Fascinating. I knew very little about this, and this was very educational. Thank you. Also, that guy has a massive mouth for the size of his head.
It's quickly spiraling into a shitshow. The left refuses to see the dictatorial slant of Morales, but the replacement may be even worse (evangelical nutjob that's given carte blanche on cops to go hard on protesters (20+ dead)), and ordered the arrests of all electoral officials, and threatening to arrest all left leaning law makers & officials. This after all those in the succession line were ousted, and Jeanine seems to not be overly interested in calling for a new election.
If the military deposes someone, they almost always replace with one of theirs - and that is usually a hard right guy.
There's even some nuance there. Apparently the constitution (don't know if old one or new one) allows the military to take any measure they deemed necessary to avoid catastrophe which some are saying gave them legitimate reason to ask Morales to resign (who then flew on military plane to Mexico). Following that, those military men involved in the "coup" resigned their posts. Now they could've been paid to carry out the action or they could have been legitimate about their conviction and not be seen as biased, who knows.
Bolivian military had the good sense to remove Evo Morales after the fraudulent election where they stopped counting the votes and suddenly, Evo Morales had a small lead. Socialists and Communists will NEVER give up power voluntarily. Life is so good when you as the top official own all the resources, companies, monies, power. Everyone else are your slaves and equal only in misery. I have met people from communist countries in the US and none of them wish they were back in their own countries. They are glad to live in the US. Sad that these immigrants are more loyal and better Americans than other Americans saying they love the US but, selling out to foreign interests in exchange for campaign cash or contributions to their so called charitable foundations. We have more traitors now working in the US government than in anytime in US history. US politicians now are the most corrupt. If the FBI and DOJ was only, doing their jobs and all loyal to the US, all these corrupt politicians would have already been charged and rotting in jail where they belong!
The underlying of this political dust up is about who gets to line their pockets with the proceeds of 25% of Earth's lithium deposits buried in Bolivia. See Putin and oil. Morales signed a deal with Germany that gives them 80% of mined lithium. That's what lit the fuse. It's since been canceled. He wants to vertically integrate the biz into battery production, not just handing off raw materials, the low end of the profit spectrum. That will take time, why he wants another term. Politics is a derivative of money, never a first order.
I've been hearing of American interest pushing for the ousting, precisely for that lithium. They're merely rumors spouted by the conspiratorial left, but I wouldn't be entirely shocked if they're eventually proven true.
Chile,Australia etc. have cleaner lithium, as much dirt doesn't have to be mined and not as many contaminants. Morales didn't come up with the vertical integration scheme until civil blowback started. He was going out the door with what passed under the table from the Germans to seal the deal. Now he, or his successor, has to wait until factories are built etc.
https://apnews.com/article/virus-ou...regularities-a3a68ec5df5889cc4010d5329603cb20 Morales party claims win as Bolivia seems to shift back left LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia appeared Monday to be shifting sharply away from the conservative policies of the U.S.-backed interim government that took power last year after leftist President Evo Morales resigned, with the self-exiled leader’s party claiming victory in a weekend presidential election. The leading rival of Morales’s handpicked successor, Luis Arce, conceded defeat as did interim President Jeanine Áñez, a bitter foe of Morales. Officials released no formal, comprehensive quick count of results from Sunday’s vote, but two independent surveys of selected polling places gave Arce a lead of roughly 20 percentage points over his closest rival — far more than needed to avoid a runoff. Áñez asked Arce “to govern with Bolivia and democracy in mind.” Arce, meanwhile, appealed for calm in the bitterly divided nation saying he would seek to form a government of national unity under his Movement Toward Socialism party. “I think the Bolivian people want to retake the path we were on,” Arce declared, surrounded by a small group of supporters, some of them in traditional Andean dress in honor of the country’s Indigenous roots. To win in the first round, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, or 40% with a lead of at least 10 percentage points over the second-place candidate. The independent counts, sponsored by the Catholic Church and civic groups, indicated Arce had a little over 50% of the vote and a roughly 20-point advantage over centrist former President Carlos Mesa, who acknowledged defeat. The formal official count showed Arce and Mesa in a close race for much of Monday, but by the night Arce was pulling away. With about 40% of ballots counted, Arce had over 45% and Mesa had about 35%. The early counted votes appeared to be largely from urban areas rather than the rural heartlands that have been the base of support for Morales and his movement. Officials said final results could take days. Arce, who oversaw a surge in growth and a sharp reduction in poverty as Morales’ economy minister for more than a decade, will struggle to reignite that growth. The boom in prices for Bolivia’s mineral exports that helped feed that progress has faded, and the new coronavirus has hit impoverished, landlocked Bolivia harder than almost any other country on a per capita basis. Nearly 8,400 of its 11.6 million people have died of COVID-19. Arce, 57, also faces the challenge of emerging from the long shadow of his former boss, who remains polarizing but whose support enabled the low-key, British-educated economist to mount a strong campaign. Áñez’s government tried to overturn many of Morales’ policies and wrench the country away from its leftist alliances. Newly installed electoral authorities barred Morales from running in Sunday’s election, even for a seat in congress, and he faces prosecution on what are seen as trumped-up charges of terrorism if he returns home. Morales, who turns 61 this month, said at a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday that he plans to return to Bolivia, though he did not say when. Like Arce, he took a conciliatory tone and called for “a great meeting of reconciliation for reconstruction.” “We are not vengeful,” he said. He declined to say if he would have a role in the government. But few expect the sometimes-irascible politician — Bolivia’s first Indigenous president — to sit by idly. “Arce is not Morales, but the question is, who is going to govern Bolivia facing the approaching crisis,” said political science professor Franklin Pareja. A boyhood llama herder who became prominent leading a coca grower’s union, Morales was immensely popular as Bolivia boomed, but support was eroding due to his reluctance to leave power, increasing authoritarian impulses and a series of corruption scandals. He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. But a lengthy pause in reporting results fed suspicions of fraud and nationwide protests followed, leading to the deaths of at least 36 people. All seats in the 136-member Legislative Assembly also were also being contested Sunday, with results expected to echo the presidential race. “Bolivia’s new executive and legislative leaders will face daunting challenges in a polarized country, ravaged by COVID-19, and hampered by endemically weak institutions,” said the Washington Office on Latin America, a Washington-based human rights advocacy organization. Morales led Bolivia from 2006 until 2019 and was the last survivor of the so-called “pink wave” of leftist leaders that swept into power across South America, including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Arce’s victory is bound to reenergize Latin America’s left, whose anthem of economic justice has broad appeal in a region where poverty is expected to surge to 37% this year, according to the United Nations. The Trump administration had celebrated Morales’ ouster as a watershed moment for democracy in Latin America, but on Monday a State Department spokesman said the U.S. looks forward “to working with whomever the Bolivians elect.”