Alliance for Responsible Trade

They're killing democracy in Bolivia

Just as Europe learned in a cruelly difficult way, democracy must be lived, reinvented, and constantly defended, not only within our democratic countries but also in the rest of the world. No democracy is an island. Democracies should help each other mutually. This is why today I'm calling on our leaders and our press to declare: Yes, the young Bolivian democracy is in mortal danger.

In 2005 a president and his cabinet were elected by a large margin with more than 50% of the electorate, despite the fact that a large part of the indigenous population, the president's potential base, was not registered to vote because they didn't have civil status.

The main political platform of this government has been overwhelmingly approved through the referendum process before the election, particularly with respect to the nationalization of natural resources aimed at more equitable distribution and the calling of a Constituent Assembly.

Why is a new constitution essential? The answer is very simple: the old constitution dates to 1967, a period during which, in Latin America, the indigenous peoples (who in Bolivia represent 62% of the population) were totally excluded from citizenship.

The efforts of the Bolivian Constituent Assembly have been, from the beginning, constantly blocked through maneuvering and boycotts from the old oligarchies, which cannot stand losing their economic and political privileges. The cynicism of the minority opposition has risen to such a high level that they are turning their rejection of the outcome of the vote into a supposed defense of democracy. This minority reacts with boycotts, aggression in the streets and intimidation of assembly members, following in the path of the massacres perpetrated against unarmed civilians by Ex-President Sanchez Lozada in 2003, who is wanted for these crimes and has taken refuge in the United States.

Benefiting from a carefully orchestrated chaos, the wealthiest provinces are once again threatening secession; they reject the democratic game and don't want to "pay for the poor regions".

Neo-fascist and paramilitary groups supported by the ruling elite and certain foreign interests, create a climate of fear in the indigenous communities. Let's keep in mind what has happened to Colombia and Guatemala, and let's especially remember the Chilean democracy, killed on September 11, 1973 after the same kind of destabilization process.

Democracy can also be killed by means of disinformation. No, Evo Morales is not a dictator. No, he is not the leader of a cartel of cocaine traffickers. These caricatures are circulated among us without the least bit of objectivity, as if the ascendance of an indigenous president and the emergence of an indigenous electorate were unbearable not only to Latin American oligarchs but also to the main stream Western press.

To refute this whole organized lie even better, Evo Morales calls for dialogue, refuses to send out the army and lays his presidency on the line.

I solemnly call on the defenders of democracy, on our leaders, on our intellectuals, on our media. Are we going to wait until Evo Morales shares the same fate as Salvador Allende so that we can then cry over the tomb of Bolivian democracy?

Either democracy is good for everybody or it's not good for anybody. If we love it for ourselves, we should defend it wherever it is threatened.

We do not wish --as some arrogantly attempt to do-- to go and impose it in other lands through armed force. Rather, we should protect it at home with all the strength of our convictions and we should stand by those who have achieved it in their own lands.

Danielle Mitterand

President of the Foundation France Libertés

(Translated by Dan Whitesell)