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News > Bolivia

Bolivia: Evo Rips Critics 'Installed by Coups, Military Dictatorships, and Plan Condor'

  • Bolivian President Evo Morales

    Bolivian President Evo Morales | Photo: EFE

Published 11 June 2019
Opinion

Evo Morales pushes back against 21 former Ibero-American presidents who are pushing for the OAS to intervene in his presidential run.

As  Ibero American ex-presidents should sic the international guard dogs on each other before attacking Bolivian President Evo Morales’s 2019 presidential campaign, Morales said Tuesday in response to critics.

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Bolivia Under Evo Morales: 13 Years of Reclaiming Sovereignty

Twenty-one presidents from the linguistically and historically connected nations, who sometimes associate as the Ibero-American countries, signed a letter Monday condemning the Bolivian president’s campaign for reelection, calling on the Organization of American States to intervene.

Their letter accused Morales of a “grave violation” of the International American Convention on Human Rights by participating in this year’s elections and dismissing the rules limiting reelection. The letter continued by accusing the president of violating human rights by forcing the country’s Plurinational Constitutional Court to support his candidacy.

Morales retorted, “They should ask themselves where they come from: most of them come from coups d'états, from military dictatorships, most come from Plan Condor,” he said, referring to the U.S.-backed operation which flew throughout South America, violently targeting anyone perceived to threaten its military power and neoliberal policies.

Evo Morales’ candidacy was authorized by the Supreme Electoral Court after his victory in the Jan 27 this year. General elections are due to be held in October of this year, and is Evo Morales’ third time running for president since the founding of a new ‘plurinational state.’ He has held office since 2006, winning 3 elections in that time.

Morales, in an attempt to show transparency and dispel fears, he turned to the polls and was received enormous support from the public, winning 35.6 percent in February — 5.1 percent more than his leading opponent. In March, a second poll — conducted by Celag — showed 45 percent were planning to vote for him in October.

Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Almagro, declared his support for Morales’ candidacy last month, despite some initial hesitancy.

On May 18, Morales also signed a document agreeing to OAS observers at the October polls, "I fully understand the responsibilities of international organizations and this agreement for observers at the October 20 elections is a way to make them transparent."

Since taking office in 2006, Morales has directed the country into record economic growth rates making Bolivia the fastest growing economy in the region. The Andean nation, that has at least 36 distinct Indigenous groups, has achieved greater social inclusion and a 50 percent poverty rate reduction under Morales, who has been praised by both the United Nations and the neoliberal International Monetary Fund for these accomplishments.

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