but united by revolution and Bolivarian democracy.

Traditional parties have panicked because of the fact that Bolivia trades with Bolivarian Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, without any conditions. For them, trade only exists if the US, Canada, Europe or Japan are present. On the other hand, the national government accepts with delight the arrival of strategic companies such as PDVSA, BIV or Industrial Bank of Venezuela, and Telesur. And the formation of Petroandina and Petrosur. Integration and trade between the people and countries of ALBA signifies the solution, in the first instance, to social, economic and cultural problems, and in the second instance, to political problems, combined with investigation, innovation, competitiveness, science and technology.

Bolivarian Venezuela and Bolivia are one and the same country and habitants of both nations should constitute themselves with the same personal documentation in jobs that would be generated by the protection of companies, agroindustry, petrochemical plants, financial banks, media outlets, education and literacy. Bolivarian Venezuela is moving towards investing in Bolivia, each year, at least 3,000 million dollars, in mixed enterprises with the Bolivian state. Just that would signify a 7% annual growth.

Bolivia could double it GDP from 12,000 million in little time, as long as ALBA integration included bold policies for joint investigations, investment in mixed enterprises, accelerated industrialisation, intensive trade in food and manufactured goods, refining of petroleum and petrochemicals. Still to be put forward is the construction of a steel city, integrated with Mutun, by Bolivarian Venezuela becoming a partner of COMIBOL and ESM to produce minerals, iron, steel and laminates for different uses. Bolivia possesses immense wealth in terms of iron, magnesium and gas and it would be beneficial to all if Bolivarian Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, to begin with, but also Ecuador, MERCOSUR, Peru and Chile were supplied with Bolivian produced iron, steel and finished products such as construction steels, irons, machinery, rails and tubes.

Another similarly transcendental possibility is in energy planning, with the exportation of gas to all of South America by Bolivarian Venezuela and Bolivia, using the Gas Duct of the South which will be constructed with Venezuelan financing. The exportation of electrical energy to neighbouring countries is a fact in Bolivia via the company ENDE, refounded in association with YPFB, municipalities, prefectures, cooperatives, and campesino communities.

Bolivarian revolution would permit the creation of thousands of popular universities and industrial or technological schools of production, to place technical knowledge, for all branches and sectors, within the reach of each Latin American citizen and campesino. With the Bolivarian revolution knowledge would no longer be a mystery and it should reach youth and adults equally via the dual system of theory and practice at the same time.

This Latin American vision is counterposed to savage capitalism, and frightens the US and its multinationals, accustomed as they are to just seeing poor, highly indebted countries, with quisling bourgeoisies and oligarchies tied to their interests. When they look at this dignified, sovereign, independent Bolivia united, by a concrete treaty of integral integration like ALBA, with Bolivarian Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, they being to move their internal servants, or separatist prefects, to impede the Bolivarian democracy of the free and sovereign peoples continuing to grow and exercising popular and protagonist power. The national government needs more cadres and mass media to inform all Bolivians and Latin Americans of this reality.

A solidarity that they don't understand

Antonio Peredo Leigue, January 11

A few weeks ago, at the end of 2006, the Washington government, announced a reduction in the “aid” they would be giving to Bolivia to combat narcotrafficking. In previous years, such an announcement would unleash expressions of grief and begging that would usually end up with some rushed trips to ask that the announcement not be complied with. Those sent, which sometimes even included the president, signed all types of agreements to maintain the amount of “aid”. This time there was no alarm and the reduction did not cause anyone problems.

We decided that this is not the type of “aid” we need for our countries. Begging which, moreover, was conditioned in relation to the interests of the tycoon who took out some coins so that the beggar could buy some bread.

Something different, distinct, is solidarity. It is the will of a people who, taking from the resources it needs, hands it over to his brother who is in more need. Share the bread they eat. That is solidarity.

Cuba is demonstrating this brotherhood through the support it is giving to Bolivia.

Let’s look at the figures:

In the year just finished a few days ago, volunteer Cuban doctors who came to our country attended to 3 million people. This attention is absolutely free. It includes the analysis and diagnosis. If the patient needs further examinations, x-rays and other tests, they are done right there and then without cost. Afterwards, the doctor prescribes medicines, which are also provided for free. That is how solidarity is understood.

In this period, with opportune medical intervention, 3746 lives were saved. It’s possible that, in a situation like the years gone by, they would have died.

“Operation Miracle” is the name of the joint support program that Cuba and Venezuela have provided for over 2 years. But, in 2006, a great part of these operations were carried out in Bolivia. An old man recounts the story when, suffering from cataracts, he hears that the Cubans can operate on him for free; he goes to consult if this is true… and he comes out operated on, having recuperated his vision. 51,994 people have benefited from this solidarity.

From this extraordinary solidarity we still have other facts. This year, 2006, Cuba has donated to Bolivia 20 hospitals and 11 ophthalmological centres.

Together with healthcare, education. 300,000 people are involved in that grand campaign to achieve full literacy amongst all Bolivians. There are already 73,000 graduates. The goal now is to begin to announce municipalities free of illiteracy.

What are the conditions? There isn’t any. There cannot be between brothers. That is how solidarity is understood.

Bolivian Troops in Haiti

Andrés Soliz Rada, January 19

On November 5, 2006, the Haitian Anti-Imperialist League addressed an open letter to Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Lula da Silva of Brazil asking them to withdraw their troops from Haiti, where they are part of the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of that country, in conjunction with the United States, France, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Croatia, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Jordan, Malaysia Morocco, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines and Sri Lanka (www.anarkismo.net).

The letter reminded Evo and Lula that the UN “is an instrument in the hands of the imperialist powers, especially the North American imperialist superpower.” It added that the attitude of other, conservative, neoliberal and reactionary presidents is understandable, but one might hope for a more balanced and just attitude from other authorities with a better sense “of the tragedy suffered by our country, once again a victim of the interventionist policy of the United States”.

New Massacre

The request went unheard and last December 22, 400 soldiers of the occupation force, led by the Brazilian general José Elito Carvalho Siquiera, with the support of helicopters, armoured vehicles and heavy artillery carried out a massive attack on the poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, the capital, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 persons and wounding 40. The repression was ordered by the UN Security Council, and carried out by soldiers from Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay. The cruelty of the invaders went so far as to prevent Red Cross ambulances from attending to the wounded.

This “Christmas” gift was in retaliation for the December 16 protest in the streets by the poor people of Port-au-Prince against the fraud in the municipal elections of December 3 and against the foreign occupation. The pretext was that the attack was aimed at suppressing kidnappers and bandits, but they exist in all areas of the city and not only in the slums (www.rebelion.org 28-12-06).

The Executive Power and the Parliament

In the second meeting of the cabinet of the newly-installed Bolivian government, in February 2006, the Minister of Defence, Walter San Miguel, reported that he was sending a request to parliament to authorise the sending of Bolivian troops to the Congo and that this was the tenth mission our country would carry out under UN agreements.

As Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, I opposed the initiative, arguing that if Bolivia supported the military occupation of other countries how would we oppose similar aggression against our country, especially at a time when we were preparing to initiate profound structural changes in Bolivia? The question is very timely, now that the foreign press, once again, is speculating on the possibility that UN “blue helmets” will be sent to put down the existing social and political conflicts in our country — just as the news media did during the governments of Carlos Mesa and Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé. The election victory of Evo Morales, with 53.7% of the votes, is no guarantee that no foreign intervention will occur. The Haitian president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the first time in 1991 after winning the elections with a 67% vote.

San Miguel explained that we were fulfilling previous commitments and this would be the last time this authorisation would be sought. This reasoning was backed by the Head of State and the other ministers. It should be mentioned that the presence of foreign troops in the Congo resulted in the “rampant sexual exploitation” of Congolese women. The Uruguayan contingent alone left 59 girls and teenagers pregnant in 2006, amidst growing scandals over corrupt practices in the oil-for-food barter program involving senior UN officials. (Indymedia, 3-01-05)

Four months later, a new request was made to parliament to send troops to Haiti. The former vice-Minister of Government, Rafael Puente (who attended the cabinet meeting in the absence of the Minister Alicia Muñoz), spoke out against this, using arguments similar to mine. The President told him that the matter had been clarified when the question of the Congo was discussed. In Parliament, only senators Antonio Peredo and Gastón Cornejo refused to endorse the Executive’s requests. Later I heard that Senator Peredo was reprimanded by the Presidential Office for his attitude.

Not one parliamentarian had the courage to request a report, even less so an interpellation, of the Minister of Defence for these decisions.

Nobel Peace Prize

Many international personalities and organizations, including Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchú, Leonardo Boff, Hebe de Bonafide, the Human Rights Assembly of Ecuador, the Bolivarian Circles of Venezuela, the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo” in Argentina, and the National Cadre School for the Defence of the Cuban Revolution are actively campaigning to have the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Evo Morales. It is important that the campaign include a call on the Head of State to withdraw Bolivian troops from the Congo and Haiti, in the elementary interest of defense of the national sovereignty and self-determination of peoples.

The case of Haiti, situated geographically between Cuba and Venezuela, has a special connotation in the politics of North America, which seeks to maintain a base between these two countries opposed to its policies of subjugation of Latin America. Let us recall just one fact. In 1919, the Marines shot 10,000 Haitian farmers during the U.S. occupation. In the wake of the massacre of December 22, Eduardo Galeano wrote the following: “Haiti is a country thrown on the rubbish heap by never-ending punishment to its dignity. There it lies, like so much scrap.” (Página 12, Buenos Aires. 5-4-07). This cannot continue happening with the participation of a government determined to carry out a democratic and cultural revolution.

When Change Becomes a Reality in Bolivia

Jubenal Quispe, January 16

The substantial changes initiated by the indigenous president, Evo Morales Ayma, have unleashed a desperate resistance by those who had accustomed themselves to illegal enrichment, abuse of power, theft and lies, in order to oppress the great majority of Bolivians.

The petroleum companies and the large landowners affected by the recuperation of hydrocarbons and by the redistribution of unused land have imposed an implacable dictatorship via the mass media in this country. Faced with the measures of change assumed by the current government, the owners of the private mass media have signed a pact to overthrow Evo Morales by pushing misinformed sectors against him.

According to the non-state owned mass media, no substantial changes have occurred in Bolivia. Even though, the facts show that economic income, as a result of the process of nationalization of hydrocarbons, has risen from 300 to 1500 million dollars. Or even, that when the state concluded its 2006 term, it did so with a surplus of 3000 million dollars. Something that has not occurred in the last 30 years.

In 2006, the wages for teachers rose 7%. All children in state schools below the age of 10 received and will continue to receive 200 Bs per year. All this thanks to the economic surplus from the trading of natural gas.

Thousands of blind people have recuperated their eyesight via the health program “Operation Miracle” and many more have begun to liberate themselves from the tyranny of being illiterate with the literacy program “Yes I Can”, programs funded by Cuba and Venezuela. The poor who consume less electrical energy are subsidized by the petroleum companies thanks to a supreme decree.

According to the organization Transparency International, up until 2005 Bolivia occupied one of the first places internationally for public corruption. Now it is in 13th place. Public functionaries, thanks to the president’s initiative to lower his wage, earn much less that any other functionary in the Latin American region. Right now, the proposed “Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz” law is in the congress, which aims to investigate the wealth of ex-presidents and public functionaries.

Moreover, there are laws such as the Education Reform, which is decolonised, pluricultural, inter-religious and inter-ecclesiastic. There is also still pending the law to increase taxes on mining.

To all this should be added that, like never before, indigenous Bolivians are living through a process of psychological healing, accepting and feeling proud of our cultural identity which had previously been stigmatized.

There also exist negative aspects in the government of Evo Morales. Discursive excesses or radicalisms, unnecessary confrontations, incapacity in management, impunity for those responsible for the deaths of the miners in Huanuni etc, which do not help the process of change that has begun.

But there is more positive than negative

With these achievements, Evo Morales - who to the traditional political parties and “owners” of Bolivia is an ignorant Indian, lacking reason - has given a lecture on good governance to those who (mis)governed the country in the past. The rich can not accept the fact that an Indian is teaching them how to govern. Just like they don’t accept sharing their unjustly obtained privileges with the needy.

In the current situation, the politicians defeated by Evo Morales, and the many who have illegally enriched themselves in the period of neoliberalism, are financing and organizing the middle and upper classes in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba so that through the strategically trained youth (“Crucenista Youth Union” and “Cochabambino Youth Union”) they can sow terror and death in Bolivia. The aim is to sow chaos in order to attribute it to Evo Morales, and by doing so, put a break on the processes of change.

During these last few days, the prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes, trained up in the Schools of the Americas, responsible for numerous massacres during the dictatorships and in the government of Goni, disciple of Reverend Mon, and now catholic, responsible for the privatization of water in Cochabamba, finds himself seeking refuge in the city of Santa Cruz organising more violent and racist clashes between Bolivians in order to attempt to sow chaos in the country, and via this path, destroy the popular support of the current government.

FEJUVE El Alto declares a 24 hour strike against Paredes

La Razon, 18/01/07

Resolution – A meeting took this decision last night. There are threats against public and private property. The government has asked them to put aside this attitudes.

The meeting of the Federation of Neighbourhood Council (FEJUVE) of El Alto held last night agreed to carry out a civic stoppage and mobilization next Monday with the objective of “expelling the prefect Jose Luis Paredes”.

The meeting, which lasted around two hours, counted with the presence of close to 300 presidents of the neighbourhood councils, according to the president of this body, Narzario Ramirez. In contact with the radio station Pachamama, at the end of the meeting, the leader read out the six point resolution.

The first, he said, ratified the request of the resignation of the departmental authority; the second point established a civic stoppage for Monday January 22. The third announced the taking over of the premises of the prefecture and the property of Paredes.

The fourth decision was a threat to expel the zonal leaders that betray the movement. The fifth point established that direct and only responsibility would lie with the prefect for any that went wrong (deaths, injured or clashes) during the mobilization.

Finally, the media (oral, written and audiovisual) were warned that there installations would be taken over if they distorted the events.

The decision was made only one day after peace returned to Cochabamba, after a week of conflict in the capital, were sectors aligned with MAS and sympathizers of the prefect Manfred Reyes Villa clashed, leaving two dead and more than 100 injured.

At the same time, the pronouncement ignored the request made, in the name of the president, by the vice minister for coordination with the social movements, Alfredo Rada.

In the afternoon, the authority asked the altenos to put aside this attitude and seek a legal end to their demand (referring to the proposal for a recall referendum).

“This is the democratic way out to the conflicts which are presenting themselves in the country… reconsider this, just as the social organisations from Cochabamba did who ceded on their position” emphasized vice minister Rada.

He added that the government urged a climate of social stability to continue with the process of change. A short while before, according the ANF agency, the spokesperson for the palace, Alex Contreras declared that the executive rejected the attitude of the alteno organizations and asked them to reconsider the mechanisms of pressure used so that Paredes would resign from the prefecture. He signaled that a blockade of roadway in the altiplano would affect the economy of the region.

By the morning, Eduardo Leon, legal advisor for the prefect, informed that Paredes would demand a response from the president of FEJUVE for offense, slander and incitement to sedition, and that he would wait 48 hours for them to retract the unfounded denunciations made in the open town meeting on Monday.

By night time, in a declaration to Unitel, the prefect said that he had withdrawn this demand to avoid problems.

Translated from La Razon

Resolution from the meeting of FEJUVE El Alto

The grand meeting of the presidents of the neighbourhood councils of the eight districts of the city of El Alto along with the district resolution votes and the social organisations of the department have decided on the following resolutions

First – Ratify the call for the resignation of Jose Luis Paredes Munoz from the departmental prefecture of La Paz and reject all resolutions coming from the corrupt prefecture.

Second – A Mobilised Civic Stoppage starting from 12am on Monday 22 of the current month and year.

Third – The departmental councillors should come back down to the bases because of their betrayal and for not comply with the decisions of the open town meeting (censure the prefect) and instead be replaced.

Fourth – The physical take over of the buildings of the prefecture and subprefecture of the department of La Paz as well as the property of the traitorous prefect Jose Luis Paredes

Fifth – The leaders who betray the mobilisations and resolutions of the meeting of FEJUVE El Alto will be expelled shamefully.

Sixth – In the case of confrontation resulting in deaths, the only person responsible will be Jose Luis Paredes

Seventh – Any mass media outlet that does not transparently and impartially report on the events will be declared enemy of El Alto

Eight – Disarticulate all the corrupt and party political apparatus of Pepelucho Paredes which still remains within in the mayoral office of El Alto, the sub mayoral offices, the Vigilance Committee, the neighbourhood committees and even within FEJUVE El Alto

Voted on in the meeting room of FEJUVE on the 17 day of the month of January in the year 2007

Crisis in Cochabamba Continues

Pablo Stefanoni, Cochabamba, January 17

A mass popular open town meeting yesterday decided to not recognize the governor of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, who went to Santa Cruz de la Sierra to seek refuge after days of clashes, which resulting in 2 deaths. They were unable to find a legal mechanism to sack him and the attempts to impose a new governor clashed with the resistance of Evo Morales, who is promoting a recall referendum in order to create a legal channel to resolve these types of conflicts. Last night, whilst it was being announced that Reyes Villa would be returning to Cochabamba, the vice minister of coordination with the social movements, Alfredo Rada, was saying that the MAS government would not recognize any de facto popular government.

”There are a number of democratic norms which need to be respected” was how vice president Alvaro Garcia Linera had summarized the situation earlier, as thousands of protestors occupied the principal plaza. The conflict was sparked off more than 10 days ago by the support given by the governor to regional autonomy being promoted by Santa Cruz, and his proposal to organize a new referendum to validate these demand, which had been rejected in the July 2 referendum by 64% of the voters of Cochabamba. Throughout the day, a multitude of campesinos traveled through the city, firecrackers echoed through the central avenues and the same slogan was repeated: “Died murderer and vendepatria prefect”. In the afternoon, the protestors gathered in the plaza 14 de Septiembre, where the open town meeting was convened. Despite the fact that the social leaders declared it as the “supreme organ”, it was visible that they were uncomfortable faced with the determination of the campesinos. They were facing pressure from both sides: the calls from the presidential palace and from their base, each time more radicalized after various days of sleeping in plazas and precarious trade union headquarters.

Yesterday, the governor of Cochabamba traveled to La Paz to reach consensus with the central government on a formula for his return. Various functionaries declared that the law should be respected, fearing a domino effect against other opposition governors. In La Paz, social organization gave an ultimatum of 48 hours to governor Jose Luis Paredes for him to step down.

Amongst the resolutions voted on were “to impede the return of Captain Reyes Villa” and push forward a trial against him for “his role in the dictatorship of Luis Garcia Meza [1980] and in the repression during the Water War of 2000, when he was mayor of Cochabamba”. After the speeches, the organizers proposed giving the departmental council – an organism of control – the mandate to look for a legal exit with which to replace the governor. But persistent whistling blocked out the voice of the speaker and the threats forced the council to meet “in order to name a new prefect”. But the pressure coming from the government had its effect. Bit by bit the leaders who respond to Evo Morales – especially the cocaleros – began disappearing and the massive presence in the plaza began contracting.

The council “washed its hands” by proposing that the town meeting choose a replacement for Reyes Villa. From there came the idea of a “government of the social organizations”. But by then the leaders were no longer there and the meeting was taken over by the “radicals” who represent little, including Trotskyist students from the Local University Federation.

Translated from Clarin

Resolution from the Cochabamba open town meeting, January 16

The mandate coming from the 2^nd open town meeting of the social movements is:

*Faced with the abandonment by Manfred Reyes Villa of his functions as prefect, the 16 provincial centrals, the Six Federations of the Tropics, the Departmental Workers Central and all the social organization, give the departmental council the mandate to continue meeting to the benefit of the department of Cochabamba, whilst the social organizations maintain themselves in a state of emergency.

* The social movements back the Departmental Council in its overseeing of the prefecture management and ask that audits be carried out via the General Ombudsman of the Republic, with the aim of establishing penal and civil responsibilities and that the Public Ministry act immediately to punish these crimes.

* The Public Ministry should investigate the massacre of January 11 by Manfred Reyes Villa and his bullies headed by Oscar Zurita, who also brought paid criminals in from Santa Cruz.

*Royalties should be reverted directly in a proportion of 40% to the municipalities and 30% to the prefectures.

* The corporations should be subordinated to the prefecture structure and their property taken over by the social organizations.

* The social organization of the 16 provinces and 45 municipalities will not allow the return of Manfred to Cochabamba.

* The prefect should resign for the following reasons: for confronting and dividing Cochabamban brothers, blackmailed with the resources that cost the organizations blood and mourning; for supporting the position of independence of Santa Cruz which would mean dividing and confronting Bolivians; and for his anti-democratic actions in not complying with the result of the July 2006 referendum.

Democracy is the people

Antonio Peredo Leigue, January 15

The tense days that took place last week constitute an invaluable experience: the exercising of power belongs to the people; the authorities should not forget that they are the chief executives. The deaths are overwhelming, the more than one hundred injured hurt: they are the results of this violence and nothing can undo that damage. But in the centre of this violence is the struggle to define the real meaning of democracy.

Once again, Cochabamba was the scene of confrontation: class against class, centre against periphery, city against countryside. All the elements of this contradiction took place and demonstrated that, no matter what path is taken in solving misery and backwardness, we will have to confront the interests of privileged groups and, sooner rather than later, it will be resolved on the streets.

A regrouped right

Taking advantage of the indecision of the Constituent Assembly, the right - already defeated in two successive votes - began to regroup. It used to its advantage very well the unevenness that allowed them to elect a large number of prefects and obtain a majority in favour of autonomy in some departments. This was sufficient enough for them to proclaim that the program of change needed to be annulled and a need to return to the old policies.

They have not left unused even one of the instruments with which they count: money, mass media, blackmailers and shock troops. In certain circumstances, they openly unmasked their intentions, in others they behave as if they were victims of persecution. Certain transnational powers interested in a return to the past, spread an image of an unviable country which the internal right constructs in order to justify an intervention by the international gendarme.

The last episode of this conspiracy was initiated in Cochabamba, with a prefect who is handy for all purposes. Conscious of the fact that the autonomy referendum registered a resounding NO in the department, the prefect, Manfred Reyes Villa, proposed convoking a new consultation on the same issue. On top of this, he proclaimed himself a partisan of independence for Santa Cruz, although afterwards he clarified that this was a mistake. Clarifications to spare, because his activities since have demonstrated that he had decided to make concrete his announcements and proposals.

The popular organisations publicly mobilised on the streets, demanding that he rectify his behaviour or, in the case contrary, that he leave the prefecture.

To provoke violence

All throughout the year just gone, the right has shown its intentions to use violence to impose their demands. They has done so repeatedly, specifically in Santa Cruz, each time that they organised protests against the government or when the social organisations protested against the abuses of this regional power which they perpetrated via the denominated Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee and its equivalents in other departments. The Crucenista Youth Union is the group that carries out the task of frightening others, using sticks, chains and even firearms.

This same tactic was used, this time in Cochabamba. An aggressive counter mobilisation crawled through the streets of the city last Thursday, when the mobilised popular sectors were dispersed. More than a hundred injured and two deaths was the fatal result of these actions. It was evident that the prefect, supported by his peers who are enemies of the government, decided to provoke the confrontation, convinced of the impunity of his actions.

Only the personal intervention of president Evo Morales, calling on the social organisations to reflect and summoning Reyes Villa to get rid of his provocative attitude, has impeded the spiral of violence drawing us into a confrontation of national reach. To do that, the president suspended his agenda of international meetings and returned to the country on Friday morning. In his message, spread via radio and television, he demanded calmness and reflection, convoked the Public Ministry to investigate the events and prosecute the guilty, and demanded respected for the democracy that the people have conquered.

It was attending to this call that the popular open town meeting, gathered in the principal plaza of Cochabamba on Friday afternoon, lifted the blockade on access to this city and called on the social organisation to maintain a permanent vigil to impede the provocations of the right. The demand for the resignation of the prefect remained.

Hours afterwards, president Morales proposed the passing of a law to allow the convocation of a recall referendum of any elected authority. This proposal would mean that in the future, confrontations between partisans of one or another side could be avoided.

The conspiracy does not stop

The lowering of tensions which is occurring in Cochabamba and the slow return to normality on highways that connect this city to the rest of the country is a momentary respite. The right has already decided its destabilizing plan against the government will remain activated. Their apparent victory could end up deceiving them.

In their intents to stop the process of economic and social transformation initiated by the government of Evo Morales, they are putting all their cards on the table. Armed groups have appeared, whose formation had been denounced, but until now had not been seen. Their operators are working permanently looking for military and police support to break the popular initiative which, until now, has marked the course of events. Their spokespeople are constantly directing themselves towards international public opinion, inciting an intervention to "pacify" the country, whilst their mentors do all they can to destabilise the internal situation.

The crisis of these last few days shows that the social sectors are mobilised and will not be defeated. Nevertheless work needs to be done towards the organisation and coordination of these movements. The right counts in their favour these faults; they project their provocations confident of finding a reaction amongst the popular sectors. In this way, they want to justify the conspiracy against the government.

The people decide

Since 2000, the organised sectors of the people have imposed their political agenda, with their own demands. Their mobilisations have made possible the new hydrocarbon law, the convocation of the constituent assembly, transparency in the management of public affairs and the recuperation of our resources.

These important conquests were possible because they very carefully followed a certain path: remaining within legality, despite the fact that this was still framed within the rules of the game dictated by the old powerful groups. Modifying this legality is the mission that the Constituent Assembly has been entrusted with; that is why the right, playing its most deceitful cards, has achieve a deadlock in the deliberations in the assembly until now.

What it has not achieved, despite all its intentions, is dismantling popular organisation. On the other hand, the people have mobilised, although in a spontaneous form; in this way, sometimes, extreme positions appear which contribute to the plans of the right. Organisation, coordination, unity of direction, that is what will impede the maneuvers of the reaction who want to return to their position of privilege and, as a consequence, to the policy of exploitation of the people.

The leadership of Evo Morales has reigned in, once again, the danger of a national confrontation. It is necessary that this leadership be recognised in order to halt provocations. In this context, the process of change will advance more decisively and the right will be left isolated. The task of the mobilised people is the deepening of democracy.

Antonio Peredo Leigue is a journalist and university professor. He was the vice presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in the 2002 elections. He is currently a senator for MAS in the Bolivian parliament.