US Media Lie About Bolivia's Movement Toward Socialism--Before, During and After Election [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

OCTOBER 30, 2020
GREGORY SHUPAK



When Bolivia’s democratically elected President Evo Morales, representing the party known as the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), was overthrown in a coup last fall, corporate media earned an assist. As FAIR demonstrated, they refused to call the coup a coup (FAIR.org, 11/11/19); praised the country’s new far-right, self-appointed president Jeanine Áñez (11/15/19); and glossed over the coup government’s massacres (12/13/19).

Prior to the October 18, 2020, election, in which a wide majority of voters chose MAS candidate Luis Arce, corporate media coverage of Bolivia bolstered the image of the country’s US-backed right wing. At the same time, US media denigrated the left-wing MAS and obscured US meddling in the country. Following the election, similar tendencies have prevailed in corporate media (FAIR.org, 10/23/20).

When Jeanine Áñez, Bolivia’s unelected president, announced that she was withdrawing from this month’s election so as to try to unite the country’s right and center against Arce, the New York Times (9/17/20) wrote that she had “a stormy year in power during which divisions in her polarized nation grew only deeper.” This phrasing conceals the white supremacist terror that the Áñez government carried out after seizing power in November 2019. That month, as a report from Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) documented, the coup government killed 23 Bolivian civilians and injured more than 230, with “credible evidence” showing that “military and police used racist and anti-Indigenous language during violent encounters with civilians.”

The IHRC reported:

On Friday, November 15, Bolivian security forces opened fire on demonstrators on the main road that passes through Sacaba, a town outside Cochabamba. At least 11 civilians were killed and 120 were injured. All were Indigenous. Many witnesses stated that the casualty rate was substantially higher because victims were frightened to register their injuries with the government. According to Bolivian officials, no state forces were killed or injured.

More:
https://fair.org/home/us-media-lie-about-bolivias-movement-toward-socialism-before-during-and-after-election/