Please take a moment to sign the petition in support of President Evo Morales and the Bolivian people, and to circulate it widely among left and progressive individuals and activists.
The petition is at: http://www.gopetition.com/online/21871.html
A “civil coup” has begun in Bolivia, aimed at destabilising the government of President Evo Morales and destroying the peaceful and democratic process of change his government is leading. This attempt to overthrow the elected government comes after a national referendum endorsed Morales as president with 67.4% of votes cast in a fair and free election.
Beginning on September 9, fascist violence has been unleashed in five of Bolivia’s nine departments, backed by the anti-Morales authorities in these regions. This has involved violent gangs, armed with clubs, molotov cocktails and hand guns, violently taking over state institutions, attacking indigenous peoples, police, soldiers, representatives of Morales’s Movement Towards Socialism and other social movement activists.
In the department of Pando, disturbing news of a cold-blooded massacre of indigenous farmers has emerged, with at least 15 people reported killed, alleged orchestrated by Pando prefect Leopoldo Fernandez .
Significant evidence has been provided of the role of the United States government in collaborating with this conspiracy to destablise Bolivia. Just before the violence broke, US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, publicly stated that the US should intervene on the side of the opposition.
There is also documented evidence that the US government has provided funding to opposition groups implicated in this latest wave of violence, just as documented evidence has revealed US funding of opposition groups that have sought to overthrow the elected government of Venezuela.
This comes along side the refusal of the US to agree to the Bolivian government’s request to extradite former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and former justice minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain for their roles in the massacre of more than 60 people in 2003 during protests against planned privatisation of Bolivia’s gas industry.
Instead, Berzian was granted asylum in the US in July. It has been alleged that Berzian has helped coordinate the current violence.
Photo from washingtonpost.com
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