Who’s the OAS?
The Organization of American States.. It’s made up of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, and these days concentrates on election monitoring.
In last year’s election, in which the disputed issue was whether Morales had gained the more than 10% over that of his rival needed to avoid a runoff, the OAS found that the Morales side had committed fraud in stating that he had. However, other observers have disputed that, and said that he won. Whatever the case, the election led to widespread protests that caused Morales to flee the country and take refuge in Mexico.
In my opinion, Morales’s chicanery goes back further, to running for a fourth term in the first place. As I mentioned, he held a national referendum on whether to allow indefinite re-election, which he narrowly lost. Rather than accept the will of the people, he then instituted court cases to allow him to run. The ins and outs of the subsequent decisions are convoluted but the upshot was he was allowed to run. As I see it, even if this was technically legal it was highly unethical.
So you don’t know much about it, do you?
Thank you for the detailed analysis!
Moderating:
I cannot parse this pile of glop, but it looks like trolling to me.
To be clear, I think Morales in general has been positive for Bolivia, in particular in empowering the large indigenous population (the largest proportion in the Americas), and reducing the massive levels of inequality and poverty. Unlike in Venezuela, he practiced pretty sound fiscal management. From Wiki:
This makes his attempt to stay in office all the more tragic. This gives rightists the opportunity to try to discredit socialists as being sure to seize power in the long run. Clearly, the recent victory of his movement shows that it wasn’t dependent on his personal leadership to succeed. He would have done his country better service to pass on the torch without putting it through the recent upheavals.
I generally agree with you on this topic, but on this specifically, the military essentially forced Morales to step down.
Just a nitpick here, getting recognition is easier, what I said was support.
Again, I do agree that Evo trying to extend his rule was unnecessary and it only gave a big opening to the inept right. There are lessons there for all involved in Bolivia.
While the military and police asked Morales to resign, so did the National Worker’s Union.. It wasn’t a simple left-right issue, as Morales’ loss of the constitutional revision showed. Morales at best received 47% of the vote; the question was whether he received enough over his opponent to avoid a run-off.
The 2019 election was a complete mess, no matter how you look at it. I’m not even going to begin to try to sort out the accusations and counter accusations. As I said, my main point is that Morales could have avoided all that if he hadn’t attempted overreach.
I agree that it was a mess, I just think the fact that the military forced Morales out is an important detail. I think the fact that the caretaker government allowed fair elections and is going to allow MAS to regain power electorally lends credence to the fact that it was not an attempted takeover by a military junta; however whether a figure steps down purely due to protests or whether the triggering event was the military is important.
That’s some Designated Survivor/Battlestar Galactica-level succession! (Thankfully under less bloody circumstances.) Second vice president of the Senate, fifth in line. At least she was elected by somebody, not Secretary of Education or the like.
Not getting the problem with trying to hold on to power if it’s democratically elected power. No every country has two term limits.
A big reason the US backed military coup failed was the strength of grassroots organisations and unions ensuring the military had no choice but to allow free elections. Ollie Vargas is a good journalist to follow regarding this.
Something other countries with facist coup problems could learn from.
To summarise, the steps of the coup were:
Waves of fake news
OAS falsely claiming a rigged election, they falsified numbers themselves. (Ring any bells USA?)
Burning down houses of the members of the true winning party
Violent protests spawned by the false OAS claims
Desertion and treason from police and military.
A lesson for us all.
"Whatever good he did, his attempt to make himself President-for-Life by stealing the last election "
How did that comment age?
Still completely valid.
Ok, for anyone else reading, in no way did Morales steal or try to steal anything.
It turned out that the OAS lied in a very Trump like way. They said numbers didn’t add up. But the votes were coming from different areas, there was no irregularities.
This was revealed too late to stop deadly violence and a year long coup.
The coup government undid years of economic progress, the numbers are staggering. The pre coup, democratic government did big GDP numbers economists love and at the same time reduced inequity.
The coup government took out loans on ridiculous terms which now mean the democratic government are held to economic ransom. It’s like being mugged and finding you you have a debt to pay.
USA must have been fuming the entire time. A successful rogue state and a clear success for democracy? Crush it.
From the info here it’s quite clear Colibri renders facts more reliably while you’re hung up on eccusing the radical Left and a priori anti Americanism
Yeah they 720 kick flipped the economy AND promoted social justice.
(Socialist) party on dude!
The OAS’s statistical analysis has been challenged, but there were many other instances of fraudulent activity at the polls.
In any case, the root cause of the problem was still Morales attempting to make himself president for life, despite his referendum on re-election having been voted down. Morales being personally re-elected would have been detrimental to democracy in Bolivia; he should have allowed an ally to run.
Whats your thing with Morales needing a puppet? Strict USA civics class teacher still in your head.
Of all the things to worry about with the coup, deaths, anti democratic interference in the election.
Why him?
Martin playing “My Dinner with Andre” arcade game: Tell me more!
I didn’t say a puppet, I said an ally. Reliance on a single charismatic individual is historically very bad for political movements. Surely someone else can carry the ideas forward.
Do your own research beyond your own biased sites.