2019 Bolivian political crisis

LMFS wrote:Bolivian police say they found Jeanine Añez hiding *in a box* after hours searching the city of Trinidad, Beni.

When she was not at her home, many feared that she had fled to Brazil. However, she was still in her city, she had failed to leave in time



https://twitter.com/KawsachunNews/status/1370729668349939713

What is she? The Latin equivalent of Yulia Tymoshenko?! Throw in a dash of Saddam Hussein for hiding in that hole!

magnumcromagnon wrote:What is she? The Latin equivalent of Yulia Tymoshenko?! Throw in a dash of Saddam Hussein for hiding in that hole!

She is a demented PoS and I am having a field day

Bolivian government is looking to a 30 year jail condemnation against ex-president Jeanine Áñez.

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20210315/la-justicia-de-bolivia-busca-condena-de-30-anos-de-carcel-contra-expresidenta-anez-1109965256.html

kvs wrote:It's only fair since anti-fraud protestors on Capitol Hill are facing 20 year jail terms for bogus "insurrection" accusations whereas this
she-clown actually engaged in a real insurrection against a duly elected and actually democratic government.

And relieved the repression forces of responsibility for crimes committed against the population. She should be thankful that the ones judging her are not bloodthirsty scum of her ilk, she would be hanging from a tree by now...

Accused of four times slaughter former scammer Bolivian president could be condemned to 30 years in jail:

https://www.brasil247.com/mundo/acusada-de-quatro-massacres-ex-presidente-golpista-da-bolivia-pode-ser-condenada-a-30-anos-de-prisao?amp

As usual, America wouldn't give up so easily, so another color revolution is in the works

Not related to Venezuela, but...

https://www.rt.com/news/526856-bolivia-second-coup-plot/

Tapes leaked to media reveal Bolivian coup government was plotting to overturn 2020 election loss with help from US mercenaries

Top cabinet officials in the caretaker government of Jeanine Anez plotted a second coup to stay in power in Bolivia, according to leaked documents. The plan allegedly involved hundreds of US mercenaries flown in from Florida.

This is an article that I found that explains the situation in Bolivia and other Latin countries.  

https://beyondhighbrow.com/2021/06/15/the-macroeconomics-of-economic-populism-in-latin-america-by-rudiger-dornbush-and-sebastian-edwards/

According to Bolivian official authorities former Argentinian president Mauricio Macri gave support and sent lethal armament to ex-coup government. This news has created a scandal upheaval in the region.

https://www.elclarin.cl/2021/07/09/macri-apoyo-y-entrego-material-belico-a-los-golpistas-en-bolivia/

Bolivian Police confirm that Argentina received irregular weapons in 2019. 14.07.2021

LA PAZ (Sputnik) - The general commander of the Bolivian Police, Jhonny Aguilera, confirmed that that institution received irregularly materiel sent by Argentina in November 2019, which were found without supporting documentation in their warehouses.

"To clarify the issue, these elements do exist in the police depots without documentary character (...), in material character are those accoutrements, but there is no single "To clarify the issue, these elements do exist in the police depots without documentary character (...), in material character are those accoutrements, but there is no single supporting document," Aguilera said at a press conference".

The materials would have been sent by the [Argentinian] Administration of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) in supposed support for the self-proclamation of the transitional government of Jeanine Áñez, as denounced by the Executive of Luis Arce.

Investigation

Aguilera said he ordered an immediate investigation into the reception of this material, transported from Argentina to the airport of El Alto, which serves La Paz, between November 12 and 13, 2019, in the midst of the Bolivian political crisis.

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20210714/la-policia-de-bolivia-confirma-que-recibio-armamento-argentino-de-forma-irregular-en-2019-1114097137.html

Bolivian Foreign Minister: there was an international articulation at the highest level against Evo Morales, 14.07.2021.

MONTEVIDEO (Sputnik) - Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta, in an exclusive interview with Sputnik, considered that there was an international articulation at the "highest level" to destabilize the government of Evo Morales (2006-2019).

"There was a joint articulation at the highest level, because the shipment of materiel is not defined by a subaltern in any office of state, it is defined at the highest level, including at the presidential level, that's why we pointed out that it is the Government of [Mauricio] Macri [2015-2019, Argentina] or [Lenin] Moreno [2017-2021, Ecuador] which provided such support," said Mayta to Sputnik.

Bolivia denounced on July 8 that the Macri and Moreno governments had supported the coup against Morales with ammunition.

"The question of who was the articulator of everything is very clear, because it has to be an entity or people with great power due to the fact that this material has arrived in Bolivia, that [the Secretary general of the Organization of American States OAS, Luis] Almagro acted in a certain way, shows us that there was an articulation at the highest level," he added.

The foreign minister considered that it could not be ruled out that other Latin American countries have been involved in these arms shipments.

"These elements are raised on the table and the investigative processes, which are likely to settle over time, are those that will allow the truth to be known and if there was greater participation," said Mayta.

In addition, Mayta stated that Bolivian justice could bring charges against Macri and Moreno.

"It's a possibility. That's just beginning. Based on the note that was revealed last week, which is now known to the Bolivian prosecutor's office, they have the power to follow the investigative process and can open different lines of investigation. If they consider it pertinent, they can call these people and they could even file charges," the foreign minister told Sputnik when he was asked if Bolivia could file charges against the former presidents for sending war materiel to support the coup d'état of Jeanine Añez, in November 2019.

Bolivia does not rule out recourse to international bodies for the shipment made by Argentina and Ecuador, Rogelio Mayta said.

"It can never be ruled out, but for the moment the authorities of the Prosecutor's Office have not indicated anything about it," the chancellor said when he was consulted if he could appeal to international bodies.

However, Mayta said that for the moment the Bolivian government will resort to national bodies, since investigations are progressing both in her country and in Argentina.

On July 12, Patricia Bullrich, who was Argentina's Minister of Security during Mauricio Macri's government, said that the armamanto sent to Bolivia in 2019 was to reinforce the equipment of an elite group of Gendarmerie, called Alacrán, responsible for protecting the country's Embassy.

Mayta said the former minister's statement could be a " half truth."

"That Argentine special operations group that arrived in Bolivia could have stayed at the embassy or could have carried out operations. But this group also brought elements that were not appropriate for the occasion ( ... ) It is half true. Did that group come? Wine. But he brought another set of things that would have been handed over to the Executive Branch of Áñez to consolidate his government, which went through exercising State terrorism with violent repression of social protest, with illegal detentions, torture and political persecution," said the Bolivian foreign minister.

Argentina's military cooperation with Bolivia during the events of 2019 came to light when a letter from the then commander of the Bolivian Air Force, General Jorge Terceros, was released to the Argentine ambassador Normando Álvarez, thanking him for the materials sent from Buenos Aires.

Terceros is detained as one of the accused of the coup, along with former president Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020).

The Argentine armament sent consisted of 40,000 rounds of AT 12/70 rubber bullets (antitumulus), 18 MK-9 tear gas sprays, five MK-4 tear gas sprays, 50 CN gas grenades, 19 CS gas grenades and 52 HC gas grenades.
Quito reportedly lent La Paz, in November 2019, at least 5,500 tear gas grenades and almost 3,000 various projectiles, including munitions of war, in support of Áñez.

Meeting with Putin

The Bolivian foreign minister also indicated that Bolivia is working on an "intense agenda" so that the meeting between presidents Luis Arce and his Russian partner Vladimir Putin takes place in the medium term.

"We do not doubt that this meeting will be possible in the medium term, we are working intensely on an agenda that allows this meeting to be highly productive," said Mayta.

In October 2020, a few days after his victory in the general election in Bolivia, Arce told Sputnik that he intends to meet with the president of Russia as soon as possible.
He also assured that he will restore relations with Russia after the deterioration that occurred during the de facto government of Jeanine Añez (2019-2020).

El Alto Nuclear Centre

Rogelio Mayta also said that the El Alto nuclear center is expected to start operating shortly.
"We hope that in a few more months that center can become operational. The support of Russian technicians and scientists is important for this," said Mayta.
The chancellor recalled that there was a "constant" work of Russian specialists for the process of implementation of the nuclear centre.

"It has had a significant advance, but the year of the coup carried out by Jeanine Áñez has involved significant delays, so the schedule that was initially agreed, has had delays, but it continues to move forward in a constant and safe way," he added.

In January of this year, the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, announced the reactivation of the project of a center for research and development of nuclear technology contracted with the Russian corporation Rosatom.
The $ 300 million project in the city of El Alto will give rise to the highest peaceful nuclear research center in the world, just over 4,000 meters above sea level, according to Rosatom.

The work was stalled from the first quarter of 2020, despite an announcement by the Government of Áñez and the same Russian corporation that the deadline of 2023 for its commissioning was maintained.

Crisis in Cuba

The Bolivian minister pointed out that the US blockade destabilizes Cuba and does not allow access to food, fuel and medicine.
"We believe that the important thing is that each country must be able to solve its problem. The most absolutely clear interference in the crisis that Cuba is experiencing is the blockade that it suffers, which persists by the work and grace of the United States, in which at this moment it has put the Cuban people in a complicated situation, " said Mayta.

The chancellor said that in order for a people to define their destiny, without external interference, the blockades must be suspended.

"I think it is important, in all scenarios, to suspend all these unilateral, arbitrary measures that affect peoples such as the Cuban or Venezuelan, that produce a lack of medicine, food, fuel and that obviously contribute to the destabilization of governments," he added.

On July 11, a popular demonstration broke out in Cuba in the western municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, triggered by the economic crisis and the increase in cases of COVID-19, which was later replicated in other localities of the country.
Without a defined program or leadership, protesters reiterate slogans of "freedom" and demand changes in the country, amid calls for humanitarian intervention with the alleged aim of addressing the ravages of the pandemic.

There were riots and acts of vandalism that led to a series of arrests in the country, and at least one person died in unspecified circumstances in a clash with the police in Havana.
Díaz-Canel admitted that there are reasons for social unrest, but he blamed them mainly on the economic, financial and commercial blockade that the United States has maintained against Cuba for more than six decades.

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20210714/canciller-boliviano-hubo-una-articulacion-internacional-contra-el-gobierno-de-morales-1114102433.html

The following post by Brazilian journalist Moisés Mendes is related to the current status of military top brass involvement in Brazil, but provides an accurate picture of the November 10, 2019 military coup in Bolivia against then democratically elected President Evo Morales:

The denunciation of the coup general of Bolivia who chickened, by Moisés Mendes for Jornalistas pela Democracia. 15.07.2021.

The sensation in the Bolivian press and social networks at the moment is the washing of dirty uniforms of the military who applied the coup on Evo Morales in November 2019. If we pay attention to what happens there, we can predict what can happen here, if Bolsonaro's bluff is carried forward.

Let us remember before that the former heads of the three weapons are imprisoned in La paz. General Jorge Mendieta, former army commander, was imprisoned in March.

Also general Jorge Gonzalo Terceros Lara, former commander of the Air Force, and vice Admiral Palmiro Gonzalo Jarjuri Rada, of the Navy, were arrested now, in early July.

The three fell because, after the victory of the beaten in last year's election, they underestimated the prosecutor's office and Justice and did not run away. The only uniformed man who escaped (and may be in Brazil) is former Armed Forces Chief Williams Kaliman.

The outlawed general is now the target of the testimonies and messages of those who are imprisoned. What they say is deduration against ex-partners and works like a denunciation, even if it has not been formalized.

Jorge Santistevan, lawyer of Mendieta and Terceros, has said that the two had no participation in the drafting of the manifesto of the military chiefs of November 10.

The document, read by Kaliman in video later broadcast by Twitter, suggested that Morales should resign. In addition to generals Mendieta and Terceros, Admiral Flavio Arce San Martin, former chief of Staff, says the same thing.

All appear, uniformed and in military pose, in the famous scene of reading the document. In the testimony that he gave as investigated by riot and the coup, Tercero said, regarding the staging: "I only posed for the photo”.

The general assures that the note was drafted by Kaliman's communication team. The chief of all of them called the commanders to his room, that November 10, and announced that he would read the manifesto suggesting Morales to resign. One detail: it would be a suggestion.

The newspaper Pagina Siete told everything in detail, from the complaints of the whistleblowers. What they say is that the five subordinate participants of the scene, who are around Kaliman, did not give any guesses in the wording of the statement.

Terceros and Arce assure that the note read by Kaliman would have been a trick, for two reasons. Since the pressure for the coup had been from the police, and not from the military, who were led to support the riot, it was necessary to draw a position.

With the communiqué being drafted shortly before Evo Morales announced that he would leave the government, the Armed Forces were trying to say that they were protagonists of the coup.

The second reason is derived from the first. The two whistleblowers say Kaliman knew Morales would resign. The note would have the goal of hitchhiking in what they already knew would happen.

It is possible to learn a lot from the Bolivian coup. First, it is necessary to pay attention to notes that try to convey consensus, as happened recently in Brazil with the statement in which the Minister of Defense, Braga Netto, and the commanders of the three weapons frame the president of the ICC of the Brazilian COVID-19 Genocide, Omar Aziz.

It is also educational to pay attention to the traumas provoked by a failure, when all the coup leaders (with the exception of one, outlaw) are in jail along with their civilian accomplices.

Jorge Gonzalo Terceros Lara does not assume his protagonism and denounces Kaliman, but it is known that he was the most furious of all the commanders maneuvered by the civilians of the far right and the riot police.

Terceros is accused of trying to retain at the airport, without the support of the other commanders, the plane that would take Evo Morales into exile in Mexico.

It was also Terceros who negotiated foreign aid to the coup with Argentina and, possibly, according to suspicions brought to the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia, with Brazil and Chile. For Terceros now proves to be the most cowardly of all the coup military.

If they put all of them in the same room today, as they did on November 10, 2019, we would have a battle between useless ones who, if they put all of them in the same room today, as they did on November 10, 2019, we would have a battle between useless ones who do not even know how to organise a coup.

Portuguese - English Yandex Translate used.

https://www.brasil247.com/blog/a-delacao-do-general-golpista-da-bolivia-que-se-acovardou?amp

In colonies or banana republics suffered under the domination of Western imperialists, the compradors naturally is amongst the richest class of the local population. There are well-to-do patriots but these are rare exceptions and in general they suffered under the imperialist domination, too. Foreign imperialists of course never allow the patriots or anti-imperialist to gain power and wealth because that will threaten their rule over the colonies. Moreover, it is clearly that many of the national resources and production facilities are under the ownership and control of foreign capitalist for that very reason.

Nationalization and agrarian reform is a must to dislodge the imperialists and the compradors, and restore the country back to the hands of its legitimate owners.

Argentine prosecutor requests opening of Investigation against Macri for sending weapons to Bolivia, 16.07.2021

Argentina's government accuses former President Mauricio Macri, who commanded the country between 2015 and 2019, of aggravated smuggling of weapons to supply war material to Bolivia in the coup d'état in November 2019.

https://br.sputniknews.com/americas/2021071617787694-procurador-argentino-solicita-abertura-de-investigao-contra-macri-por-envio-de-armas-para-bolvia/

Bolivia shows part of the armament sent from Argentina in 2019, 19.07.2021.

LA PAZ (Sputnik) - The Government of Bolivia showed part of the war and riot equipment sent from Argentina that, it denounced, entered irregularly during the political crisis of November 2019.

"What happened in national territory is classified under our national legal system and is called 'illicit arms trafficking,' " Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said at a press conference, announcing progress in investigations and the opening of legal proceedings.

The weapons and ammunition of military type and anti-riot equipment of police use arrived in Bolivia in the same plane in two different batches, one authorized and the other clandestine, when the transitional government of Jeanine Áñez was installed, after the overthrow of Evo Morales.

"On the C-130 [plane] came armament and Argentine personnel authorized by the Bolivian people and complying with the mechanisms; however, other ammunition, other grenades, projectiles arrived, which were not requested by either the government or the corresponding authorities on duty," said Del Castillo.

Collusion

Del Castillo reiterated President Luis Arce's denunciation, made last week, that the 2019 coup was an international conspiracy, of which he cited military and police provisions sent by Argentina and Ecuador, and the support of the US Government.

The official said that in July 2019 the assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Kevin O'Reilly, met in Bolivia with members of the embassies of Peru, Argentina and Brazil, and delegates from the Organization of American States and the European Union.

"This man [O'Reilly] began to hint at the possibility of fraud in Bolivia without proof; we are talking about July 2019, much earlier he would be anticipating the facts and marking the road map in Bolivia regarding the elections that would take place in October 2019," he said.

The alleged plot of arms trafficking was exposed at the end of June, when the Bolivian government revealed a letter from General Jorge Terceros, commander of the Bolivian Air Force during the coup, thanking the then Argentine ambassador, Normando Álvarez, for the provision of riot control materials.

The current argentine Government of Alberto Fernández has opened legal proceedings against exautoridades of that country, including the former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), while in Bolivia the Prosecutor's office has also announced the start of a process against those involved in the country.

Among these, according to Del Castillo, would be Terceros, ex-commanders of the Air Force, Yury Calderón of the Police, and former ambassador Álvarez.

Yandex Translate

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20210719/bolivia-presenta-parte-del-material-belico-enviado-por-argentina-en-2019-1114231852.html

Rosatom is interested in lithium mining in Bolivia, 27.07.2021.

The state corporation "Rosatom" is interested in the extraction of lithium in Bolivia, said the first deputy general director Kirill Komarov.

“Yes, we have such an interest,” RIA Novosti quoted Komarov as saying .

According to him, the state corporation possesses unique technologies that allow the environmentally safe extraction of lithium from salt brines.

He noted that the company is participating in the tender.

On July 11, 2019, Bolivian President Evo Morales, during a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, announced his interest in cooperation with Russia in the nuclear industry.

https://russian.rt.com/business/news/889392-litii-rosatom-boliviya

Arce makes tough statement against coup plotters in Bolivia and promises to go til the end to punish them, 06.08.2021.

President of Bolivia, Luis Arce (MAS), said on Friday, 6, that the 2019 coup plotters, who overthrew the elected government of Evo Morales (MAS), need to be sanctioned and that he will not rest until he reaches his goal. According to him, “international accomplices”must also be punished.

As billionaire businessman Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, admitted, the Americans promoted the coup d'état against the government. One of Tesla's interests, for example, was to denationalize Bolivian lithium. After the coup, the right-wing government signaled opening the doors of lithium exploration for Tesla.

More than 50% of global lithium deposits are in the ‘lithium triangle’ - with sources of the material concentrated in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Bolivia's mountainous deserts – the Salar de Uyuni-have by far the largest known reserves.

International participation in the coup

According to Arce, there was a conspiracy of right-wing governments against Morales, such as those of Lenín Moreno of Ecuador (2017-2021) and Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) of Argentina, who sent weapons to the scammers.
In addition, it considers that the European Union (EU) Delegation in La Paz, the Catholic Church and former right-wing Presidents Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) and Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002) were part of the conspiracy.

Punishment for coup plotters

"We will not rest, within the framework of our powers, of demanding the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of the coup," said Arce.

All those who promoted the overthrow of Morales "must answer to justice for the illegal, illegitimate and violent acts they perpetrated against the people, democracy and the political constitution of the state".

Head of the coup plotters' government that took power after Evo, Jeanine Áñez has been arrested since March and is being investigated as part of a criminal case, as well as several of her ministers and former military and police chiefs. The security forces took an active part in the coup against the MAS government.

Clashes in the streets and in Parliament

Arce's statements took place in session to commemorate the founding of Bolivia, which took place on August 6, 1825. On Thursday 5, a day earlier, left and right mobilizations took place and Pro-and anti-government protesters clashed with violence.

The coup right, which organized lynchings of left-wing politicians and the repression of workers who took to the streets against the coup in 2019, rose up in Parliament on Friday during Arce's report, claiming that the current president is promoting violence.

Arce denounces coup plotters

Arce made it clear that those behind the coup government " only hoped to leave after leaving the country without resources, without health, without education, without cultural institutions, without government, in uncertainty, without human rights or freedom of expression, as in all dictatorships in our history”.

“They always want to violently impose what they cannot democratically achieve at the polls, " he said, saying that the coup was prepared several months earlier, when opposition leaders made appeals to ignore the election results and threatened civil disobedience.

“The right has broken our constitutional order with the sole purpose of assaulting the state,” he argued. "Memory, truth and justice, this is the mandate of the people we received in October last year,” he added, referring to this issue and the victory of the MAS in the 2020 elections, in which he was elected.

Popular mobilization defeated the coup

“This historic election would not have been possible without the blockade of national roads and the general strike declared by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and the unity pact in August of the same year,” the president of Bolivia said on social networks.

"Without the struggle, resistance and mobilization, democracy would not have recovered and the de facto [coup] government would have continued in the desire to extend itself to power, using the pandemic as a pretext to continue violating rights,” he claimed, recalling that the pandemic was used by the right to postpone elections in the country, threatening not to hold the contest in 2020.

Source: Agence France Press and Telesur.

Yandex Translate from Portuguese

https://www.brasil247.com/mundo/arce-faz-declaracao-dura-contra-golpistas-na-bolivia-e-promete-ir-ate-o-fim-para-puni-los?amp

Bolivian prosecutor accuses Jeanine Áñez of" genocide " before the Supreme Court, from Chilean outlet El Clarín. 21.08.2021.

The Attorney General's Office of Bolivia announced yesterday that it submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice an accusatory injunction for genocide and other crimes against Jeanine Áñez, former de facto president, for the death of twenty opposition demonstrators in 2019 after the resignation of then-President Evo Morales.

The attorney general, Juan Lanchipa, reported that the crime of genocide is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison, according to the Bolivian Penal Code.

Añez proclaimed herself interim president on November 12, 2019, two days after Morales resigned from office after weeks of protests following her re-election to a fourth term. After the elections, some 37 people died in clashes between Morales ' supporters and opponents, as well as between protesters and security forces.

The accusation against Áñez originates in the complaint of relatives of the victims of the repression on November 15, 2019 in the town of Sacaba, near the central city of Cochabamba, and on November 19 at the Senkata gas plant in the city of El Alto, the prosecutor detailed.

In a report presented this week, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights totaled 22 deaths in what it called massacres. Lanchipa counted 20 deaths in Sacaba and Senkata. These acts were provisionally qualified as genocide, serious and minor injuries and injury followed by death, the prosecutor said.

Añez left power in November after the election of Luis Arce, and in March she was arrested. Several of his ministers and former heads of military and police are accused by the current government have given a coup against Morales in 2019, with the support of the catholic Church, the European Union, political bolivian right-wing and centre, as well as the governments of Argentina Mauricio Macri and of Equador Lenin Moreno.

For a trial to be held against the former president, in preventive detention since March, the highest court must ask Congress for approval, which is only possible with two thirds of its members present, and although it is controlled by the ruling Movement To Socialism (MAS) of Arce, it does not have a sufficient majority.

The opposition, which has denounced the lack of independence of powers, called for preventing a trial against Áñez from being a political instrument.

There are two other trials under way against Áñez, albeit by criminal and ordinary means: one for the alleged crimes of sedition, terrorism and conspiracy and the other for breach of duties.

Source: Associate France Press.

Yandex Translate from Spanish

https://www.elclarin.cl/2021/08/21/la-fiscalia-de-bolivia-acusa-a-jeanine-anez-de-genocidio-ante-el-tribunal-supremo/

Former Bolivian president Áñez recovers after suicide attempt, 22.08.2021.

LA PAZ (Spluntik) - Former Bolivian president Jeanine Añez was recovering after a failed suicide attempt in prison, one of her sons reported.

"Now she is a little calmer, she is already in a better mood, because I have been able to accompany her and verify that she is well, that she is treated, taking her medications," José Ribera, the youngest son of the former president, told reporters.

Ribera made the statement the following day that Áñez committed what her relatives undoubtedly defined as a suicide attempt and that the government described as a "self-injury" after which she received medical attention in the La Paz prison, where she awaits trial for the coup that brought her to power in 2019.

Yandex Translate from Spanish

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20210822/expresidenta-boliviana-anez-se-recupera-tras-intento-de-suicidio-1115306432.html