Morales's Coup Fits a Long Pattern in Bolivian History

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia's exiled ex-President Evo Morales gestures as he delivers a speech at the Mexican Journalists Club, in Mexico City, on November 27, 2019.
CLAUDIO CRUZ / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

BY
Ted Snider, Truthout
PUBLISHED
December 11, 2019

Bolivia’s democratically elected president, Evo Morales, became the most recent victim of a U.S.-approved Latin American coup when, at the “suggestion” of the chief commander of the Bolivian armed forces, Williams Kaliman, Morales fled for his life to asylum in Mexico.

General Kaliman’s ties to the U.S. are not thin. Though seldom glanced at in the U.S. press, Kaliman was Bolivia’s military attaché to Washington from 2013 to 2016, during which time he may have developed deep ties to both the U.S. military and intelligence communities. And his ties to the U.S. go back even earlier than that: In 2004, Kaliman studied at the infamous School of the Americas (now rebranded as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), the military school notorious in Latin America for graduating coup leaders and dictators. After that, he attended again and took a course in 2013. Several other key players in the coup were also graduates of the School of the Americas.

As in other Latin American coups and attempted coups, the U.S. was quick to recognize and legitimize the coup government. The Trump White House applauded the coup as “a significant moment in democracy.”

U.S. Involvement in Bolivian Coups
The 2019 Bolivian coup cannot be properly understood ripped from its context. It is not the first Bolivian coup, and it is not the first U.S.-supported Bolivian coup. Since independence from Spain, Bolivia has had approximately 185 changes in government, and most of those changes — according to William Blum’s book, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II — were coups.

More:
https://truthout.org/articles/moraless-coup-fits-a-long-pattern-in-bolivian-history/

[DanieRains]

1. Evo Cheated - Sorry - He Had To Go - Bolivians Say No Dictator

I have 20 Bolivian friends. Married a Bolivian. Evo had to go. He ignored the peoples will too many times. Ignored referendoms ignored laws. Basically declared himself dictator.

I wish people would stop with this coup crap. He rigged the vote. Its a known fact. Online it showed my friends voted when they didnt. Election fraud.

Deal with it.

And yes I know about Pinocet and the rest.

Does not apply here.

[brush]

2. Enjoy your stay.

[DanieRains]

4. Thanks

I love Bolivia and cant wait to go back.

Isla del Sol where the Inca say the world was born.

I stood at the Jaguar rock.

[brush]

5. What about this?

https://ahtribune.com/world/americas/bolivia/3715-power-network-map-us-behind-coup.html

[DanieRains]

7. Yes Its Complicated

Welcome to power brokering the world. Look into China developing the lithium an the fights over the gas revenue.

What I am saying is all my friends say Evo had to go. They are from Bolivia. They dont want a coca fueled dictator.

Its their country too, even though multi-national corporations think they own the world.

Complicated....

[DanieRains]

6. Link

https://lowellsilverman.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/the-sanctuary-on-isla-del-sol-part-i-the-sacred-rock-titikala/

[Zorro]

9. Welcome to DU

You will discover that there are many posters here who have never set foot in South America.

[dware]

10. But yet, they're experts,

and I've noticed that to certain members, it's always the United States that's at fault.

[DanieRains]

3. Google Bolivian Cocaine Exports

See the real Evo. Supplying the worlds crackheads and clucks.

Reality.

Evos cocaine miracle isnt really a miracle.

Coca = $$$$!!!!!!!!

Not that hard to understand.

Im not a troll. Just a Bolivians husband who has been there many times.

The garbage I read here makes me sick. Bolivians voted him out. Term limits ignored. He didnt leave. Look it up.

[DanieRains]

8. Evo Ignored Referendum

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/18/bolivias-president-evo-morales-to-run-again-despite-referendum-ruling-it-out