You Either Die a Hero or you Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become the Villain

For those unfamiliar with this matter, Bolivia is a landlocked country in the western hemisphere. Called by many ‘the heart of South America’, due to its shape and geographical location, it is the poorest country in the region (by measure of its GDP per capita and its HDI). From the 16th century up until its independence in 1825, it supplied Spanish conquerors with a significant amount of their mineral wealth. Nowadays, it is known officially as the Plurinational State of Bolivia – as it comprises in excess of 30 different indigenous states. Out of all Latin American countries, Bolivia has the highest proportion of indigenous people – at nearly 60% of its inhabitants. Though of considerable landmass, its relatively small population is disseminated across the Andes and the Amazon and its society is noticeably stratified. Much of present-day wealth is accumulated in the main cities; while poverty and lack of education are abundant in the rural zones. Bolivia’s history is riddled with struggles – not least because of its colonial past, but also as a result of more recent conflicts.

Back in 2006, the first-ever indigenous president was elected after a nearly 3-year long political turmoil. Evo Morales brought fresh promises of hope and bolstered a campaign for the many and not the few. He named his party “MAS (Movimiento Al Socialismo)”, which translates to movement to socialism. In hindsight, MAS did achieve many of its primary objectives. Economic growth steadily rose for the most part of his ruling, extreme poverty was drastically reduced, Bolivia’s position in the international community was reinstated, infrastructure was nationalised, social inclusion was fostered, the indigenous identity of the country was boasted, racism was halted and programmes of widespread education were created, amongst others. He achieved something that had become long unbeknownst to Bolivians – unity and stability. These things gave way to his democratic re-election on 2009 and 2014. And indeed, people voted overwhelmingly for his remain – with 64% and 63% of the votes casted for his party, on each occasion respectively. Amongst the most controversial of his decrees, Morales expelled the Drug Enforcement Agency and expanded widespread plantations of Coca in the tropics. Contrary to his promises, however, verifiable corruption scandals soon began to emerge. One after another, allegations against his government grew ever larger. Some even argue that his success was built upon clandestine foundations – government expenditure was allegedly financed with the injection of funds from drug trafficking, as many things didn’t quite make sense. Of course, this latter allegation was made on a conspiracy basis – but was it?

Alas – as time progressed, his once humble origins became overridden by his now present greed. Private jets, helicopters, faulty factories, luxurious motorcades, full-scale international airports in small Coca-producing towns, an unexplainable exponential rise in Coca production, a museum of himself and even the erection of a 30-storey presidential palace were bought using taxpayer’s money, all under the futile premises of “this is the people’s property”. Morales blatantly mismanaged the resources of the poor country he commanded in order to do as he pleased, in a tyrannical fashion. Slowly but surely, his party soon started seizing control of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the government – which, by law, should operate independently of each other. Much of the electorate that had voted for him became upset by these actions, thereby leading him to gradually lose the overwhelming support he once had. To please those that still advocated for him, he chose to go down the populist strategy by building football pitches around the countryside and spreading political propaganda across the nation – in an attempt to engage with the uneducated masses that were largely unaware of his wrongdoings, let alone extravagances.

Without realising it at the time, he spelt the beginning of his demise on the 21st of February of 2016. On that day, Morales called a referendum seeking to change Bolivia’s political constitution in a way that would allow him to run for a 4th consecutive term – which was and is illegal. He lost. Notwithstanding this vote, he insisted on putting his presidential bid forward – breaching the democratic foundations upon which Bolivia became independent, with the petty argument that ‘it was within his human rights to re-run for presidency’. Stemming from this, peaceful anti-MAS protests emerged and progressively got larger in size. Opposition parties advocated Morales’ bid for presidency was unconstitutional, which it was and is.

Already, rumours had emerged that the election would be rigged – but no one had anticipated to what extent to which it would be. Unsurprisingly, on the 20th of October of 2019, MAS won the election – wreaking the country into a state of havoc. From that moment onwards, pro-democracy strikes have been taking place in the country. Peoples of all colours, from all excerpts of society (miners, farmers, indigenous leaders, doctors, students, bankers, businessmen and even some people from MAS’ cabinet) have since been peacefully protesting against these acts of corruption. Boxes upon boxes of crooked ballot-papers favouring him were found and burnt. Even deceased people were reported to have voted for him. The opposition candidates have been desperately holding meetings with news channels and presenting evidence against the fraud, demanding a new democratic election be held. In an attempt to diffuse tensions and intimidate the pro-democracy strikers, Evo Morales threatened to shut down water supplies and fence off the cities. His government bribed the armed forces to ensure they remained under state control; but even then, after a sustained vow for democracy, the police and the army rose against injustice and sided for the people engaging in the peaceful protests. Never has there existed so much cohesion amongst Bolivian’s for one common goal – new elections and justice.

The Organisation of American States, an impartial continental body, performed an audit on this electoral process – only to conclude it was indeed fraudulent. There exists factual proof backing this claim. As a result of this, most of MAS’ government resigned – including the president and the vice-president, upon facing increasing scrutiny. And, to counter these peaceful protests, MAS has been mobilising its populist support-group by feeding it fake facts, arming them, manipulating the truth, instilling hate, promoting violence and strategically deploying messages in the media that aim to victimise Morales – saying he was debased by far-right campaigns and a military coup ousted him from office, deliberately framing him in a situation far off reality. On late Monday evening, Evo Morales fled to Mexico after he was granted political asylum by his Mexican homologue.

As I write this, my family, my friends and everyone I know is in a state of apprehension – fearing for their lives and for their future. A new transitory president has now constitutionally taken office, but still – violent mobs of MAS-supporters have been sacking buildings, burning buses, raping women, killing people and loudly chanting “CIVIL WAR”. Their purposes are devoid of meaning, as they have been coerced to believe the fight for democracy is being held

against them – as opposed to the corrupt rule of their Machiavellian leader. The military and the police have deployed their patrols to prevent the escalation of this conflict and avert bloodshed. Neighbours of many different zones have built barricades to protect themselves against the threat posed by these violent insurgents. Fighter jets are sweeping across the skies to bring back stability and take back control from those that are violently trying to usurp it.

From afar, all I can do is reach out to others, rectify the spread of fake news and let the truth be known. I can’t help but wonder: Will this lead to the demise of other authoritarian regimes, namely those of Venezuela and Cuba? Will this unveil a network of mass-corruption between Latin American countries – seamlessly cooperating with each other, in an unprecedented scale? Will this, at long last, bring about the positive change Bolivians so desire? Will the new leadership be able to mend the damage that was caused in the latter period of MAS’ mandate? Will this chapter be forevermore remembered as an inflection point in Bolivia’s cultural heritage? Will Morales go down into the annals of history as a self-made farmer that rose to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia or as the despotic dictator that battered his country with corruption? All these questions remain unanswered. One thing is for sure: now more than ever, the country must unite and fight for its democracy, engage in peaceful processes, bear its multi-cultural identity with pride, abide by the rule of law, learn from its past and look at the bright opportunities that lie ahead.

I urge you to inform yourself on this situation. Please, help spread the word about what is happening in Bolivia. The spread of fake news is rampant and is manipulating the events in a way to make them seem as though there had been a military coup against Morales – when in fact he is an incontrovertible criminal that ought to be held accountable for his crimes.