By
Peter Koenig
October 21, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
“I don’t want to be the best President in the
history of Bolivia, I want to be the President of
the best Bolivia in history.” So proclaimed Evo
Morales in a pre-election rally a few days before
general elections, today, 20 October 2019. At the
same time, Evo declared that ever since the Tribunal
Constitucional Plurinacional (TCP – Plurinational
Constitutional Tribunal) in November 2017 rejected
an appeal by the opposition that he could run for a
fourth term for President, and approved his
candidacy for 20 October elections, US interference
on a daily basis was rampant.
The United States has not stopped trying to
change public opinion with false propaganda and
making incredibly ludicrous promises to the
population. For example, US Embassy people – maybe
Fifth Columnists on US payroll, promised the
population of the poor Yungas region of Bolivia, new
and asphalted roads, if they didn’t support Evo
Morales in the upcoming elections. There are also
flagrant lies circulating, that Evo and his families
had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars and
deposited them in a secret account in the Bank of
the Vatican. Similar lies as are being spread about
Nicolas Maduro, the Castro family, North Korea’s
Kim Jong Un, the leaders of Iran and Syria and many
more, who oppose the dictate of Washington.
The Bolivian Minister of the Presidency, Juan
Ramón Quintara, referring to the US attempts to
sabotage the elections, mentioned a few days ago on
a Bolivian public TV channel, “There is not one day
the US is not interfering in Bolivian political
internal affairs.” He added, warning his
compatriots, “In the last 50 years the United States
has put its dirty hand in the Bolivian electoral
process. Today the interference is worse than ever.
For this reason, brothers Bolivianos, be
aware and don’t allow your vote being highjacked by
foreign meddling.”
This is in total disrespect of international law,
of international diplomacy and ethics. But what to
expect from the only rogue state on our “Mother
Earth”. Not to mention the flagrant, aberrant and
hardly hidden corruption going on in the current and
previous US governments for the last at least 100
years, and the Pentagon’s and White House’s constant
interference in elections around the world. It is
amazing that anybody would still go for these lies –
spread by an emperor who is wheezing on his last
breath.
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
Evo Morales is running for the fourth
time with his Vice-President, Álvaro
Marcelo García Linera, on the MAS Party
(MAS – Movimiento al Socialismo), the
Movement for Socialism, for the
Presidency and Vice-Presidency of
Bolivia. The MAS was created in 1998 by
Evo Morales. According to the latest
polls, Evo has just under 40% of
people’s support, against about 22% of
Carlos Mesa, the strongest opponent, who
is running second, from the right-wing
Civic Community party.
According to Bolivian’s Constitution, with 40% of
the votes, the candidate wins in the first round.
Evo could indeed, win the election in the first
round. However, if he gets less than 40%, they are
headed for a second-round run-off election. That’s
usually where the dangers lay – that’s where US
interference is the most ferocious, in elections
worldwide, where they want the winning candidate
defeated. Washington spends untold millions in
smearing the winning candidate and promoting “their”
candidate. And often they are successful. Examples
abound. One of the most flagrant one is the 2016
Presidential election in Peru, when in the first
round the second candidate from the Socialist Party,
the most likely overall winner, was pushed back by
election fraud to third place, and the right-wing
US-supported candidate was made second – and “won”
in the run-off. Today he is under house-arrest,
awaiting trial for corruption, linked to illegal
business arrangements with the US.
If Evo Morales does not receive the 40% necessary
to win the first round, compliments of US
interference, it would be the first time in his four
runs for President that he would be forced into a
second round. He won both the 2009 and 2014
elections with a landslide first round, 61% and 64%
respectively.
Al Jazeera reports from La Paz, today, in the
early morning hours of Election Day, that millions
of Bolivians are expected to “cast their ballots
amid a climate of uncertainty as President Evo
Morales seeks a controversial fourth term.”
Why controversial? – Because the 2009
Constitution allows a President to serve only two
terms. But Evo argued that his first term didn’t
count because it took place before the new
Constitution entered into effect. So, why a fourth
term? – Evo realizes that his opposition, especially
under his chief contender, Carlos Mesa, would
reverse the socio-economic achievements (see below)
of the last 13 years.
Mesa would return the country to the IMF
austerity dictate of which Bolivia has been free for
13 years – a main reason for Evo having been able to
carry out social reforms, not only benefitting all
of Bolivia’s “polinational” indigenous people, but
also to advance Bolivia in macro-economic terms,
i.e. renegotiating and partially nationalizing
Bolivia’s gas contracts, reducing foreign debt and
amassing huge foreign exchange reserves.
Evo is observing closely what is happening in
neighboring Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and
Ecuador. It is clear, leaving the elections free
without his candidacy, Washington’s dirty hands
would manipulate the elections – as they have
“successfully” done in the countries mentioned
before – to bring in a US favorable candidate, i.e.
Carlos Mesa – and the country would be cooked. It is
not difficult to foresee such a disaster, just watch
what is happening in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Ecuador and Peru, where poverty and unemployment,
and related crime, is rampant.
For a bit of history – Carlos Mena was
Vice-President under President Sánchez de Lozada,
called “Goni” (August 2002 to October 2003), a
businessman, educated by the neoliberal School of
Economics of the University of Chicago. Sánchez de
Lozada was a built-in representative of Washington,
who spoke Spanish with a strong English accent,
representing blatantly US over Bolivian interests.
He was forced out of office in 2003 by people’s
protests over the so-called ‘Bolivian Gas Conflict’
(“Goni” was practically giving away Bolivia’s huge
natural gas reserves to foreign petrol corporations,
mostly US, for a pittance).
The bloody confrontations forcing Goni to flee
the country to the US, claimed the lives of 59
protesters, soldiers and policemen. Goni was
succeeded by his Vice-President, Carlos Mesa, who
followed in Goni’s footsteps, continuing Goni’s
policies on Bolivia’s natural gas. Carlos Mesa,
after less than 2 years in office, was also forced
to resign in 2005, under incessant people’s
demonstrations and protests.
New elections at the end of 2005 brought in Evo
Morales, who was presiding over the country from the
ginning of 2006 to this day. –
Watch also the documentary, “Our Brand is Crisis”,
depicting how Sanchez de Lozada was made to win the
2002 elections over Evo Morales, by a special US
propaganda team –
A look at Bolivia’s socioeconomic achievements
should further convince anybody who thinks for the
people, that Evo did very well, insisting on his
candidacy for the 2019 elections. The Center for
Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, finds
that Bolivia’s remarkable gains have been largely
the result of wise policy choices, rather than just
a “commodities boom”.
Bolivia was the fastest growing economy in Latin
America over the past five years, about 5.2% on
average (double the Latin-American average) and was
able, under Evo Morales, to reduce poverty by 42%
and extreme poverty by 60% since 2006, when Evo took
office. The country also ended 20 years of IMF
“rule”, by Evo’s eviction of the infamous Bretton
Woods institution.
Other remarkable achievements include:
A 50% increase in real terms of per capita GDP in
2018, over 2005;
From 2006 – 2011 the government revenues from
hydrocarbon increased seven-fold to US$ 4.95
billion, mostly from nationalization and associated
policy changes. This was the driving force for the
Government’s reaching macroeconomic stability and
achieving its socioeconomic targets;
Unemployment has dropped from 7.7% to 4.4.% in
2008 – and has remained stable through 2018;
Public investments have increased along with
Bolivia’s economic growth; Bolivia has the highest
public investment as a percentage of GDP of the
region;
Overall investments have reached almost 22% of
GDP on average per year over the past 5 years;
In 2010 Bolivia has started applying a policy of
“quantitative easing” to purchase state-owned
financial instruments, i.e. bonds and similar debt
certificates. At the end of 2018, the Central Bank’s
balance sheet showed 44% were invested in public
assets, a 12% increase since 2010.
Still lots of challenges remain, as Bolivia still
figures as the poorest country in South America,
followed by Guyana, Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru. Evo
knows that his job is far from finished – and
American forced “regime change” is certainly not in
order.
Viva Bolivia! Viva Evo!
Peter Koenig is an
economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a
water resources and environmental specialist. He
worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the
World Health Organization around the world in the
fields of environment and water. He lectures at
universities in the US, Europe and South America. He
writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT;
Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century;
Greanville Post; Defend Democracy Press,
TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern
Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the
author of
Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War,
Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed
– fiction based on facts and on 30 years
of World Bank experience around the globe. He is
also a co-author of
The World Order and Revolution! - Essays from the
Resistance.
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==See Also==
Bolivia: Evo Morales leads election, faces presidential
runoff
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