Political Crisis in Bolivia | Jhanisse Vaca Daza

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“I would say when the police sided with the people and they decided they were not going to shoot at us, that was the moment where I thought ‘oh my god, maybe we are going to make it’.”
— Jhanisse Vaca Daza

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Date: Wednesday, December 18th 2019
Company: Standing Rivers
Role: Co-Founder

Evo Morales was the first Indigenous President of Bolivia. He came from a family of coca leaf growers and became a prominent figure in the resistance of the attempted eradication of coca leaf farming by Bolivian and US authorities.

In 2005, Morales was elected President of Bolivia and quickly implemented a raft of socialist policies, and during his first term, Morales drafted and introduced a new constitution. One key principle of the constitution prescribed that a president could not serve more than two consecutive presidential terms.

Morales won his second presidential campaign in 2009, and in 2013 he went to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and fought to be eligible to stand in the 2014 election. The court ruled that Morales' first term did not count towards the term limit because it had taken place before the ratification of the 2009 constitution. Morales then stood for re-election in 2014 and won, and he dedicated this election win to Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Following his win, Morales stated that he would not attempt to amend the constitution to allow a fourth term, however, in 2016 a referendum was held that would mean a president could serve three consecutive terms, allowing Morales to run in the 2019 election. This referendum was narrowly defeated.

Despite losing the referendum and going against the new constitution which he introduced, Morales was announced by his party (MAS) as their candidate for the 2019 election. In September 2017, MAS asked the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to remove the limit on presidential terms. The term limit was rescinded one month later.

Morales won the 2019 election but was immediately met with calls of ballot fixing and vote-rigging. The accusations were later confirmed by the Organization of American States' report on the election. This led to widespread protest and calls for Morales to resign.

Military calls for his resignation forced Morales to step down and seek political asylum in Mexico. Since then, the report by the OAS has been questioned for authenticity with two clear sides forming. There is a group which believe that Evo is abusing power and another which feels that he followed a legal process and should have remained president. This has resulted in mass unrest in Bolivia with many protestors killed on the streets.

In this interview, I talk to Jhanisse Vaca Daza. a Bolivian human rights activist and co-founder of Standing Rivers, a movement which respects Indigenous rights and values environmental sustainability. We discuss the current political crisis in Bolivia regarding ex-President, Evo Morales.

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