Oppose Foreign Interference in Bolivian Election! Let the Bolivian People Decide!

Pickets October 18
No to Foreign Interference in the Bolivian Elections!

Montreal
1:00-4:00 pm
In front of the U.S. Consulate, 1134 St. Catherine St. W.
Organized by Mouvement québécois pour la paix

Ottawa
4:30 pm
In front of the U.S. Embassy, 490 Sussex Dr.
Organized by ALBA Social Movements Ottawa

Following continuous massive protests by the organized Bolivian people in defence of their right to elect a president and government of their choosing, the elections, postponed three times, will finally take place on October 18. The postponements reflect the efforts of the U.S.-backed coup forces to suppress and attack the Bolivian people who are fighting to defend their democratic rights. To this end, attempts were made to annul the legal status of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) with warrants issued for the arrest of President Evo Morales and other leading members of MAS on invented charges of sedition, terrorism and the instigation of criminal acts. This is in addition to the mayors and other local elected officials affiliated with MAS already forced out of office and detained during the coup.

Inspired by a U.S. goal to dominate the region and with the direct intervention by the Organization of American States (OAS), the coup machinery was set in motion with paramilitary groups kidnapping and torturing elected officials, burning public buildings, ransacking President Morales' home, attacking his ministers and holding their families hostage to compel resignations.

Canada's role in undermining the constitutional process in Bolivia shows its hypocritical face once again. While pretending to be the greatest defender of the rights of Indigenous people and rules-based governance, the Liberal government was a direct participant with the U.S. and others in the Lima Group in the interfering activity of the OAS to overthrow Evo Morales, the first Indigenous leader elected as President of Bolivia where Indigenous peoples make up 80 per cent of the population.

It is a fact that Canada financed the OAS effort that discredited the Bolivian Presidential election. Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Foreign Minister at the time, stated:

"Canada commends the invaluable work of the OAS audit commission in ensuring a fair and transparent process, which we supported financially and through our expertise."

This is another example of the actions of this Liberal government which claims to be a paragon of "democracy" and to follow "a rules-based international order." In fact, it targets independent-minded governments for destabilization and regime change.

Since ousting President Morales, the coup regime welcomed back to Bolivia the U.S. Agency for International Aid and Development, joined the anti-Venezuela Lima Group and also expelled 700 Cuban doctors, which has exposed the people to further dangers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The coup government's corruption and racist policy towards the Indigenous peoples of Bolivia resulted in a lack of sanitary supplies, and diagnostic and clinical tests. Today, Bolivia is among the hardest-hit countries with a surge in deaths related to the pandemic. It is one of the top five countries with the most infections and COVID-related deaths.

We wholeheartedly support the striving of the Bolivian people to elect a president and government of their choosing and to give themselves the ways and means to continue solving the social problems they encounter, not least of which is the dire health situation.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the founding Charter of the United Nations, we demand that the Canadian government adhere to its principles and objectives. This includes the equality of all nations, big or small, and their right to determine their own affairs. Canada must uphold the standards established by international rule of law enshrined in the Charter which the world's people still hold dear.