Oligarchy tries to block nationalization

Since Evo Morales Ayma, a member of the Aymara Indigenous nation, was elected president of Bolivia one year ago with 53 percent of the vote,the oligarchy in that country has been working to try to preserve its elite status and riches.

This is not unique to Bolivia. Seeing their pursuit of profits endangered, oligarchs all over Latin America—together with International Monetary Fund/World Bank-aligned transnational corporations, and with ready help from the United States government—are trying to set in motion diverse plans to return to the former status quo.

With the disenfranchised masses throughout the area rising up, and elected progressive governments moving away from neoliberal programs that impoverish the peoples, these plans are taking the form of attempted balkanization of countries, among many other tactics. They have been applied—unsuccessfully so far—in Venezuela, Ecuador and at this moment in Bolivia.

The Morales government has promised major improvements in the lives of the Indigenous, peasants and workers, who had militantly fought to overthrow the criminal and neoliberal former president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. Their quest is particularly to nationalize Bolivia’s abundant natural gas, and for a life with dignity for the population in general.

The agenda of the Morales government has three basic steps: a Constitutional Assembly for the refounding of the Republic, agrarian reform and the nationalization of natural gas. With these measures it is attempting to finally bring some justice to the suffering and excluded masses.

However, a government that is determined to firmly follow the electoral process and the law, while trying to carry out a revolution in the economy, land distribution and a social agenda, is likely to be confronted with challenges from the oligarchy—rich landowners and businessmen who were Sánchez de Lozada’s partners.

Four of the nine departments of Bolivia—what the elite call the “half moon” because they geographically go from east to south in a comma-like formation—have great wealth, particularly the eastern department of Santa Cruz, site of vast resources of natural gas. The other three are Beni, Pando and Tarija.

The oligarchs, who are demanding a vote of two-thirds instead of a majority to approve a new Constitution, have turned to violence, are staging hunger strikes and have decided to press for autonomy of the four departments. On Dec. 15, the Santa Cruz Civic Committee, a thoroughly racist organization of the elite, held a meeting to “constitute the Autonomous Region of Bolivia,” together with the other three departments.

But the movement of the peoples in Bolivia, particularly the Indigenous, is not going to let a minority in the elite turn back the gains they have achieved and the promise of a better future. Some 300,000 Bolivians are now learning to read and write, using the Cuban method called “Yo sí puedo” (Yes, I can), and supported by the Venezuelan government.

Sympathizers of Morales’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) blocked the roads leading to the meeting site of the oligarchs for 24 hours. Several buses were burned and clashes left around 40 people wounded. In retaliation, groups associated with the “Cruceños”—the elite of Santa Cruz—went to San Ignacio, a locality with MAS sympathizers, to threaten them and to loot.

The government sent the military and the police to prevent more attacks from the Santa Cruz-associated groupings. It is interesting to note that the armed forces have publicly expressed their loyalty to the government.

Several Indigenous organizations have issued communiqués supporting the Constitutional Assembly and calling for unity, not autonomy.

These events began as the second South American Summit was taking place in Bolivia, where most of the 13 South American heads of state met to discuss further integration of the region.

The United States, contrary to what it does at home, asked the Morales government to “listen to the minorities”—which in this case means the white elite.