Statement of Solidarity with the People of Bolivia

Red Star San Francisco stands unequivocally in support of reinstating Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was ousted by a right-wing coup on November 10, 2019, and we stand in support of the Indigenous and working-class Bolivian people who now face reprisals in its wake. Under the Morales administration, Bolivia has made massive strides towards building a more just and democratic society for all its people. We condemn this seizure of power by reactionary forces, the latest in a long and bloody history of US imperialism in Latin America.

Since Morales’ election in 2005, poverty and illiteracy in Bolivia have fallen precipitously, particularly among Indigenous communities, while access to clean water has skyrocketed. The Bolivian economy has grown at a rate nearly double that of other Latin American countries, and the administration has succeeded in nationalizing key industries such as oil, natural gas, telecommunications, and electrical production and distribution. These economic and material resources have been put to work for the benefit of the Bolivian people in the form of billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure and social programs, allowing the country to free itself from the yoke of neoliberal financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), and World Bank.

Unsurprisingly, global capital could not abide this radical transformation of Bolivian society that benefited the people at the expense of exploitative private industry. Given that this coup was precipitated by the Organization of American States (OAS), often a thinly-veiled instrument of US foreign policy in Latin America, it is clear to us that it was neither a spontaneous nor popular undertaking. In fact, it came less than a week after Morales revoked the lithium mining rights of a major German corporation, which will likely be given free rein to pillage the country’s natural resources under the new right-wing government. We fear that violent reprisals against Bolivian leftists and Indigenous people will soon follow, as evidenced by the countless examples of brutal, repressive dictatorships arising from US-backed coups in the region throughout the last century.

We ask that our fellow socialists join us in denouncing this coup and standing in solidarity with the Bolivian people, who now face a confrontation with forces that seek to destroy everything they have built over the last 15 years. We must fight to dismantle the system of imperialist exploitation that allows global capital to trample the working people of the world, using the military and intelligence agencies of the United States and NATO to terrorize them into submission. We believe that the Bolivian people will rise to this challenge as they have time and again, and we pledge to do everything in our power to support their struggle, and the struggle for proletarian revolution worldwide.