20080811 11:50:00 redazione-IT<\/p>\n
My impressions of Bolivia
\nMICHEL COLLON<\/p>\n
Bolivia has certainly changed. In La Paz, I attended a large reception given by the Cuban ambassador. Mojitos, buffet, dances… Where was it held? In the ceremonial hall of… the Bolivian army. Yes, the one that killed Ch\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Bolivia has certainly changed, but not everyone wishes it well. We had come to get an idea first hand with some progressive intellectuals from about 15 countries. Frei Betto, Ernesto Cardenal, Ramsey Clark, Fran\u00e7ois Houtart,
\nLuis Britto Garcia, Pascual Serrano… A few days of meetings and exchanges with Bolivian intellectuals, representatives of the Indian communities, artists…<\/p>\n
It’s a sensitive moment. The rightwing is trying to split away the wealthy
\nregions of the country’s East. To frustrate this operation, President Evo
\nMorales, in the middle of his mandate, has called for a revocatory
\nreferendum, this Aug. 10. It’s a sort of vote of confidence. It puts his
\nlegitimacy in play, but also that of the prefects of departments, including
\nthose who belong to his opposition. The rightwing is trying to sabotage the
\nreferendum and people fear incidents…<\/p>\n
We will see who is behind these incidents, which role the United States
\nplays, and the CIA, and a really strange ambassador, and also Europe…<\/p>\n
Strong impressions<\/p>\n
Strong impressions. Physically, first of all. La Paz is at an altitude of
\n11,800 feet. Its airport at 13,100. We arrived in the night, short of
\noxygen, at the brink of passing out. Very attentive, the young people who
\nwelcome us have us sit down calmly, while they deal with our luggage and
\nlet us catch our breath.<\/p>\n
The first day will be devoted to rest and acclimatization. With Luis, a
\nVenezuelan friend, we take a small tour, taking small steps from one bench
\nto the next, in one of the most beautiful capitals of the world. Imagine an
\nimmense basin, bordered by the imposing mountains Huayna Potos\u00ed (20,000
\nft.) and Nevado Illimani (21,200 ft.), not far from the lake Titicaca, the
\nhighest navigable lake of the world. Here, water boils at 176\u00b0 F instead of
\n212\u00b0 F at sea level. And no street is flat.<\/p>\n
What is striking about La Paz, in winter in any case, is the gentle
\nclimate, sunny and fresh. And the gentle people. Everywhere, you are
\nwelcomed with kindness, with a kind of quiet serenity. Indians wear heavy
\nclothing with superb multi-coloured shawls. And of curious small "bolo"
\nhats, black, brown or gray. Sometimes, they also carry impressive loads.
\nTwo-thirds of the population are Indians.<\/p>\n
The importance of the Indian communities<\/p>\n
"An Indian president? The white racist oligarchy still won’t accept it,"
\nEvo confides to us. I began to understand all the wealth of this Indian
\nheritage while visiting with Bolivian friends in Tiwanaku, the capital of
\nan old Incan empire…<\/p>\n
We are on the very high plateau of the Altiplano, bordered by mountains.
\nHere, Indians live under difficult conditions, from farming and raising
\nanimals. Not a cloud in the sky, an incredibly pure air, you can still feel
\nthe nighttime chill.<\/p>\n
Tiwanaku was an immense city, whose excavations have hardly begun. A
\nhundred local Indians are busy restoring the temple, an enormous pyramid in
\nterraces. It was a very advanced civilization, which constructed its
\nbuildings based on a thorough knowledge of astronomy. It had created a
\nmetallurgical and textile industry. It cultivated more than 200 different
\nkinds of corn and 400 kinds of potatoes, of which one species could be
\nfrozen and remain edible for ten years. The system of irrigation was very
\nsophisticated with a very precise slope so that the stones would heat the
\nwater enough to prevent it from freezing. This system was so sophisticated
\nthat today the Agriculture Ministry will revive it to develop agriculture
\non the terraces. Water is rare here, a treasure.<\/p>\n
An Indian elder carries out a ritual ceremony with our group, a sort of
\nsacrifice of small symbolic objects, to celebrate the unity with the cosmos
\nand to gather the wishes that we form. Emotion.<\/p>\n
It is no about glorifying the past for its own sake, but to preserve the
\ncommon memories and values and integrate them into the new society. A
\nBolivian journalist explains the importance of community here: "It is a
\nstrong element of Bolivia. Look here, according to international
\nstatistics, a Bolivian peasant has an average income of 50 dollars per
\nyear. You may as well say that he is dead! Except if one understands that
\nthe communal economy is the basis of our life here. "<\/p>\n
In short, it’s an invaluable heritage that must not be lost.<\/p>\n
One Bolivian in four must emigrate<\/p>\n
Strong impressions also regarding social realities in this country. In La
\nPaz, the upper classes live at the lower end of the city, below 10,000
\nfeet, where one breathes more easily. Lower classes, on the other hand, in
\nEl Alto: at over 13,000 feet. Small trade, small craft industries, a little
\nanimal husbandry in the high plateaus… Life is hard.<\/p>\n
The second poorest country of Latin America, Bolivia has seen one of four
\nof its children emigrate. Why? For centuries, this land was colonized by
\nSpain. And all the benefit of its mining wealth, extracted at the cost of a
\nmurderous labor in semi-slavery, were carried to Europe. For decades, its
\ngas and its oil benefited only a handful of rich people, but most of all
\nsome transnational corporations, especially European-based. The North bled
\nthe South thoroughly, leaving behind only misery.<\/p>\n
And conflicts. Evo Morales, president for two-and-a-half years, did not
\nfall from the sky. His presidency is the fruit of long years of worker and
\npeasant resistance. The Indian communities have always been exploited,
\nexcluded and scorned by a white racist elite, dependent on the United
\nStates and Europe.<\/p>\n
That’s where poverty and underdevelopment arise. But when the Bolivians, to
\nsurvive, take care of housework in Europe, they are treated like criminals
\nand thrown into prison. Even children! Evo Morales courageously denounced
\nthe recent "Directive of Shame" which will make it possible all European
\ncountries to imprison the criminals, sorry, the immigrants, for up to 18
\nmonths.<\/p>\n
Precisely, before leaving, I met with immigrant workers in Brussels, in
\nparticular the Latinos and Latinas. In struggle for months to obtain
\npapers, i.e., their rights, their dignity. Confronting ministers who
\ncompletely ignored them, they had to risk their lives: hunger strike,
\nclimbing cranes… Since they greatly appreciated Evo’s letter to the E.U.,
\nthey asked me to give a small message of gratitude to the Bolivian
\npresident. I did. It brought a smile to his face.<\/p>\n
In fact, when you see the poverty here, the very low wages, the lack of
\nindustry, one understands why so many Bolivians must emigrate. But, when
\ninvestigating further, one also understands that Europe is a dirty
\nhypocrite who bears a heavy responsibility for this emigration. We will
\nreturn to this later…<\/p>\n
What has Evo accomplished?<\/p>\n
But first of all let us take a look at what Evo accomplished in
\ntwo-and-a-half years … He nationalized oil and gas. Would you like to
\nknow why the corporate media calls the Colombian President Uribe "good" and
\nEvo Morales "bad"? Very simple. The former cut the taxes of the
\ntransnational corporations from 14 percent to… 0.4 percent. To help these
\ntransnationals get installed locally under optimum conditions, the
\nColombian paramilitaries drove four million peasants off their land. The
\nlatter, Morales, in order to combat poverty, dared to return to the
\nBolivian nation the wealth it owned.<\/p>\n
By nationalizing its hydrocarbon resources, Evo multiplied the public
\nrevenues by five and gave himself the means for relieving the most urgent
\nevils: illiteracy has dropped by 80 percent, a part of the children working
\nin the streets have returned to school, schools teaching in the Indian
\nlanguages Aymara and Quechua have been established (20,000 graduates), free
\nhealth care is already available for half of the Bolivians, a "Dignity"
\npension for those over 60, credit with zero-percent interest for products
\nlike corn, wheat, soy and rice. Thanks to Venezuelan aid, 6,000 computers
\nwere made available, especially at schools. Thanks to Cuban aid, 260,000
\npeople had eye operations. Elsewhere in Latin America, they would be
\ncondemned to be blind, because they are poor.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the public investments to develop the economy increased greatly.
\nBolivia eliminated its fiscal deficit, repaid half of its foreign debt (now
\ndown from $5.0 to 2.2 billion), reconstituted a small financial reserve,
\nmultiplied employment in the mines and the metal industries by four, and
\ndoubled the production and the incomes of these industries. The industrial
\nGDP passed from $4.1 to $7.1 billion in three years. A thousand tractors
\nwere distributed to peasants. New roads were built.<\/p>\n
In short, Bolivia advances. Not quick enough, some say. For these people,
\nEvo is not moving hard enough against the rightwing and the big landowners.
\nIt is a debate that must be carried out among those who live on the spot
\nand can appreciate the situation, with all its possibilities and dangers.
\nAnd by understanding that it is not enough to say "Do it" to bring a
\ncountry out of poverty and dependence. By knowing that it is necessary to
\ntake account of the relationship of forces with the rightwing, which is
\nagitating and sabotaging. By taking account of the army (Will all its
\ngenerals be loyal to the government under all conditions?).<\/p>\n
Another negative factor: "The legal system remains completely corrupted,"
\nwas confided to me by… the highest ranking magistrate in La Paz. "It is
\nan old caste that protects itself and the interests of the rich. It’s a
\nbusiness, truly. However, we have threatened the immediate recall of any
\njudge caught in an obvious crime. But it is a difficult battle."<\/p>\n
And precisely, when I was there, the courts came rushing to help the
\nrightwing by trying to prevent by a legal battle the holding of the
\nreferendum.<\/p>\n
But there is danger much greater than the legal system…<\/p>\n
Behind the rightwing, the United States prepares a civil war<\/p>\n
It is the new tactic of the United States. Finding themselves unable to win
\na war of occupation, Washington is resorting to indirect war, war by
\nproxies. Currently, strategy of Washington is to try to foment a civil war
\nin Bolivia. For that, the provinces controlled by the rightwing and which
\ncontain the greater part of the oil and gas reserves along with the large
\nagricultural properties tied to the transnationals, these provincial
\nregimes are multiplying their provocations to prepare to secede.<\/p>\n
Having personally studied the secret actions of the great powers to break
\nup Yugoslavia (1), I made a point of drawing the attention of the
\nBolivians, during some interviews: today, Washington will try to transform
\ntheir country into a new Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
Here are the ingredients needed for this deed: 1. Massive CIA investments.
\n2. An ambassador specialized in destabilization. 3. Experienced fascists.
\nWith these ingredients, you can prepare a coup d’etat or a civil war. Or
\nboth.<\/p>\n
First ingredient. As in Venezuela, the CIA is investing a lot in Bolivia.
\nThrough its usual covers: USAID, National Endowment for Democracy,
\nRepublican International Institute, etc. The right-wing separatist
\norganizations are abundantly subsidized. USAID, for example, financed Juan
\nCarlos Orenda, adviser of the extreme right Civic Committee of Santa Cruz
\nand author of a plan envisaging the secession of this province.<\/p>\n
But they also support the more discreet organizations charged to sow
\nconfusion and to prepare an anti-Evo propaganda. At the University of San
\nSimon of Cochabamba, the Thousand-year Foundation received $155,000 to
\ncriticize the nationalization of gas and defend neoliberalism. Thirteen
\nyoung Bolivian right-wing leaders were invited for training in Washington:
\n$110,000. In the popular districts of El Alto, USAID launched programs "to
\nreduce the tensions in the zones prone to social conflicts." Read: to
\ndiscredit the left.<\/p>\n
In all, millions of dollars have been handed out to all kinds of
\norganizations, student groups, journalists, politicians, judges,
\nintellectuals, businesspeople. The Spanish Popular Party, around Jose Maria
\nAznar, takes part in these operations.<\/p>\n
Second ingredient. Where does Philip Goldberg, the current ambassador of
\nthe United States to Bolivia, come from? From Yugoslavia. Where he
\naccumulated a rich personal experience in how to split a country apart.
\n>From 1994 to 1996, he worked in Bosnia for Ambassador Richard Holbrooke,
\none of the strategists of disintegration. Then, he stirred up conflict in
\nKosovo and fomented the split between Serbia and Montenegro. An expert, you
\ncould say.<\/p>\n
And not inactive. As the Argentinian journalist Roberto Bardini tells it:
\n"On June 28, 2007, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, Donna Thi of Miami, was held
\nat the airport of La Paz for trying to bring into the country 500
\n45-caliber bullets that she had declared to customs were ‘cheese.’ Waiting
\nfor her at the terminal was the wife of Colonel James Campbell, the chief
\nof the military mission of the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia. U.S. Ambassador
\nPhilip Goldberg immediately intervened to obtain her release, saying that
\nit was only an ‘innocent error.’ The ammunition, he declared, was to be
\nused only for sport and show. In March 2006, another U.S. citizen, Triston
\nJay Amero, alias Lestat Claudius, a 25-year-old Californian, carrying 15
\ndifferent identity documents, set off 660 pounds of dynamite in two La Paz
\nhotels." (2)<\/p>\n
Why did the U.S. export Goldberg from the Balkans to Bolivia? To transform,
\nI am sure, this country into a new Yugoslavia. Washington favors the method
\nof promoting separatism to retake control of natural resources or strategic
\nareas when governments act too independent, too resistant to the
\ntransnationals.<\/p>\n
Third ingredient. Experienced fascists. In Bolivia, Goldberg openly
\nsupported and collaborated with Croatian-origin businesspeople in the
\nleadership of the secessionist movement. Particularly with Branko
\nMarinkovic, member of Federation of Free Entrepreneurs of Santa Cruz (the
\nsecessionist province). A very big landowner, Marinkovic also pulls the
\nstrings of the Transporte de Hidrocarbures Transredes (which works for
\nShell). He manages the 3,750 miles of oil and gas pipelines that feed out
\nto Chile, Brazil and Argentina.<\/p>\n
And when did these people come from Croatia? It should be recalled that,
\nduring World War II, the German leader, Nazi Adolf Hitler established
\nfascist Greater Croatia where his collaborators, the Ustashis, set up death
\ncamps (including one especially for children!) that carried out a terrible
\ngenocide aimed at Serbs, Jews and Roma ("gypsy") people. (3) After the Nazi
\ndefeat, the Croatian Catholic Church and the Vatican organized "ratlines,"
\npaths for the Croatian fascist criminals (and for German Nazi Klaus Barbie)
\nto escape. From Croatia in Austria, then onto Rome. And from there towards
\nArgentina, Bolivia or the United States. (4)<\/p>\n
When it became known that Franjo Tudjman and the leaders of the "new"
\nCroatia born in 1991 had rehabilitated the former Croatian World War II
\ncriminals, one would like to know if Mr. Marinkovic disavows all this past
\nor if, quite simply, he employs the same methods where he is now. As for
\nthe United States, one knows that it rehabilitated and recycled a large
\nquantity of Nazi criminals and spies of World War II. The networks are
\nalways useful.<\/p>\n
What hides behind separatism<\/p>\n
There. All the ingredients are ready to blow Bolivia apart… The dollars
\nof the CIA, plus the experts in provoking civil wars, plus the fascists
\nrecycled as businesspeople. A civil war that would serve the interests of
\nthe multinationals, but that international public opinion must absolutely
\nprevent. The Bolivians have the right to decide their fate themselves.
\nWithout the CIA.<\/p>\n
Because a secession would benefit only the elite. The Brazilian writer Emir
\nSader has just written very precisely: "Today, one of the methods that
\nincludes racism is separatism, the attempt to delimit the lands controlled
\nby the white race, by adapting and privatizing the wealth that belongs to
\nthe nation and its people. We already knew these intentions in the form of
\nthe rich districts that sought to be defined as municipalities, with the
\ngoal that a share of the taxes taken by law from their immense richnesses
\nremains under their control to increase the revenue to their split-off
\ndistricts, behind which they sought to insulate and to use a privately
\ncontrolled security apparatus to guard their privileged life styles.(…)
\nThe separatist referendum is an oligarchic, racist and economic device used
\nbecause they want to keep the greatest part of the wealth of Santa Cruz for
\ntheir own benefit and because the oligarchs want, moreover, to prevent the
\ngovernment of Evo Morales from continuing the process of land reform and
\nextending all over the country." (5)<\/p>\n
This autonomy, indeed, that means that the rich white people who have
\nalways controlled Bolivia refuse to listen to the non-white majority in its
\nWest. When one speaks about autonomy, Evo Morales answers: "Let us speak
\nabout autonomy, not for the oligarchy, but for the people with whom we
\nstruggle. These separatist groups which have just lost their privileges
\nwere for a long time in the palace, they controlled the country and allowed
\nthe plundering of our country, our natural resources, including its natural
\nresources, and the same with the privatization of our companies, and now
\nthey once again want to reestablish this system which exposes their true
\ninterest: economic control."<\/p>\n
But it’s not only the United States that intervenes in Bolivia…<\/p>\n
The hypocrisy of Europe :
\nwho thereby caused, "all the misery of the world"?<\/p>\n
While hunting down undocumented workers, Europe slips into a sigh from the
\ngenteel nobility: "We cannot after all give succor to all the suffering of
\nthe world." Ah, well? But, actually, this misery, it is you who created it!
\nYour Charles the Fifth, your Louis XIV, your Elisabeth I and your L\u00e9opold
\nII happily massacred the "savages" to steal their wealth! This plundering
\nwas the basis of European capitalism’s rapid economic growth. And today
\nstill your mining, agricultural and other corporations have not ceased to
\nplunder the raw materials without paying for them, have not ceased
\ndominating and deforming the local economies and blocking their
\ndevelopment! Isn’t it you who have the debt–to repay the South?<\/p>\n
Would this be dredging up the past? In the media, the Europeans in charge
\nlike to say that today, they want only the best for Latin America and the
\nThird World…<\/p>\n
"Completely false," confided to me with indignation Pablo Solon, who
\nrepresents Bolivia in the trade negociations between Latin America and the
\nE.U: "Bolivia exp-lained it to the E.U. Before the negotiations, we had
\nsaid that we would not negotiate a Free-Trade-style treaty. And we had
\ncommunicated our points of divergence regarding services, investments,
\nintellectual property and public property. The commission promised us that
\nthese points would be on the table during the negotiations. That in
\ncontrast with the "others," they would not try to impose a unique format on
\nus. But, when we met with Peter Mandelson, European commerce official, he
\ntold us in a categorical and imperative way: ‘This is a Free Trade
\nAgreement. Accept it or you’re out of the talks.’ I answered personally
\nthat we were not going to exclude ourselves and that we were going to
\ndefend our points of view until the end. Because Bolivia has many
\nindustries which it must defend: steel, plastic, paper, which need
\nmechanisms to protect themselves, as was done for the emergent European
\nindustries in the past."<\/p>\n
Indeed, Europe showed that it is hyper-dominating and arrogant. It claims
\nit will impose on all of Latin America and the Caribbean the end of
\nsubsidies that help to develop the local products, the suppression of the
\nimport duties (but it refuses to do the same at home!), suppression of
\nevery limit for European exports (refusing the reverse), the transfer
\nwithout limits of the qualified European labor, and the modification of all
\nlaws protecting the local economies.<\/p>\n
And moreover, the E.U. wants to impose the privatization of all state
\nservices, goods and enterprises. Although already in 2000, out of the 500
\nlargest companies of Latin America and of the Caribbean, 46 percent already
\nbelonged to foreign corporations.<\/p>\n
And moreover, the E.U. wants to impose patents on living things (Bolivia
\nhas a very rich biodiversity coveted by the chemical and pharmaceutical
\ntransnationals). But aren’t living things, and water also, goods essential
\nfor survival, an innate property that should remain with those who always
\nprotected them and used them with care?<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the E.U. wants to impose completely unbalanced treaties which
\nwill wipe out the Bolivian companies. All that it seeks is that the
\nEuropean companies can invade the markets freely. Thus they will ruin these
\ncountries. Thus they will provoke emigration. An absurd system, no?<\/p>\n
Who chooses immigration and why?<\/p>\n
I wrote that Europe drove out the Latino immigrants. That is less than
\naccurate. Europe does not treat them all the same way.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, European bosses import the best brains of the Third World,
\nand also the very qualified technicians. They are under-paid to increase
\ncompany profits. It is what Sarkozy and others call "selected immigration".
\nThe boss selects those who will be likely to work for him. But this
\nbrain-drain deprives the Third World of people whom it taught (at great
\ncost) and who would be necessary to its development. A new form of
\nplundering.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Europe also welcomes a part of the non-qualified
\nworkers. By leaving them without papers, therefore without rights, it
\nforces them to live in fear, to accept wages and working conditions that
\nconstitute social reverses. It’s an effective way to divide the working
\nclass and pressure the other workers. That’s how the "competitiveness" of
\nthis virtuous Europe is manufactured. How Europe treats undocumented
\nworkers is no aberration, but an essential moving part of an economic
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
To sum up: Europe stole from Latin America. Europe continues to steal from
\nLatin America. It stops the continent from nourishing its children. But
\nwhen those children are forced to emigrate, it imprisons them. Then, it
\noffers lessons of democracy and morality to the whole world.<\/p>\n
The time has come<\/p>\n
I could not remain in Bolivia a long time, but these people deeply
\nimpressed me. I remember the thousands of demonstrators who went down, this
\nSunday, towards the center of La Paz, crammed into their minibuses, cars or
\ntaxis, Indians and whites, from the fairest to the darkest.<\/p>\n
With astonishing calm and much less noise than in any demonstration in any
\nother part of the world. With a simple and noble determination. And in
\ntheir eyes you could read a determination: the time has come to put an end
\nto centuries of humiliations, the time has come for dignity for all, the
\ntime has come to make misery disappear.<\/p>\n
And I thought once again of those undocumented friends in Brussels, who
\nalso demonstrated for their future and their dignity. The problem is
\nobviously the same one, in Brussels and La Paz: for whom must the wealth of
\na country be used? And if this problem is not resolved in La Paz, the
\nmillions of undocumented workers will continue to knock on Europe’s doors.<\/p>\n
And tomorrow?<\/p>\n
How will this evolve? For August 10, an pro-U.S. polling institute, like
\nthe majority of my contacts in La Paz, predicted a victory of Evo with 60
\npercent. On the other hand, some feared the influence of the problem of the
\ninflation and the increase in the cost of living. Still others fear that
\nthe rightwing will launch violent provocations.<\/p>\n
Whatever happens, the referendum itself will resolve nothing, neither in
\none direction, nor the other. Evo Morales will still face the same problem:
\nthe government is on the left, but it does not control the country’s
\neconomy, nor its media (which is in the hands of the big landowners and the
\nSpanish multinational Prisa), nor its universities, nor the Church, which
\nis on the side of the rich as usual on this continent. One cannot do
\neverything in two-and-a-half years. But, to advance, Evo will have to
\nsucceed more than even in mobilizing the popular masses. His only strength.<\/p>\n
In any event, after the referendum, the question will remain the same: will
\nthe wealth of the country be used to enrich the wealthy and the
\ntransnational corporations or to develop the country and overcome poverty?<\/p>\n
To resolve this question in its favor, Washington is ready to do anything.
\nAnd the international progressive movement? How will it react against
\ndisinformation and the preparation of a civil war?<\/p>\n
The answer depends on all of us.<\/p>\n
Michel Collon
\nLa Paz – Brussels
\nAugust 2008<\/p>\n
Translation from French: John Catalinotto<\/p>\n
If you want to send to your friends, French and Spanish versions available [1] Test-media Yugoslavia y Kosovo, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5387-is-evo-in-danger-after-the-august-10-referendum<\/p>\n 6128<\/p>\n EmiNews 2008<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nat
\n
\n[2] Roberto Bardini, el embajador de la secesi\u00f3n, traducci\u00f3n francesa
\nvuelta a ver B.I., n\u00ba 133, junio de 2008.
\n[3] Michel Collon, Liars’ Poker, IAC, New York, 2002, p. 78
\n[4] Operaci\u00f3n Ratlines, documental de David Young amargo Chanel 4 TVES,
\n1991. Citado en El Juego de la mentira, p. 83.
\n[5] CEPRID, la CIA all\u00ed la oligarqu\u00eda en contubernio contradijo a Bolivia,
\nww.nodo50.org\/ceprid\/spip.php?article169<\/p>\n