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Written by: Daniel Xie

On August 12 the Canadian Latin America Alliance and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute held a workshop called “Bolivia’s Fight to Restore Democracy – Canada’s Role.” The workshop discussed how and why Bolivia’s first Indigenous president was overthrown and the situation in the country up to the current day. The event was sponsored by the leftist magazine Canadian Dimension.

It had three speakers discussing the Bolivian coup and Canada’s involvement in it:

Guillaume Long, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador, analyst with Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), which has challenged OAS claims of electoral fraud
Matthew Green, NDP MP for Hamilton Centre, Ontario
Ollie Vargas, Journalist for Radio Kawsachun Coca, the official radio outlet of the six Federations of the Tropico, the campesino (farmer/labourer) unions leading the fight in Bolivia against the US-backed regime.

Canadian Complicity Exposed:

The first speaker was Ollie Vargas, who reflected on the current situation in Bolivia. He stated that the Bolivian coup regime, despite being presented as democratic, is in reality an autocratic neoliberal government seeking to maintain power by any means necessary. Vargas points out that not only is poverty the worst it has been in Bolivia in 20 years, but also that opposition politicians opposed to the coup and in support of Movement for Socialism (MAS) are being accused of sedition by the Canadian government for simply calling the government’s takeover a coup.

In fact, anyone reporting on human rights abuses or government abuses in Bolivia could face charges of sedition and terrorism, Kawsachun News being an example—the outlet faces constant attacks and threats from the far-right for its coverage of abuse.Vargas saw the coup regime’s decision to postpone elections once again as a significant turning point in the struggle to restore democracy in Bolivia.

By suspending elections for the fourth time in three months under the pretext of the risk posed by the coronavirus, the coup government’s legitimacy melted away as it became clear that it had no desire to relinquish power. This in turn led to mass protests and a general strike organized by the National Labour Union. Indigenous and rural workers mobilized along with urban working class areas in the big cities in Bolivia, and all the key highways in the country have been blocked by protesters. Uprisings have even spread to conservative parts of the country.

Vargas sees the movement to restore democracy in Bolivia to be at a crossroads regarding how to confront the coup regime. He points out that elements of the movement are open to a new election date as well as the end of all persecution of leftists and MAS politicians. More radicalized elements of the movement from rural and indigenous communities, on the other hand, are calling for the immediate ouster of the government. Vargas noted that the kinds of demands the movement makes may influence what response the coup government takes in order to suppress them. Hewarned that the government may very well respond to their demands with bloodshed, and as such, the movement on the ground in Bolivia must prepare accordingly.

Vargas also pointed out Canada’s complicity in the coup. Canada has various mining concessions in this region, and sees supporting the efforts of the US-backed coup against Morales as a means to exert some control over a cut of Bolivia’s lithium mines. Vargas called on Canadians to stand in solidarity with those fighting for democracy and indigenous sovereignty in Bolivia by exerting pressure on our government to condemn the coup regime’s use of christo-fascist paramilitaries, cut support for the coup government and to push for a peaceful settlement that allows elections to take place as soon as possible without further state persecution of MAS.

The second speaker, Guillaume Long, brought attention to the role of the Organization of American States in orchestrating the coup against Morales. Long warned that the Bolivian coup not only impoverished 20 million people through the new government’s policies, but may also be the start of a new wave of pro-US neoliberal dictatorships in Latin America. The coup, along with Bolsonaro’s victory in Brazil and the attempted coup in Venezuela, could be a connected US strategy to strike at leftists working against American interests and replace them with compliant neo-liberal regimes.

Long also pointed out that Canada endorsed a report published by the OAS claiming that there was alleged election fraud in Bolivia. The report used the fact Morales did not win a 10 point supermajority, which would have prevented a runoff, as pretext for demanding a recount of the elections on the basis that there were votes that weren’t counted that might have painted a different picture of how the election progressed. Even as the Center for Economic and Policy Research looked into the uncounted ballots and found they were mostly pro-Morales, and mainstream news sites such as the New York Times started to doubt fraud allegations, OAS and its member states, including Canada, continued to endorse the OAS’ account of events.

Earlier the OAS took some time to release its account of elections, but this time it published not long after Morales’ victory in the election, whereas before they took some time to be released, perhaps indicating that the OAS would want Morales to be removed as soon as possible. The quick release galvanized the opposition to call for Morales’ ouster, and to eventually launch their coup. In supporting OAS allegations against Bolivia, Canada is complicit in supporting the falsified evidence used to incite the Bolivian opposition into launching their coup.

When it was Matthew Green’s turn to speak, he discussed how the Bolivian coup was an international version of Canada’s anti-indigenous and white supremacist domestic policy. Green described how Canada was founded as a settler colony driven by the white supremacist and Christian Dominionist ideals of “terra nullius”, or the idea that land not settled by white Christian colonists are uninhabited even if there were people living there. Through this ideology, the dispossession of indigenous peoples by white settlers was justified on the claim that the indigenous people didn’t actually own the land. He stated that a similar white supremacist christo-fascist ideology was the driving force behind Jeanine Áñez’s coup government.

The coup regime sought to suppress indigenous voices that Morales has given power to in favor of a white Christian population. We can see similar suppression domestically in the Trudeau government’s lack of action towards missing and murdered indigenous women, as well as his and the BC NDP government’s use of the RCMP to repress Wet’suwet’en water defenders opposing the installation of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.

Green also stated that Canada’s support for the coup reveals to the world its actual foreign policy towards the world at large that lay hidden behind their self-image as a peaceful nation. To Green this may have been the cause of Canada’s defeat in its United Nations Security Council bid, particularly as the transfer of information through the internet and news sources not beholden to American foreign policy made information easily accessible to the international community. Green also reflected on Canada’s complicity in America’s foreign policy in Latin America, stating that not only did Canada eagerly back the Bolivian coup, but last year Chrystia Freeland recognized US backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, when he proclaimed himself the interim president of Venezuela and attempted to overthrow Maduro. He concluded his speech hoping that these conversations we need to have about Bolivia and Canada’s role in American imperialism can happen before more bloodshed erupts, and that the only way to have them is to mobilize in solidarity with those defending Bolivian democracy and to exert pressure on the Canadian government to abandon their support for the coup regime.

Observations and Concluding Remarks:

While the workshop focused primarily on the current situation on the ground in Bolivia, as well as the OAS’ role in instigating the coup against Morales, it also highlighted how Canada was complicit in bringing an illegitimate neoliberal regime to power by supporting the OAS’ claims of election fraud so Canadian mining companies could reap the benefits of Bolivian Lithium. Canadian support for this coup is perhaps tied to its own origins as a white-supremacist, settler-colonial state founded on Christian dominionist and anti-indigenous principles, which Canada would rather commit to than be a genuine force for peace in the world.

As of now, Bolivia’s fight to restore democracy is at a crossroads. According to Kawsachun News, Bolivia's labour unions have recently voted to pause mobilization until October 18, 2020, now that a law guaranteeing elections has been won. However, they'll mobilize again if the coup regime either delays elections again, uses dirty tricks to win, or refuses to hand over to power to MAS in the event of a MAS victory.

Given what tricks the coup regime has pulled in order to maintain power, it is rather conceivable that they will put even more effort in to stop a MAS victory. The political crisis in Bolivia is far from over, especially sinceCanada is likely to back any of the dirty tricks utilized by the coup regime to maintain power. In response, Canadians must exert pressure on their politicians to cut and challenge the white supremacist and settler colonialist ideologies driving forth the repression of indigenous sovereignty at home and the perpetuation of imperialism abroad.

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