Sudanese Masses Pressure Military Regime to Relinquish Power

Source: borkena.com

December 29 2021

Sudan People demonstrate for democratic rule. December 25,2021 ( Photo : AA)

Since the October 25 coup by the military in the oil-rich state of Sudan, the democratic movement has held protests almost on a daily basis.

Interim Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, a technocrat with extensive ties to international finance capital, was overthrown during the late October putsch only to be reinstalled in a secret agreement with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan which excluded the main opposition parties and mass formations which have guided the revolutionary movement since December of 2018.

Over the last three years, former longtime President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was overthrown in an April 2019 coup led by the TMC which was designed to thwart a people’s takeover which would have inevitably involved a vanguard role for the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC). The FFC grew out of an alliance with the Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, along with dozens of other opposition forces from various political spectrums including the Communist Party (SCP). 

However, the massacre of demonstrators during June 2019 prompted a more engaged intervention by the African Union (AU) based in neighboring Ethiopia, where Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought to mediate the conflict. In several months the Sovereign Council was created ostensibly designed as a transitional body that within three years would result in a multi-party election creating a parliament and presidency through direct selection by the electorate.

However, the entire process has been derailed largely at the aegis of imperialist forces seeking to dominate the current and future situation inside the country. Under the previous administration of President Donald J. Trump, Prime Minister Hamdok was compelled to acknowledge the so-called “Abraham Accord” which is designed to expand the diplomatic recognition of the state of Israel in Africa and West Asia while undermining international solidarity with the Palestinian people. This measure has not been fully implemented diplomatically although there are reports of at least two exchanges of delegations between Khartoum and Tel Aviv.

These maneuvers by Washington and its allies have not pacified the FFC and other popular forces who have remained in the streets. Even the armed opposition groupings from the Darfur region of Sudan and the border areas of the now partitioned Republic of South Sudan, who signed on to the November 21 post-coup arrangements, are still within a highly precarious situation in their relationship with the military leadership. 

The latest round of demonstrations could only be suppressed by the deployment of the police, paramilitary units and the army. At a December 24 public rally called by the FFC, unnamed individuals set off teargas in the crowd in the effort to disrupt the meeting.

December 25 was marked by renewed mass demonstrations demanding the immediate resignation of Hamdok and the military from the reigns of state power. Actions were held in the three major cities surrounding the capital of Khartoum, Khartoum North and the twin-city of Omdurman. Additional protests extended to the east of the country around Port Sudan where organizations have put forward their own unique set of demands for the military regime.

Sudan Tribune reported on the level of repression carried out by the security forces saying: “The Sudanese government closed main streets leading to the Republican Place in Khartoum, shut down internet services, and deployed troops on the bridges linking the three towns of the capital Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman. Five days after the last protests of December 19, the demonstrators again made their target the presidential palace which is the premises of the military-dominated Sovereign Council. In spite of the massive deployment of joint security forces including the police, the army and the Rapid Support Forces, the protesters marched towards the Palace chanting slogans to denounce the coup d’etat of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.” (https://sudantribune.com/article253411/)

What has been notable in the demonstrations for democratic transformation since 2018 is the high level of participation of women in the revolutionary movement. Many have moved to the front of the actions challenging the discrimination and marginalization prevalent in Sudanese society. These women have been met with harsh repression where sexual assault has been utilized has a means to driving women off the streets. These attempts to suppress women through brutal attacks have not worked and instead has prompted manifestations by women exposing the crimes being committed by the military and the entire security apparatus.

The same above-mentioned report by Sudan Tribune emphasizes: “[W]omen participated in Saturday’s (Dec. 25) protest to show they were not intimated by the sexual violence and rape by the security forces on 19 December. The police used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the protests in the streets near the Republican Palace. Nonetheless, they failed to stop the demonstrators. The security authorities in Khartoum on Friday (Dec. 24) announced the closure of the bridges and streets leading to the sovereign and strategic sites…. ‘The people are stronger, and it is impossible to go back,’ they also chanted to voice their determination to continue the protests that started immediately after the first hours of the coup on October 25.”

Sudan and Regional Stability in the Horn of Africa

Meanwhile in neighboring Ethiopia, the U.S. is attempting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The State Department and corporate media outlets based in the West have sought to create an atmosphere where the administration in Addis Ababa is considered brutal and illegitimate. 

In line with this approach by Washington, the Sudanese military junta has sided with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels fighting the elected government in Addis Ababa and other centers of authority throughout the Horn of Africa state. With the TPLF rebels in retreat, returning to their bases in the Tigray province by clearing out areas within the Afar and Amhara regions of the country, the Sudanese military regime is being placed in an even more unstable position. 

Funding from the U.S., the Gulf Monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates along with Tel Aviv is contingent upon Gen. al-Burhan’s compliance with the imperatives of western imperialism. The mass democratic movement in Sudan, if it is to seize power, will inevitably be forced to shift the overall foreign policy of the country. Absent of fundamental changes in domestic and foreign policies, the nation of Sudan will remain subject to the manipulation by the capitalist centers of the West and their surrogates throughout Africa and West Asia.

During mid-to-late December, numerous news articles have appeared suggesting that the reinstalled interim Prime Minister Hamdok is threatening to resign from his tenuous post as head of the second iteration of the Sovereign Council. If Hamdok leaves, which the U.S., UN and the Gulf Monarchies do not want to happen, the military will be weakened even further politically. The lack of a political underpinning for the TMC is causing the armed forces to utilize heightened levels of repression against the democratic movement.

Sudan and the International Situation

With the ascendancy of the current U.S. President Joe Biden in January 2021, the foreign policy of the State Department and the Pentagon has not shifted in its substance towards the African continent. The Trump administration sought to prop up the military regime in Sudan and the same approach continues under Biden.

As Trump was hostile towards the present government in Ethiopia, so is the Biden administration. The U.S. fears a genuinely revolutionary democratic Africa where the foreign policy of the post-independence states is based upon the interests of the majority of workers, farmers, youth and other popular strata within these developing countries. 

After two decades of direct occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. was forced to leave in humiliating defeat during August 2021. The military adventures in the West Asian and African states of Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen are facing a similar fate as to the outcome of Afghanistan in Central Asia. Trillions in U.S. currency has been spent on these occupations and proxy wars while the national infrastructure of the urban, suburban and rural areas is in rapid decline.

Of course, the failure of imperialist war is paid for by the workers and oppressed in the U.S. struggling against rising impoverishment, racist bigotry, national oppression, gender discrimination, environmental degradation, among other social ills. Consequently, the antiwar and anti-imperialist struggle is essential in the efforts to overturn capitalist exploitation and national oppression.   

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Chile: The double standard in human rights and the ‘nice’ left

Source: aporrea.org

December 21 2021

Amid the joy of many Chileans who celebrate Boric’s victory against the neo-fascist Kast, and as a memorable response to some who, exaggerating a lot about the president-elect, come to compare him with Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda or with Other icons of the world left, throughout yesterday, some of the statements made by deputy Gabriel Boric circulated on the networks some time ago.

There was also a response written by Allende’s grandson, “Pablo Sepúlveda Allende”:

Pablo Sepúlveda Allende

Dr. Pablo Allende, grandson of former President of Chile Salvador Allende

Deputy, I dare to answer you because I see the danger that it means that important leaders like you, young referents of that “new left” that has emerged in the Frente Amplio, make simplistic, absurd and misinformed comparisons on issues as delicate as human rights .

It is very biased and rude that you equate – without the slightest argument – the supposed “weakening of the basic conditions of democracy in Venezuela”, the “permanent restriction of freedoms in Cuba” and “the repression of the Ortega government in Nicaragua” with the proven atrocities of the military dictatorship in Chile, the evident criminal interventionism of the United States around the world and the terrorism of the State of Israel against the People of Palestine.

The fact that you write such nonsense does not “mean to become a pseudo CIA agent” but it does denote an important irresponsibility and political immaturity that can transform you into a useful element for the right, or worse, end up being that “left” than the right craving; a dumb, ambiguous left, a harmless left that prefers to appear “politically correct” because of opportunism, that left that is “neither chicha nor lemonade”, that one that does not want to look bad with anyone.

Such a left is confusing, because it does not dare to point out and courageously confront the true enemies of the peoples. There is the danger of issuing politically immature opinions. Have you ever wondered why Venezuela is being so vilified and attacked in the media? Why is it news every day in practically every country in the Western world where the mass media dominate? Why is it attacked from all sides and in a gang? Why do those big newscasts keep quiet about the continuous massacres in Colombia and Mexico? Why don’t those who tear their clothes worrying about a Venezuelan deputy, who confessed to participating in an assassination attempt, have the courage to demand that Israel stop the genocide against the Palestinian people?

The world upside down. That is the world of politics without heart and without courage. Margarita Labarca Goddard has already argued clearly and forcefully why you are wrong in your judgments towards Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. I will only add that Venezuela has a much healthier and more transparent democracy than the one in Chile, whenever you want I can argue it to you and we can debate it, if you are interested.

It is also easy to argue why the “permanent restriction of liberties in Cuba” is a fallacy. Not to mention that the word “freedom” is so cluttered that by now its true meaning is ambiguous, and a sensible definition requires even a philosophical debate. Or tell me, what is freedom?

I name these two countries because I know them quite well. I lived in Cuba for 9 years and in Venezuela I have been living for another 9 years. I do not know Nicaragua first-hand, but I invite you to ask yourself what the reaction of a right-wing government would have been to the action of paid and heavily armed criminal gangs, who come to take over sectors of the most important cities in the country; and where, in addition, said mercenary gangs are installed to commit abominable acts such as kidnapping, torturing, maiming, raping and even burning alive, dozens of human beings, for the mere fact of being militants of a cause -in this case, Sandinista militants- , where the persecution reached the point of murdering entire families in their own homes.

The legitimately elected government in Nicaragua, even having the resources, the legal framework, and the strength to take immediate forceful action against such a fascist destabilization, was quite contained. Do you think that the right wing in power would have had that peaceful vision and a call for dialogue to resolve the conflict? History answers us.

I understand that you may be confused by the great “media” that were in charge of victimizing the perpetrators; just like they did a year ago in Venezuela during the so-called guarimbas.

Therefore, Gabriel, objectively speaking, with serious arguments -without opinions formed and shaped by the media based on misrepresentations and lies repeated daily-, there is no double standard in which we defend Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

We do not have disappeared or tortured, we do not imprison those who think or think differently, yes criminals; be these deputies, politicians or supposed students. Rather, it seems to me to see that “double standard” in yourself, by making comfortable value judgments from manipulation and ignorance.

On the media, democracy and freedoms, we can discuss comparing Chile with these countries. I assure you that unfortunately Chile would not fare very well, even more so, if we include human rights, economic and social, which there are nothing more than merchandise.

“A person reaches his highest level of ignorance when he rejects something of which he knows nothing.”

Health.

* Doctor, Coordinator of the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, grandson of President Salvador Allende Gossens.

What human rights really look like

December 9 2010

Sudan: Prime Minister’s reinstatement is a sham – keep up the fight!

by Joe Attard

November 22 2021

Source: In Defence of Marxism

The Sudanese Revolution has taken a new turn. 28 days after the coup that removed him from power, Abdalla Hamdok was reinstated as Prime Minister by the military junta. The streets, which have fought and shed blood for a month to win civilian rule, have met this news, not with jubilation – but rage.

In a televised address alongside representatives of the military, Hamdok said that a new deal had been struck that he hoped would “end the bloodshed” – which is ironic, given that the generals, whom he will now serve in his new position, continue to claim they have killed nobody since the coup.

Under the newly inked deal, Hamdok will lead a “technocratic” government, with the goal of establishing a constitutional conference and holding elections by June 2023, to complete “the transition to democracy and its related obligations”.

Anticipating how this announcement would be received, Hamdok said: “I have made up my mind and signed this political agreement, although I know that many may disagree, object, or reject it simply because the people’s ambitions and aspirations were much higher.”

Shotgun marriage

The transitional government will be ‘supervised’ by a new Sovereign Council, with the two main leaders of the counter-revolution, General Burhan and General Hemeti, occupying the top spots and selecting its membership. The only real role of the new transitional government will be to rubberstamp the decisions of the generals.

This is a return to military dictatorship in all but name, with Hemeti taking to Twitter to “congratulate the people of Sudan on today’s historic event. An agreement has been signed ensuring that Sudan continues on the path of democracy and the people’s will.” The approval of this mass murderer is all that needs to be said of the new arrangement.

Nobody believes the generals’ assurances that they will allow elections to a civilian government in the future. Indeed, repression was still going on even while this new “compromise” was being announced, claiming another victim in the form of 16-year-old Yousif Abdelhamid, who was shot in the head yesterday.

Other promises have been made, which the masses have no confidence will be honoured. For example, the party of the old Bashir dictatorship (National Congress Party) is expressly banned from taking part in the new transitional government. But Burhan has spent the last few weeks hiring Bashir loyalists to important positions in the state, which makes the pledge dubious.

It was announced that all political prisoners are to be released, although so far only a handful have been set free; and an “independent probe” into violence during the past month has been promised, though this is a laughable notion when the butchers themselves are in charge.

Finally, the anti-corruption committee set up by the last transitional government to investigate embezzlement, shut down by the coup plotters – who have spent decades looting the wealth and resources of Sudan – will be revived and “restructured”, which we can read as: “rendered impotent.”

A cover for the rule of the counter-revolutionary junta

It is clear to anyone with eyes that Hamdok’s reinstatement to the head of a so-called transitional government, under the supervision of the armed forces, is nothing but a cover for the rule of the counter-revolutionary junta.

Yesterday saw a fourth national demonstration, shortly after the bloodiest day of the coup so far last Thursday, in which 15 protestors were killed by the security forces. The total number of confirmed deaths is 41, and hundreds lie injured or dying in Sudan’s overcrowded hospitals, which have repeatedly come under attack from the counter-revolution.

Far from being cowed, the turnout yesterday was even bigger than last time: with at least 19 cities and towns taking part, and at least a million people on the streets (the exact figures are hard to come by). In part, this was because (for unclear reasons) the military finally lifted the nationwide communications blackout on Friday. Aside from making it easier to mobilise the demonstration, it meant people all over the country could finally see the full extent of the military’s brutality pouring out of social media.

The images and videos of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF – the tribal paramilitaries under Hemeti’s command) and police firing live ammunition at crowds of unarmed protestors, and bodies riddled with intentional kill shots to the head and torso, enraged the masses even further.

Revolution refuses to back down

The junta remains isolated, basing itself on the most reactionary elements of the security forces. It lacks any organic base of support in society.

While the junta has not spared the whip of repression, unleashing brutal violence against the revolution, every time the masses have come back with hardened resolve.

The aim of the junta throughout this period has been to wear the masses down through bloodshed. This has been aided by a lack of any clear plans or objectives from the leaders of the revolution, with the aim of bringing the struggle to its logical conclusions.

Heroic masses force military to change its tactics

Despite relentless attacks, the masses have heroically persevered after a month of deadlock. The generals were not expecting the process to last this long. Therefore, they have been forced to change tactics. They hope that ‘restoring’ Hamdok as a civilian front for their rule will throw dust in the masses’ eyes, and cut across the revolution.

They have been assisted in this end by leaders of the so-called international community, particularly the imperialist representatives of the US and UN, who have been endeavouring behind the scenes to stitch up a new arrangement between the army, Hamdok and the remnants of the civilian wing of the old transitional government.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is “encouraged” by the new deal, while the UN released a statement welcoming Hamdok and Burhan’s “consensus on resolving the constitutional and political crisis that was threatening the stability of the country.”

Stability is the watchword here. The imperialists are keen to avoid the military being overthrown by the revolutionary struggle of the masses, which would likely inspire revolutionary movements in other countries in the region. They hope that the military and transitional government can now ‘work together’ in their new shotgun wedding, and restore stability by pacifying the streets.

But the masses see right through this. It is a positive development that the counter-revolutionary role of the so-called international community has been laid bare: they are not allies but enemies of the Sudanese people.

After the bitter struggle, death and hardship they have gone through for democratic rights and civilian rule, the masses are furious at being returned to a position that is a significant step back from where they started.

When the announcement of the new government came, the streets boiled with fury towards Hamdok in particular. As we previously reported, the liberal prime minister, a former UN economist, was not especially popular with the masses before the coup.

Aside from entering into a disgraceful power share with the same murderous generals who drowned the revolutionary sit-ins of 2019 in blood, Hamdok oversaw a brutal austerity programme at the behest of imperialist bodies like the IMF and World Bank, who provided aid to Sudan with the expectation of “structural adjustments” (i.e. cuts).

In fact, the coup was preceded by a cut to fuel subsidies, which provoked anti-government, pro-military sit-ins in Khartoum. These were relatively small, made up of more backward layers of society, egged along by the military, and met with far-larger pro-democracy demonstrations. Still, the fact remains that Hamdok’s reactionary policies meant he enjoyed limited support from the Sudanese people.

On top of that, he turned a blind eye to continuing abuses by the RSF and police against the people after 2019, particularly targeting prominent members of the resistance committees.

Illusions in Hamdok shattered

However, when Burhan launched his coup, removed Hamdok and dissolved the Sovereign Council, the masses rallied to defend the gains of the 2019 revolution. In the process, certain illusions developed among some layers of the Sudanese (and especially the ex-pat community) in Hamdok, as the country’s ‘legitimate’ civilian political leader.

Those illusions have been shattered by yesterday’s developments, with the streets uniformly rejecting the new deal and naming Hamdok a traitor to the revolution.

All the leading bodies of the revolution, including the Sudanese Professionals Association, the Neighbourhood Resistance Committees, and even the more conservative Forces for Freedom and Change, have rejected the new transitional government as a sham. The former has reiterated the three main slogans of the revolution: no dialogue, no compromise and no partnerships with the military.

During the protests yesterday, the resistance committees made their feelings known, with the crowds in Khartoum declaring:

“To whomever believed in Hamdok, Hamdok is dead; and to whomever believed in the streets, the streets are chanting and will never die.”

A protestor from Omdurman, interviewed in the Guardian on Sunday, said: “I am just so disappointed by this deal. What about those who have been killed?” Another protester added: “I will keep going to the streets because the military doesn’t give any guarantees that they will stick by their deals. They always cheat.”

The revolutionary masses have vowed to remain on the streets, and a fifth national demonstration has been called for Thursday. If the intention of this ‘concession’ was to cut across the revolution, it appears to have had the opposite effect.

The rejection of Hamdok is a step forward. It shows the masses are learning from the harsh school of revolution. One important lesson is that liberals cannot be trusted. Their class interests and loyalty to capitalism means they are incapable of fulfilling the aspirations of the Sudanese people for genuine democracy and a decent existence.

Liberals leaders will always seek compromise, no matter the depths of vicious depravity to which the junta sink, rather than support the masses in the revolutionary conquest of power. Ultimately, both Burhan and Hamdok support the continuation of capitalism, which is the source of the poverty and backwardness which haunts Sudanese society.

How to smash the junta?

The masses fully understand the need to smash the junta, but the burning question as ever is – how? The SPA talks about arresting the generals and transitioning immediately to a fully civilian administration, but the generals have weapons, and are willing to use them in defence of their power and privileges, and the revolution does not!

As we have said many times, the major weakness of the Sudanese Revolution is the unwillingness of its leadership to meet the junta with arms in hand. Instead, it simply reinforces the masses’ anxieties with an insistence on peaceful methods, without explaining how these methods could ever convince the counter-revolution to vacate power.

The SPA warns that there will be a bloody civil war if the masses take up arms, but isn’t that precisely what there is now? A one-sided civil war, with the forces of counter-revolution slaughtering men women and children every day!

And wasn’t life under the rule of the junta in past years precisely a never-ending nightmare of poverty and misery? What this revolution has shown time and time again is that the masses are ready to make the ultimate sacrifices in order to change society. The ones who are afraid and vacillate are the liberal so-called leaders, who ceaselessly hold back the revolution from removing the junta, arresting the generals and placing a new civilian government in power – all of which require armed bodies of men loyal to the revolution!

The only way to avoid bloodshed and chaos is precisely by the most forceful armed intervention of the masses against the counter-revolution and its shock troops on the streets. The more the leaders hesitate, the more they vacillate without showing any way forward, the more it will embolden the counter-revolution and demoralise parts of the masses opening the way for more chaos and more bloodshed.

The leaders of the revolution should therefore explain the need for armed struggle, and organise disciplined self-defence via the resistance committees, combined with making a general appeal to the rank-and-file of the armed forces to mutiny and join their class brothers and sisters against Burhan and Hemeti.

No compromise, talks or partnerships: complete the revolution!

The experience of the Sudanese Revolution is a living demonstration of the need for a clear-sighted revolutionary party. Even a small such party, had it existed from the start, could have connected with the aspirations of the masses, and transformed the situation.

This party could have pointed the way forward with a clear programme of organising armed defence committees throughout the country connected on a local and national level, a general appeal to the rank and file soldiers to join the revolution, as well as an all-out general strike leading towards an insurrection to take power and arrest the leaders of the counter-revolution and disarm its forces.

This would be connected to the need to unify and build up the resistance committees into a national body of workers’ power, and convene a constituent assembly so the masses can elect their own representatives.

In the conditions that have emerged since the October coup, such a programme would resonate with millions of people and open a new stage in the revolution. In the absence of such a force, the revolution is forced to go through many bitter lessons.

This is the only way to guarantee the victory of the Sudanese Revolution, which continues to inspire the world with its incredible resilience.

The people have spoken: down with the coup! No deals or partnerships! The fight for democratic rights and dignified existence in Sudan goes on! In the last analysis, the objectives of the revolution can only be assured and sustained through the building of socialism in Sudan, which will be a beacon to all exploited and oppressed people throughout Africa, the Arab world and beyond!

Era of US Domination of Latin America Coming to an End

Source:  Popular Resistance
August 9 2020
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance.

Above photo: Marcha en Venezuela contra las sanciones de Trump – Reuters.

Despite its failings at home, the United States intervenes in countries across multiple continents seeking to control their governments and resources.

This week, we look at the US’ latest efforts in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia to undermine their independence and force them to serve the interests of the US government and transnational corporations.

In all three countries, the US has displayed a lack of understanding of the people and their support for their revolutionary processes, and as a result, is failing. As US empire fades, so might the Monroe Doctrine come to an end.

Sandanista- FSLN rally in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua: USAID Multi-Year Destabilization Plan Exposed

A US Agency for International Development (USAID) document revealed by reporter William Grigsby describes covert plans to overthrow the democratically-elected Nicaraguan government in the next two years. USAID seeks to hire mercenaries “to take charge of the plan . . . to disrupt public order and carry out other [violent] actions before, during, and/or after the 2021 elections.”

USAID is creating Responsive Assistance In Nicaragua (RAIN), allotting $540,000 in grants to remove the Sandinista government in what it calls “Nicaragua’s transition to democracy.” Daniel Ortega won the 2016 election with 72 percent of the vote in what election observers from the Organization of American States (OAS), a US tool, described as taking “place in a calm, smooth and pacific manner, with no large incidents.”

Brian Willson, who has opposed US efforts to dominate Nicaragua since the 1980s Contra war, concludes the US realizes Ortega will win the 2021 election. In fact, this week, a poll showed support for Ortega’s party, FSLN, at 50% and for the opposition at 10%. One of USAID plans, as they tried in Venezuela in 2018, is for the opposition to boycott the election since they know they will lose, then call it illegitimate and create a political and economic crisis.

The real goal is not a democracy but domination so US transnational corporations can profit from the second poorest country in the hemisphere by putting in place a neoliberal economy to privatize public services, cut social services, and purge all traces of the Sandinistas. USAID also plans to “reestablish” the police and military to enforce their rule. Another goal is to stop Nicaragua from being the “threat of a good example” for its economic growth, reduction of inequality, poverty, illiteracy and crime.

Ben Norton points out in the Grayzone that “the 14-page USAID document employed the word ‘transition’ 102 times” making clear the intent is regime change.  A “sudden transition without elections,” a euphemism for a coup, is one of three possible regime change scenarios.

John Perry writes about “US interference in Nicaragua, going back at least as far as William Walker’s assault on its capital and usurpation of the presidency in 1856.” Since the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, the US has sought to take back control of Nicaragua.

USAID and its National Endowment for Democracy (NED) have been funding the opposition. NED financed 54 projects from 2014-17 to lay the groundwork for a 2018 coup attempt, which  also involved USAID. Wiston Lopez writes the US has provided “more than 31 million dollars between the end of 2017 and May 1, 2020.” When the attempted coup in 2018 failed, the US also put in place illegal unilateral coercive measures, known as economic sanctions, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, to try to weaken the country.

The USAID’s RAIN program outlines the usual regime change steps, e.g. remake the police and military as enforcers of the new neoliberal order, move “quickly to dismantle parallel institutions,”  i.e. the Sandinista Front, the Sandinista Youth, and other grassroots institutions, and implement “transitional justice measures,” i.e., the prosecution of current government officials and movement leaders.

A new area of attack is a disinformation campaign against Nicaragua’s handling of COVID-19. The opposition misrepresents the government’s response and puts forward false death statistics in an attempt to create chaos. As Wiston López points out, “Since March the US-directed opposition has focused 95% of their actions on attempting to discredit Nicaragua’s prevention, contention, and Covid treatment. However, this only had some success in the international media and is now backfiring since Nicaragua is the country with one of the lowest mortality rates in the continent.”

The US media fails to report on the success of Nicaragua in combating the virus using a community-based health system. Nicaragua has been building its health system for the last 12 years and took rapid action to prepare for the virus. Nicaragua did not impose a lock down because it is a poor country where 80 percent of people are in the informal economy and 40 percent live in rural areas. People must work in order to eat.

Stephen Sefton puts the failure of the United States so far in context. At its root, the US does not understand the people of Nicaragua, their history of fighting US domination, and their ability to overcome right-wing puppets. It also misunderstands what the Sandinista government is doing to better the lives of the people in every sector of the economy. Sefton concludes, “The US government has failed notoriously to meet the needs of its own people during the current pandemic but can still find money to try and destroy a small country whose success makes US social, economic and environmental policy look arbitrary, negligent and criminal.”

Nicolas Maduro kicks out Donald Trump. Photo by Ben Norton.

Venezuela: Bipartisan Failed Regime Change

Ever since the 1998 election of Hugo Chavez, successive US administrations have tried and failed to dominate Venezuela. The bipartisan nature of this policy was on display on August 4, when Elliot Abrams, the notorious coup-monger for multiple presidents, testified in Congress. Not a single Senator criticized the attempt to illegally overthrow a democratically-elected government.

Abrams was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for his inability to remove President Maduro from power. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) was most open about the coup attempt describing it as “a case study in diplomatic malpractice” and claiming Trump botched a winning play in a comedy of errors that strengthened Maduro. After the hearing, Murphy posted a series of Tweets admitting the coup and how it could have been done better.

A clip from Murphy’s embarrassing comments was shared widely including by the Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza. When Vijay Prashad asked Arreaza his reaction, he described the US openly admitting crimes and said the “confessions” of Murphy, Gen. John Kelly, John Bolton, and Elliot Abrams “are priceless evidence for the complaint we raised at the International Criminal Court.”

Elliot Abrams testified that he would continue to work very hard to remove Maduro hopefully by the end of the year.  This echoed a statement by President Trump at SouthCom headquarters in Florida. Sen. Murphy’s comments are consistent with those made by Joe Biden who says he would be more effective at removing Maduro than Trump. Biden described Trump as soft on Maduro because he considered talking to him.

Elliot Abrams announced the US will be starting a media war against Venezuela. The reality is the US has been conducting a media war against Venezuela for more than 20 years.

Venezuela is moving ahead with elections for the National Assembly on December 6, 2020. Unlike 2018, more parties are agreeing to participate including the larger Democratic Action and Justice First parties, as well as a new Communist Party alliance and the hard-right Popular Will party, which was US puppet Juan Guaidó’s former party. There will be 105 political parties contesting for 277 National Assembly seats, 110 more than the current term. Venezuela uses a combination of majority winners and proportional representation. Venezuela also requires half the candidates to be female, and they use electronic voting confirmed by paper ballots with a public citizen audit on Election Day.

Juan Guaidó and others allied with the United States said they would boycott the election. Guaidó cannot risk running because he is likely to be defeated. The US is encouraging a boycott and then will claim the election was not legitimate as it did in the last presidential election. After December, Guaidó will not hold any elected office making his fraudulent claim to the presidency even weaker.

These events come after two major embarrassments for the US in Venezuela. Operation Gideon, an attempt by mercenaries to invade Venezuela was foiled on May 4, leading to their arrests and the arrests of their co-conspirators. The State Department abandoned the mercenaries, and this week two former Green Berets were sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting their guilt. It was evident that Guaidó was heavily involved in this failure adding to his failed presidential takeover and tainting him beyond repair.

The second defeat was Iran and Venezuela working together to deliver oil and equipment for Venezuelan refineries. Five Iranian oil tankers passed by the largest US armada in the Caribbean since the invasion of Panama. Southcom has been repeatedly sending warships into Venezuelan waters. The solidarity of Iran and Venezuela overcame the naval blockade, undermined US sanctions, and sent a shudder through the US by showing other nations they can defy the United States.

Venezuela has a strong history of struggle against imperialism but the US’ economic war is costing their economy hundreds of billions of dollars and leading to the premature death of Venezuelans. In addition, the United Kingdom is refusing to release more than a billion dollars of Venezuelan gold held in the Bank of England that was to be used for food and medicine. The UK court ruled against Venezuela but they are appealing the decision.

Bolivians protest the postponement of the election.

Bolivia: US Dictator Fears Democratic Vote

On November 12 2019, a US-backed coup in Bolivia removed President Evo Morales who had just won re-election. The self-proclaimed President Jeanine Añez, a right-wing Christian, leads a de facto government involved in massacres, persecution and imprisonment of political leaders. It is destroying the social and economic model and achievements of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS Party) led by Morales.

The OAS played a crucial role in the coup with their false analysis of Morales’ re-election. The western media reported the false OAS analysis without criticism. Now, studies by MIT and the Center for Economic and Policy Analysis have shown that Morales clearly won the election and should have remained in power. For months the Washington Post claimed Morales’ re-election was a fraud, but finally, in March, it acknowledged the election was legitimate. Similarly, the New York Times admitted in July that Morales won the election.

Many have called this a lithium coup because the element is plentiful in Bolivia and critical for batteries. This was made evident when Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, said on Twitter “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” Tesla would benefit from cheap and plentiful lithium for electric car batteries.

The people of Bolivia are struggling to restore democracy. The fraudulent report by the OAS led to a three-week conflict between right-wing Bolivians protesting alleged fraud and pro-government, mostly indigenous, demonstrators defending Morales. The military and police sided with the right-wing coup. The coup government threatened legislators and their families while repressing the people. There were racist attacks against the majority Indigenous population and the Wiphala, the indigenous flag, was burned in the streets. When she took power, Áñez, surrounded by right-wing legislators, held up a large leather bible and declared, “The Bible has returned to the palace.”

The US recognized the coup government, similar to its recognition of the failed coup leader, Juan Guaidó in Venezuela. Añez claimed she’d be transitory until the next election, but at the direction of the US, she is putting in place deep roots and has delayed elections.

The repression has galvanized the MAS party, as well as peasant unions and grassroots organizations who continue their struggle to restore Bolivian democracy. The pressure led to elections being scheduled. Initially, Áñez said she would not run but reversed herself and is now a candidate while she is trying to outlaw the MAS party and its candidates.

Elections were scheduled for May 3, but have been postponed twice allegedly due to the pandemic, but really because this is an ongoing coup.

It is true that the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting Bolivia hard with horror stories about people unable to get medical treatment. Immediately after the coup, the Añez government expelled the Cuban doctors. The coup-government is unable to manage the health system. Corruption is rampant in the purchase of medical equipment. The health ministry has had three ministers during the crisis. The situation is dire with overcrowded hospitals, lack of basic supplies, and corpses in the streets and in their homes with nowhere to be buried.

The coup-government is using the virus to try to delay elections because polls show the MAS candidate, Luis Arce, is far ahead and likely to win in the first round of elections with Áñez coming in a distant third. Áñez has sought to prosecute Arce to keep him from running, so far unsuccessfully.  On July 6, the Attorney General of Bolivia charged Evo Morales with terrorism and financing of terrorism from exile and is seeking preventive detention.

Since mid-July, thousands of Bolivians have been protesting the postponement of elections. They are holding sustained protests throughout the country and blocking many roads. Indigenous and peasant groups, agricultural groups, along with women and unions are joining together calling for elections.  Morales, Arce, and the MAS Party have denounced the delay.

Domination Will Not Reverse Decline

Evo Morales said in a recent interview “The United States is trying to make Latin America its backyard forever. We know about the hard resistance of the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua. The struggle of our peoples is very important. The United States wants to divide us in order to plunder our natural resources. The peoples no longer accept domination and plunder. The United States is in decline, and yet it lashes out.”

The US is weakening as a global power and its failures in Latin America are both a symptom of this and are causing further decline. The US’ violations of international law are obvious and are being challenged. But the US is an empire and it will not give up the Monroe Doctrine easily.

As citizens of Empire, we have a particular responsibility to demand the US stop its sanctions and illegal interference in Latin America and elsewhere around the world. In this time of multiple global crises, we must demand the US become a cooperative member of the world community and work peacefully to address the pandemic, recession and climate crisis.

Structures to do this exist to help with this such as the global ceasefire and the Paris Climate agreement. And on the anniversary of the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, we must add the Nuclear Ban Treaty as another effort the US must join.

Exclusive Interview: Ex-President Manuel Zelaya – The Crisis in Honduras

Source:  Dear Kitty Some blog & The Real News
January 2 2020

Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup d’état in 2009, talks to Laura Carlsen about the origins and consequences of the crisis in His country

 

Story Transcript

LAURA CARLSEN: To talk about the current crisis in Honduras we’re here in the offices of the LIBRE party with the former president and leader of the LIBRE Party Manuel Zelaya. 

Thank you very much for talking to us, Mr. President.

There is very little coverage on the international level of what is happening now with these demonstrations –and they’ve been going on for months. 

What is your evaluation of this stage of opposition here in Honduras and what possibilities do you see for making a real change?

MANUEL ZELAYA: Well, we have to look at where we’re coming from, what we’ve gone through and what the demands and the expectations are in the short, medium and long term. I think that there’s a rupture in the democratic order from ten years ago– the constitution of the republic was broken. Instead of restoring the social pact, instead of seeking common ground between the opposing sectors, they imposed on us a single idea, a single tyrannical, dictatorial way of violently running the country.

Read more here

Haiti: Opposition Meets with President, Demands His Resignation

Source: TeleSUR
December 17 2019

Despite the popular pressure, Moise -who is backed by the United States-
said he would carry on his term until its end. | Photo: Reuters

The whole spectrum of opposition forces agree that the president’s resignation is the first condition if a way out of the crisis is to be found.

Members from the Haitian opposition Passarelle platform, who have been meditating since November between radical opposition parties and the government, met Monday with President Jovenel Moise to hand him a copy of the so-called Marriott agreement, signed by several groups to demand the president’s immediate resignation and the establishment of a transitional government.

RELATED: Haiti Descends Into Worst Violence in Years as Gang Violence Increases

Despite the president’s calls for dialogue and union, his opponents backed by hundreds of thousands of protesters who have been taking to the streets for almost a year, have been refusing to negotiate, as the whole spectrum of opposition forces agree that the president’s resignation is the first condition if a way out of the crisis is to be found.

Lacking unity

The Haitian opposition however is fragmented. On Monday, spokesman for the opposition Democratic and Popular Sector (DPS), Michel Andre, which is one of the president’s strongest critics, rejected the meeting between the committee representing the platform and the president, saying that Moise should not have met with Passerelle, but with the DPS.

Nonetheless, Andre agreed that the first step towards an end to the political, economic and social crisis must be the resignation of the president, the establishment of an interim administration, and trials for those state officials involved in cases of corruption, especially the embezzlement of Petrocaribe funds, meant to finance infrastructure development along with health, education and social programs across the impoverished nation.

Haiti has been experiencing a situation of fragile calm since last month after consecutive months of mass anti-government protests that paralyzed the country.

On Dec. 2, some schools reopened, as services such as public transportation and public administration along with some businesses resumed their activities.

Call for deep transformation 

The mass demonstrations that mobilized almost all sectors of civil society, call for the deep transformation of a system that has been governing the Caribbean nation since the end of the dictatorship in 1986 and seen as profoundly unequal and corrupt.

Despite the popular pressure, Moise –who is backed by the United States– said he would carry on his term until its end, pointing out that his resignation would be “irresponsible” while using the Constitution as his legal argument to retain his position.

The unrest in Haiti started in February following major corruption allegations.

As the country was already dealing with a tense economic crisis and high inflation, a report was published accusing Moise and dozens of officials of having embezzled US$2 billion from Petrocaribe, the cut-price-oil aid program that Venezuela offered to several Caribbean countries, among them Haiti.

The Carribean island of 11 million people has been struggling for decades to overcome extreme poverty along with widespread corruption. These last ten years were particularly harsh for Haiti, which went through one of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in 2010, an epidemic of cholera, brought in accidentally by United Nations peacekeepers, and Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

TIME Magazine Won’t Say It, But Maduro Is The Man Of The Year

Source: Educate

December 20 2019

By  Iroel Sánchez, La Pupula Insomne, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau.

On January 4, 2019, the governments of the now decadent Grupo de Lima announced that from January 10 – the date on which Nicolás Maduro would be proclaimed President of Venezuela –they would no longer recognize the Bolivarian government as the representative of the Venezuelan people  Maduro won in an election whose numbers were better in terms of majority and participation than those legitimized by several of the leaders who questioned him.

From that moment on, the actions, sanctions, and statements against Maduro’s government followed one after the other without pause. Visible was an open presence of the United States government, in the person of its President, its Vice President, its Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor.

Facing constant, intense all-round hostility

The recognition by Washington and a group of its allies to a self-proclaimed president in opposition to Maduro, plus economic sanctions, which have ranged from the confiscation of billions of dollars in funds owned by the Venezuelan government in the United States, Latin America, and Europe to the persecution of its finances and trade around the world.  The constant calls and blackmailing of the military to bring about a coup d’état against the Bolivarian government and a systematic demonization and production of false news about what is happening in the country, form a scenario in which all the weapons of the fourth-generation war have been used.

The highest point was the attempt to violate the Venezuelan borders from Colombia and Brazil combining the use of violence, the announcement of “humanitarian aid” without considering Venezuela’s authorities. In addition the fabrication of incidents to blame them on the Bolivarian government, a concert with stars of the mainstream of Latin music and the presence there of several Latin American presidents along with Cuban-American senator Marco Rubio who tweet in a state of total euphoria images of the dismemberment of Libyan leader Gadaffi. A month later, the sabotage of the national electrical system that left the entire country without electricity for several days.

Measuring Maduro’s success

Because of the magnitude of these events and challenges, it is necessary to measure the success of Nicolás Mauro:

1. He managed to maintain the civic-military union and grow in the popular militias to a total of three million members.
2. Oil production has begun to recover after falling to 700,000 barrels per day, surpassing one million one hundred thousand, plus a substantial increase in gold exports.
3. The opposition is today more divided than ever, several opposition congress people accuse the self-proclaimed “interim president” of corruption and an important part of them joined an agreement with the government to politically stabilize the country.
4. The situation of violence, shortages, large queues and galloping hyperinflation has been overcome and the country, even with great difficulties, lives in an environment of stability.
5. The crisis of neoliberalism has taken to the streets large rebellious crowds in Ecuador, Chile and Colombia, countries that had joined the siege led by Washington against Venezuela.
6. The coup d’état in Bolivia instructs the left on the need for unity of the revolutionary forces and radicalism in not making any concessions to Washington’s pawns.
7. Since the Sao Paulo Forum in Caracas in July Venezuela has been leading a process of concertation of leftist forces in Latin America and beyond that is rearticulating social movements and progressive forces, the most recent result of which is the launch of an International University of Communication to provide communicators with the technological and cognitive tools for contemporary ideological struggle.

An extraordinary achievement

Time magazine won’t say it, but Maduro is the man of the year. He has led the resistance against one of the greatest imperialist offensives in history and has maintained the initiative, succeeding in sustaining the unity of the internal revolutionary forces and international alliances in favor of multilateralism, sovereignty and popular interests.

Evo Morales says he is still president of Bolivia

Source: Chamsaur

December 19 2019

The indigenous leader of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said today that he is still president of the country because so far the Plurinational Legislative Assembly has not considered his resignation.

Morales, who is in Argentina as a political asylee, about the arrest warrant issued yesterday against him by the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office said that in accordance with the Constitution of his country, the president has to make a liability trial and not an ordinary process

The order against me is unconstitutional, illegal and the procedures must be followed, said Evo, who was forced to resign from his position on November 10 under pressure from senior military and police officers.

Although the Bolivian parliament received the mandatory resignation letter from the president, in which he explained that with his decision he sought to avoid violence and a bloodbath in his country, so far the legislators have not spoken.

“My responsibility as indigenous president and of all Bolivians is to prevent the coup leaders from continuing to persecute my union leaders and brothers, mistreating and kidnapping their relatives,” says the text sent to the Senate.

He added that ‘I am legally still President. My resignation was not considered by the Legislative Assembly as provided in Article 161 Number 3 of the Constitution ‘.

He added that if it had been accepted, the procedures for a constitutional succession were not complied with, so Jeanine Áñez declared herself illegally.

At the conference this morning he pointed out that it is an external and internal political issue, an international coup.

“The de facto government raises transparent and free elections, but the political persecution has to end,” said the governor when referring to the new electoral process after the annulment of the elections of October 20 in which he won.

We are going to legally demonstrate that this order is neither constitutional nor legal and if the coup leaders want free elections, they must stop persecuting the former officials of my government and members and supporters of the Socialism Movement (MAS), he stressed.

In his opinion, the new elections in Bolivia to which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal must convene next January will be an election without democracy because the country is under a dictatorship.

He considered that with the persistent persecution, apprehension, allegations of alleged corruption of former members of his cabinet, the de facto government is making an internal campaign to eliminate the MAS.

However, Evo expressed confidence that the people will defend the project of change initiated in 2006 in Bolivia.

‘Here is homeland or death and how to work for the humblest. We are going to win this legal battle. ‘

She said she is very afraid and sad that after lifting Bolivia they destroy her, the new generations will judge how they are destroying her.

Evidence Talks: US Government Propelled Coup in Bolivia

Source:  Global Research

November 25 2019

 

A coup on November 10 removed the socialist government of Bolivian President Evo Morales. The U.S. government made preparations and orchestrated the final stages of the coup. It was in charge. In power for almost 14 years, Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera had won elections taking place on October 20. The two leaders would each have been serving a fourth term in office.

Evidence of the U.S. crime appears below.  It’s about money, U.S. influence within the Bolivian military, and U.S. control of the Organization of American States (OAS):

1. For many years the Santa Cruz Civic Committee and its proto-fascist Youth Union received funding from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy. According to analyst Eva Golinger some years ago, the USAID provided $84 million to Bolivian opposition groups.

U.S. Embassy officials conspired with and paid the “civic committees” of Bolivia’s four eastern departments. Representing the European- descended elite of Bolivia’s wealthiest region, these groups promoted racist assaults. They concocted a separatist movement and tried to assassinate Morales. In response, the Bolivian government expelled the U.S. ambassador, Drug Enforcement Agency, and U. S. Agency for International Development.

2. Bolivian armed forces commander in chief Williams Kaliman Romero on November 10 “suggested” that Morales resign. That was the coup de grace. Within three days, Kaliman himself resigned and moved to the United States. Sullkata M. Quilla of the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis explains that Kaliman and other military chiefs each had received $1 million and that top police officers received $500,000 apiece. U.S. Chargee d’affaires Bruce Williamson allegedly arranged for monetary transactions that took place in Argentina’s Jujuy Province under the auspices of Governor Geraldo Morales. The story first appeared on the website www.Tvmundus.com.ar.

3. Money flowed freely prior to Morales’s departure. Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations Sacha Llorenti – a Morales supporter – reported that, “loyal members of [Morales’s] security team showed him messages in which people were offering them $50,000 if they would hand him over.”

4. According to the respected Argentinean journalist Stella Calloni, Ivanka Trump arrived in Jujuy on September 4-5 ostensibly to honor a small group of women entrepreneurs. Some “2,500 federal agents” and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan accompanied her. At the same time, Governor Gerardo Morales was informed that the United States would be delivering $400 million supposedly to pay for improvements to a big highway in Argentina. Cattaloni suggests that a freight train running through Jujuy en route to Santa Cruz, the center of anti- Morales plotting in Bolivia, was transporting military equipment to opposition groups.

US Is Again Complicit in an Illegal Coup, this Time in Bolivia

There’s media speculation as to how Governor Morales may have facilitated the transfer of U.S. money to Luis Camacho, leader of the coup and head of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee. He may have done so in Santa Cruz, where he visited on September 4, or in Jujuy Province where Camacho may have showed up later that day or the next.

5. According to analyst Jeb Sprague:

“At least six of the key coup plotters are alumni of the infamous School of the Americas, while [General] Kaliman and another figure served in the past as Bolivia’s military and police attachés in Washington.”

For decades, Latin American military personnel have received training and indoctrination at that U.S. Army school now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

Sprague notes also that the top commanders of police that mutinied had received training at the Washington-based Latin American police exchange program known by its initials in Spanish as APALA.

6. The OAS played a crucial role in the coup. Votes were being tallied on October 20 when the OAS, having audited preliminary results, announced that they showed irregularities. The U.S. government echoed the findings and street protests intensified. On October 24 the Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared first-round victories for Morales and García Linare. Protests mounted. The government, under stress, requested another OAS audit.

The OAS made its conclusions public on November 10, earlier than expected:

The OAS couldn’t “validate the results of this election [and called for] “another electoral process [and] new electoral authorities.”

This was the tipping point. Morales convoked another election but shortly thereafter General Kaliman forced him to resign.

The OAS findings were false. Walter Mebane and colleagues at the University of Michigan, having examined voting statistics, indicated that fraudulent votes in the election were not decisive for the result. The Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research performed its own detailed study and reached the same conclusion.

The OAS served as U.S. handmaiden. Headquartered in Washington, the organization took shape under U.S. auspices in 1948 with the assigned task of protecting Latin America and the Caribbean from Communism. More recently the OAS, under Secretary General Luis Almagro’s guidance, has spearheaded U.S. efforts to expel President Nicolas Maduro’s progressive Venezuelan government.

Paradoxically, Almagro in May 2019 gave Morales the go-ahead for a fourth presidential term. That was despite a referendum having been defeated that would have allowed the extra term. Almago’s intention may have been to lull Morales into cooperating with OAS overview of the election results.

7. Other signs of U.S. coup preparations are these:

• Prior to the October 20 elections President Morales charged that U.S. Embassy officials bribed rural residents to reject him at the polls. They traveled, for example, to the Yungas region on October 16 with pay-offs to disaffected coca farmers.
• According to Bolpress.com, the National Military Coordinator (Coordinadora Nacional Militar), an organization of reserve military officers, received and distributed money sent from the United States to create social crisis prior to October 20. The United States also used embassies in Bolivia and the evangelical church as facades to hide its activities. Mariane Scott and Rolf A. Olson, U.S. Embassy officials in La Paz, met with counterparts in the embassies of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina to coordinate destabilization efforts and to deliver U.S. financing to opposition forces inside Bolivia.
• Weapons shipments from the United States arrived at the Chilean port of Iquique on their way to the National Military Coordinator group inside Bolivia.
• The State Department allocated $100,000 to enable a company called “CLS Strategies” to mount a disinformation campaign through social media.
• The CIA station in La Paz assumed control of Bolivia’s Whatsapp network in order to leak false information. More than 68,000 fake anti-Morales tweets were released.
• In mid-October “political consultant” George Eli Birnbaun arrived in Santa Cruz from Washington with a team of military and civilian personnel. Their job was to support the U.S. – preferred presidential candidacy of Oscar Ortiz and to destabilize the country politically after the elections. They provided support for Santa Cruz Civic Committee’s youth organization – specialists in violence – and supervised the U.S. – financed “Standing Rivers” NGO, engaged in spreading disinformation.
• Sixteen audio recordings of the plotters’ pre-election conversations were leaked and showed up on the internet. Several of the voices mentioned contacts with the U.S. Embassy and with U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Robert Menendez, and Marco Rubio. Sprague reports that four of the ex-military plotters on the calls had attended the School of the Americas.

This presentation focuses entirely on the evidence. In a criminal investigation, evidence is central to determining guilt or innocence. Considerations of motive and context are of lesser importance, and we don’t deal with them here. But when and where they are attended to, they would logically fall into categories that include the following:

1. A socialist experiment was showing signs of success and capitalists of the world were facing the threat of a good example.

2. A people once held hostage by colonial powers was able to claim sovereign independence and in that regard had endeavored to retain much of the wealth provided through natural resources, lithium in particular.

3. Throughout its existence the Morales government, headed by an indigenous president, was up against anti-indigenous prejudice, racist in origin, and social-class divisions.

4. All the while, that government was the target of hostility, plotting, and episodic violence at the hands of the entitled classes.

So the evidence is clear. It points to a controlling U.S. hand in this coup d’état. The U.S. government bears heavy responsibility. There were Bolivian instigators, of course, but the U.S. plotters fall within the range of our own political processes. That’s why our accusing finger points at them.

In this instance, the U.S. government, as is its custom, disregarded international law, morality, respect for human life, and common decency. To stifle popular resistance the U.S. government evidently will stop at nothing, other than force in the hands of the people. What kind of force remains to be seen.

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W.T. Whitney Jr. is a political journalist with a focus on Latin America and health care issues. He is a Cuba solidarity activist who formerly worked as a pediatrician.

Featured image is from Peoples Dispatch

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright © W.T. Whitney Jr., Global Research, 2019