Bernie Sanders Becomes First 2020 Democratic Presidential Contender to Criticize Bolivian Coup

[guillaumeb]

Calling for an 'End to Violence,' Bernie Sanders Becomes First 2020 Democratic Presidential Contender to Criticize Bolivian Coup

From the article:

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday became the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to speak out against Sunday's military coup in Bolivia which saw that country's President Evo Morales forced to resign before going into hiding.
"I am very concerned about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia, where the military, after weeks of political unrest, intervened to remove President Evo Morales," Sanders tweeted. "The U.S. must call for an end to violence and support Bolivia's democratic institutions."

To read more:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/11/calling-end-violence-bernie-sanders-becomes-first-2020-democratic-presidential?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email

AOC has joined Sanders in this.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread guillaumeb.

[guillaumeb]

2. Donkees' thread made me recall what I read earlier.

Sanders provides leadership. And AOC has joined him in this.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Your OP triggered my memory about this essay by Bernie as well.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287343323

The only bummer is I had to keep it to four paragraphs.

(snip)

Earlier Monday, Sanders released a new plan to help veterans; held a town hall with veterans in Des Moines, Iowa; and published at Jewish Currents an essay on combatting anti-Semitism.

(snip)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/11/calling-end-violence-bernie-sanders-becomes-first-2020-democratic-presidential?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email

[left-of-center2012]

4. Morales is a socialist who stole his fourth election

Morales resigned amidst significant unrest after the military issued an ultimatum demanding his resignation in the wake of a report by the Organization of American States that his government had rigged the year's elections.

Morales, along with the governments of Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela maintain that his removal was a military coup.

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, thus allowing Morales to run for a fourth term.

2019 Bolivian general election

On October 20, 2019, Morales won 47.1% of the vote in the first round of the 2019 Bolivian general election. The results were immediately disputed and led to widespread protests across the country.
On November 9, 2019 the Organization of American States 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 police joined the protests against Morales 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.”".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales

[guillaumeb]

5. "Stole" is an unfounded accusation.

Amid widespread fury over allegations of vote-rigging, violent skirmishes broke out late on Monday, as protesters set fire to electoral offices in three cities across the country....

Rodrigo Riaza, a research analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “If Morales wins outright in the first round, the opposition will double down on their claims of fraud, which they have built up throughout the campaign.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/21/bolivia-confusion-over-election-results-sparks-fear-and-protests

[left-of-center2012]

7. Morales is/was a dictator

Claiming his 4th term.

[guillaumeb]

8. Again, an allegation. Not to be confused with proof.

[left-of-center2012]

10. laughable

[guillaumeb]

15. Ironic.

[MarcA]

55. It's really all they've got. n/t

[guillaumeb]

61. True. It is better to wait for things like proof.

And, as I have said here, there is a long history of US interference in the affairs of other countries, and of official US denials of such interference.

[Xandric77]

14. The Organization of American States (OAS) said there was "manipulation"

And that it is unlikely that Morales won by the margin required for him to be reelected.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50365340

[guillaumeb]

16. Many feel that the OAS follows US orders.

Muck like another organization named NATO.

The US has an interest in keeping South America unstable, and susceptible to US domination.

Welcome to DU, and the conversation.

[Xandric77]

18. Republican talking points

This NATO/OAS trashing reminds me of someone.

[ChubbyStar]

19. Wow here 2 days and giving the whats what

How sweet.

[MarcA]

56. Agree and notice there are quite a few of late. n/t

[Xandric77]

59. Why did Morales invite The OAS to observe the elections?

If they're so intent on usurping his power as you believe?

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-Govt-Invites-OAS-to-Audit-Final-Electoral-Count-20191022-0009.html

[guillaumeb]

20. Actually left wing talking points. eom

[PatrickforO]

25. Sure does. N/T

[brooklynite]

37. That won't stop people here alleging a RW "coup" without proof...

[guillaumeb]

40. Very true,

and, given the long US history of interference, that will not stop some from assuming US involvement.

[OldRed2450]

6. Left wing dictators are no better than right wing dictators

Sometimes both the left and the right are bad.

[left-of-center2012]

9. A dictator

Not someone a US candidate should support, in my opinion.

[OldRed2450]

11. That is my opinion as well.

It's disgraceful!

[OldRed2450]

12. The ads write themsleves

Bernie the democratic socialist supporting a totalitarian election fraud dictator.

[boomer_wv]

13. Shows

Sanders is unqualified to lead American foreign policy.

[George II]

17. The Atlantic: "Evo Morales Finally Went Too Far for Bolivia"

The socialist president claimed authoritarian powers in the name of the popular will. But average citizens were fed up with arbitrary rule.

Evo Morales has been attacking Bolivia’s democracy for many years. Since coming to office in 2006, the socialist president has concentrated ever more authority in his own hands, denounced the opposition in aggressive terms, and placed loyalists in key institutions, from the country’s public broadcaster to its highest court.

Like many populists on both the left and the right, Morales claimed to wield power in the name of the people. But after weeks of mass protests in La Paz and other Bolivian cities, and the rapid crumbling of his support both within law enforcement and his own political party, it was his loss of legitimacy among the majority of his own countrymen that forced Morales to resign yesterday.

What he and some of his most credulous Western supporters described as a coup was in fact something very different: proof that Bolivians—like the citizens of many other countries around the world—resent arbitrary rule. The longer they have suffered from oppression, the more they have come to value the democratic institutions that are now threatened by populists around the globe.

As Morales started to come up against the two-term limit for presidents stipulated by the constitution he himself had championed in 2009, his enmity toward any semblance of the rule of law became more and more evident. In 2016, he held a binding referendum that would allow him to stay in office indefinitely. When a majority of Bolivians voted down the proposal, Morales resorted to his tight control of previously independent institutions to get his way. In 2017, the country’s supreme court ruled that limits on the length of his tenure in office would violate Morales’s human rights.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/evo-morales-finally-went-too-far-bolivia/601741/

In other words, he evolved into a dictator.

[sheshe2]

21. Correct me if I am wrong.

Isn't trump trying to do the same thing? Calling for eight more years and does not want to leave office.

Fact is, if the votes were about the will of the people Hillary would be President.

[George II]

22. Just about the same. He stacked the Bolivia Supreme Court who ruled that it was....

...a violation of his "human rights" to impose term limits.

[sheshe2]

23. Thanks.

Tired and slow tonight. Trump is stacking the courts as well. Not at all sure why some think this is a good thing. I don't.

[PatrickforO]

24. Well, I just read up on Morales. Interesting that people are trashing him on here, saying

he stole his last election.

Hmm...I don't know about that, but according to Wiki, Morales is a socialist who nationalized the oil industry, and took steps to nationalize mining, electricity, telephones, and railroads. He implemented a bunch of social reforms that decreased poverty, increased literacy, and he broke free of the IMF during his first term in office.

He did some good things, some questionable things, and the wealthy repeatedly used the old 'divide and conquer' strategy, driving wedges between groups that should have been allied. Same old story.

Not that the guy is a saint, but it is curious to me that every time a Central American or South American leader comes to power and nationalizes industries in an effort to decrease poverty and extreme poverty, they end up quietly being removed from office. Because, you know, nationalizing industries and then implementing things that actually help the people puts PROFITS at risk.

Can't have that!

Think about how many times this has happened before. Regime changes (Allende), dirty wars (Argentina), contras (Nicaragua).

So, while I'm not supporting Bernie this time around, I AM going to weigh in on this particular thread. First, to cast aspersion at Bernie because he shook this guy's hand in a photo, and because he is calling foul on a military coup is a bit much.

As George II says earlier in the thread, it is fair play to bring up the company politicians keep, but it is also fair play to make an attempt at learning the whole story, which is something our corporate owned media is really bad at because they don't want the whole story, generally. Instead, they want ratings. Why? Because shareholder profit is absolutely king of the mountain. It rules over truth. Profit always ends up being more 'important' than people.

I don't think Bernie is doing the wrong thing here, condemning a military coup. When you look even in a cursory fashion, as I just did, into the career of this Morales, you can see that current events are just another thread in the cloth that business interests have woven in the third world for centuries. I believe it is called colonialism.

[guillaumeb]

26. The history of the US and South America is one of the US doing all that it can

to control the Americas. And that includes, as you noted, starting coups or other violence in nearly every country in South and Central America, and the Caribbean countries as well.

And any attempt to establish socialism, or to interfere with the "rights" of US capitalists to maintain their profits, is met with active US resistance.

[OldRed2450]

28. That's your opinion

The people in Bolivia that I am talking to say that's propaganda.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Bolivia%20not%20a%20coup%20&src=typed_query

[guillaumeb]

29. If the choice is random Twitter commentary and actual documented US history going

back to the Monroe Doctrine, forgive me if I stand with actual history instead of an unproven narrative.

Are these Twitter commenters also speaking of Chile, and Guatemala, and Nicaragua, and Cuba, and Haiti, and Costs Rica, and Paraguay, and Mexico, all of the other victims of US colonialists/capitalists?

[OldRed2450]

30. I'm not talking about the past

I'm talking about this ONE situation. There is no evidence of a CIA coup here and the people I am speaking to online and phone say Morales was hated by the people and they wanted him out. He Cheated. tried to make himself a dictator.

[guillaumeb]

33. And I am saying that so far, there is only rumor and speculation. eom

[OldRed2450]

34. That's fair

But Bernie and AOC should have waited to get the facts. It's irresponsible to declare this a coup without evidence.

Link to tweet

[guillaumeb]

39. Given how often the US has supported coups against elected leaders in S. America,

it is understandable that some would assume some US involvement.

[PatrickforO]

47. Oh, please. What specifically is propaganda? The CIA being instrumental in overthrowing

Salvadore Allende and replacing him with Pinochet? That isn't propaganda - that is an actual fact you can look up on your own.

Or Plan Condor, which was authorized in 1975 by the US and created an alliance between right-wing dictators in dictatorships of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay? The purpose of Condor was to preserve US business interests against nationalization by socialists in South and Central America. Is that the propaganda to which you're referring?

Sorry, but our constant meddling in South and Central America is NOT propaganda, but has been documented through the release of thousands of US government documents.

I know you are for Biden, but that doesn't mean you get to dismiss other posts on here as being 'propaganda,' because they are not.

And, having read and studied extensively in history and economics, I can tell you that this current regime change follows that same sorry pattern. Eventually, in my opinion, some sort of US involvement will surface. In fact, after Morales nationalized a number of industries, I can virtually guarantee it. That's how we roll.

[OldRed2450]

48. I'm not disputing that

This situation in Bolivia.. the evidence says otherwise. That is all I am saying. Now, if you have proof of a CIA coup in Bolivia, I'd like to see it.

[OldRed2450]

49. The coup was his own people

He was trying to steal an election as it was.. he already ran for another term which was illegal.


https://apnews.com/6b2c94306089451d9761878c9f7ce2f1

https://www.univision.com/univision-news/latin-america/coup-or-no-coup-bolivias-presidential-crisis





http://catholicphilly.com/2019/11/news/world-news/bolivian-bishops-say-morales-resignation-was-not-a-coup/

[guillaumeb]

54. Speaking of nationalizing industries,

the CIA supported/initiated coup against Mohammad Mossadegh occurred precisely because Mossadegh proposed nationalizing Iranian oil.

Just as the US promoted a coup in Chile because a socialist, Salvador Allende, was elected.

These things are not talking points, they are actual history.

[LongtimeAZDem]

60. It all started with Operation Ajax

[guillaumeb]

62. And the foundation was laid by James Monroe, the initiator of the Monroe Doctrine.

Which provided that basis for US interference in the affairs of other countries.

The problem is that many people learn a history that leaves out so much actual history in favor of a simple narrative of "America the good".

[OldRed2450]

27. He stacked The court with loyalist

ran for a 4th term illegally and cheated to win. The people are the ones who rose up against him to oust him. If you go to twitter and read what the people in Bolivia are saying it might change your mind. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Bolivia%20not%20a%20coup%20&src=typed_query

[MarcA]

57. Agree and it's Very Informative that some here are doing this.

Or at least it should be.

[OldRed2450]

31. Not a coup

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[brooklynite]

32. So has Cuba...

[obnoxiousdrunk]

35. Morales running

for reelection is the equivalent of Obama running for a third term.

[Apple Fritter]

41. exactly.

I disagree with Bernie about Morales.

[brooklynite]

38. Prediction: Bernie Sanders will be the ONLY candidate to comment on Bolivia...

...and nobody but a handful of his base voters will care.

[myohmy2]

42. I'm...

...so proud of Bernie and AOC,

" "The people of Bolivia deserve free, fair, and peaceful elections," said Ocasio-Cortez, "not violent seizures of power."

Sanders' expression of support for Morales was welcomed by supporters.

"By far the biggest difference between Bernie and the rest of the Democratic candidates is how well versed he is in and how much he cares about the type of international left issues that, say, The Nation writes a lot about," said reporter Matthew Zeitlin. "

...they are willing to take a strong stand for truth, justice, fairness and democracy when others are not...

...they stand with the 'people', here, there and around the world...

...imagine Bernie Sanders as President and AOC as his Secretary of State...

...imagine what good they could do for us and the world...

[guillaumeb]

43. And Sanders is aware of the long history of US interference in Central and South America.

I am not saying that such interference did happen here, but it is good to wait for more information.

[OldRed2450]

50. Here's what happened.

https://apnews.com/6b2c94306089451d9761878c9f7ce2f1

[The Valley Below]

44. Evo Morales has shown no respect for "Bolivia's democratic institutions."

Sad to see someone running "as a Democrat" giving cover to a democratic-socialist dictator who was in the process of trying to steal an election.

Disqualifying IMO.

[guillaumeb]

45. Welcome to DU.

If you have links for your various assertions, feel free to add them.

[OldRed2450]

51. Here is some information

http://catholicphilly.com/2019/11/news/world-news/bolivian-bishops-say-morales-resignation-was-not-a-coup/

https://apnews.com/3886ecb25be54066a393c40dec81e384


But political experts say the events hardly resemble a classic coup scenario.

“This is an entirely different thing [from a coup]. It’s an absolutely constitutional transition,” said Eduardo Gamarra, a renowned Bolivian-born political scientist at Florida International University (FIU).

“You have a president accused of a crime. Nobody forced him to resign. It was the violence of his own people that was the final straw that really turned the tide of public opinion against him,” he told Univision Noticias.

Gamarra pointed to an OAS report by a team of auditors that found wide-scale data manipulation the Oct 20 election in which Morales was seeking a fourth term. After the streets turned violent, the police turned against Morales and the military eventually withdrew their support as well.

In a typical coup, the military usually take a more proactive role, taking up arms against the sitting ruler and installing one of their own in the presidential palace, at least temporarily. Bolivia saw a notorious succession of such power grabs in the 1980s.


https://www.univision.com/univision-news/latin-america/coup-or-no-coup-bolivias-presidential-crisis

[Otto Lidenbrock]

46. Speaking of foreign elections

I wonder if this time next month our friends in the United Kingdom elect Corbyn whether that will put a spring in Bernie's campaign. In the sense if a socialist puts a halt to the right-wing power grab over there it could translate here...or maybe I'm reaching

[aidbo]

52. Lol you got a bunch of new accounts to chime in didn't you?

Kinda like suddenly a bunch of people from Virginia are very interested in tweeting that there’s no coup in Bolivia.

[guillaumeb]

53. I did find that to be interesting.

It is good to see new members.

[MarcA]

58. Exactly. n/t

[PhoenixDem]

63. It was not a coup. It was a popular uprising. n/t

[guillaumeb]

64. That was what they said in Iran in 1953.

However.....

[PhoenixDem]

65. Morales violated the constitution and rigged the election

OAS confirmed it.

Not the same as Iran in 1953.

[dware]

66. +100.

I don't understand why this would be compared to Iran of '53, that was a CIA inspired coup, whereas, this is Morales violating the Constitution and there is no evidence of US involvement.

Yes, the US has done some bad things in Central America and Latin America in the past, but sometimes, like Bolivia, it's a true people's uprising against a dictator.