Bolivians vote to continue progressive reforms

With shouts of “Jallalah Evo” and “Jallalah Bolivia,” which roughly translate to “We will continue in the struggle,” thousands of exhilarated Bolivians celebrated their triumph over a recall referendum on Aug. 10. They gathered in Plaza Murillo facing Palacio Quemado, the presidential palace, awaiting their president, Evo Morales, after defeating the recall by a wide margin.

Supporters of Bolivia's Evo Morales celebrate during a rally in La Paz, Aug. 10.

Recall referendums are usually demanded by the opposition. This one in Bolivia, on the contrary, was proposed by Morales himself to confront attempts by the opposition to make his administration ungovernable. Morales is the first Indigenous person to be president of Bolivia, after being democratically elected in this predominantly Indigenous country in 2006.

The opposition, led by a thoroughly fascist, wealthy white business elite allied to U.S. corporate interests, has tried to obstruct every new project of the Morales administration that would help lift up the living standards of the majority—Indigenous, peasants and urban poor.

This obstruction includes resistance by the opposition to ratifying a new Constitution approved last December by the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution sets forth a new path for the country, away from the neoliberalism that has made Bolivia, a country with great natural wealth, one of the poorest in Latin America, forcing many of its people to emigrate. The new Constitution is a direct challenge to the interests of the wealthy capitalists who predominate in the four departments of the Media Luna—the eastern region of the country where wealth from the exploitation of natural gas has made it the hub of Bolivia’s industry.

The referendum put to a vote the recall of the president, vice president and governors of eight of Bolivia’s nine departments. Since this type of referendum can only be used after the first half of one’s term, one recently elected governor was not included.

Initial results

As of the morning of Aug. 12, the National Electoral Tribunal reported that, with 83.56 percent of the ballots counted, an outstanding 65 percent of voters had responded positively to the referendum question, “Do you agree with the continuation of the process of change led by President Evo Morales Ayma and Vice President Álvaro García Linera?” This is far more than the 53.7 percent of voters who elected Morales president in 2005. Even in regions dominated by the opposition, the percent of votes supporting Morales increased over the 2005 elections.

Some governors on both sides were recalled: two from the opposition in La Paz and Cochabamba departments; one from Morales’s party, MAS, in Oruro. The opposition kept its hold on the departments in the Media Luna. MAS remained in charge of Potosí.

Progress under Morales

The numbers behind the ratification of Morales speak volumes about the will of the majority of Bolivians to increase the process of nationalizing their natural resources and services and taking back their destiny from the hands of the capitalists.

In just two and a half years in office, and in spite of opposition violence against him and his supporters, President Morales has been able to show concrete results. Bolivia’s international currency reserves have more than doubled; revenues from the sale of natural gas have served to begin social programs, including a pension for people age 60 and older. With the assistance of Cuba and Venezuela, more than half a million people have become literate and one million have received free health care.

In an article widely circulated on the Internet, Venezuelan writer Luis Britto García, who recently visited Bolivia, quoted Morales: “Thanks to the income of the nationalized gas industry, in little over two years urban unemployment has decreased from 8.15 percent to 7.66 percent; the minimum salary has increased from 440 bolivianos to 577.7; the foreign debt decreased from $4.94 to $2.9 billion. For the first time in decades, there is no fiscal deficit. And we add that the president, vice president, parliamentarians and ministers have lowered their salaries and increased those of the health workers, teachers and workers in general.”

Fascist opposition and its Yanki backers

Bolivia is central to the plans of Wall Street and Washington to regain U.S. dominance in Latin America, which is steadily being eroded by the massive anti-imperialist movements in the region. Secession is the strategy for Bolivia, but it is also contemplated against Venezuela and Ecuador. With a racist, arrogant imperialist perspective, the White House views Evo Morales’s administration as an easy target to start implementing its secessionist plans for the area.

The U.S., under cover of the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development, among others, has sent funds and experts in counter-revolution to work with the Bolivian oligarchy to try to destabilize the government and increase the strength of the secessionist movement. U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg is in the thick of it with directives to promote the division of the country, just as he did in the former Yugoslavia, where he worked in the U.S. Embassy during the mid 1990s.

The fascist oligarchy has at its disposal a paramilitary grouping of youth called Cruceñista Youth Union who, on the day of the referendum, went armed with bats in poor neighborhoods in Santa Cruz that are strongly pro-Morales, threatening voters. They were transported in microbuses of the Gabriel René Moreno University. These youth have committed many acts of racist violence against the poor and Indigenous who live in the Media Luna departments.

Another violent group, the Civic Committee of San Ignacio de Velasco in Santa Cruz, threatened a group of Cuban doctors in La Paz, forcing their way into the doctors’ house.

The opposition in general tried their hardest to prevent this referendum. Their tactics ranged from hunger strikes to the violent takeover of public institutions and actions in front of the Tarija airport on the day Argentinean President Cristina Fernández and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez were scheduled to visit Bolivia, forcing both of them to cancel their trips.

Latin American solidarity

All over Latin America, however, there is much solidarity for the “Democratic and Cultural Revolution,” as the Bolivian Revolution is called. Latin American progressives closely followed the referendum, concerned most of all with U.S. interference in Bolivia and the entire region.

In Caracas, Venezuela, several demonstrations supported Morales and the Indigenous revolution, and there were constant vigils in front of the Bolivian Embassy. In Argentina thousands of Bolivian immigrants organized a mock election where they ratified Morales and recalled all the opposition governors. The vote by Bolivians outside the country is not recognized by Bolivia’s Electoral Law. The group, however, stated it will send the ballots to the National Electoral Tribunal in Bolivia and to the legislators.

In Bolivia itself the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity held an event called “Gathering of Intellectuals for the Unity and Sovereignty of Bolivia,” attended by well-known figures like Ernesto Cardenal, Ramsey Clark, Frei Betto and Michel Collon, among others.

Evo’s message: ‘Homeland or death—We will win!’

The referendum gives even greater legality to the Morales presidency and the reforms he is advancing. However, the opposition is still strong, particularly with the growing support of the U.S. government. But Morales, loyal to this new mandate from the people, has vowed to intensify the nationalizations and “recover the natural resources.”

Speaking to the crowd on the night of the vote, he pledged to move the new Constitution forward and strengthen the unity of Bolivians. The masses yelled, “Mano dura,” meaning take a hard line with the opposition. He dedicated the triumph to the Bolivian people but also to “all the revolutionaries of Latin America and the world.”

Morales finished his speech with the cry, “¡Que viva Bolivia unida!” (Long live a united Bolivia!) “¡Patria o muerte!” (Homeland or death!) The masses responded, “¡Venceremos!” (We will win!)