Bolivia Is One Sole Nation
If any evidence was lacking to confirm the separatist and balkanizing desire of the referendum called for May 4 in the energy-rich Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, this confirmation has just been revealed. It lies in the Governor Rubén Costas’s own shameless assertion on Friday that “a new republic is being born.”
Not only is the drafting of a new constitution being opposed —which the separatists governments of the “Media Luna” (the Crescent) opposition departments have boycotted since the very beginning— but also resisted have been each step taken by the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) government, which has been as consistent advocate for the downtrodden non-white indigenous majority.
At issue is the integrity of the Bolivian nation, since separation would establish a negative precedent for the rest of Latin America, bringing so clearly into the light a precept that has been the pillar of imperial policy toward the rest of the world: divide and conquer.
The breakup of Bolivia, as Costa himself has recognized, would begin with the predominantly white, hydrocarbon-wealthy eastern department of Santa Cruz. This would be followed by the other lowland departments of Pando, Beni and Tarija, whose administrations are also in the hands of oligarchies, which —along with “civic committees”— constitute the frontline opposition to MAS. The leaders of these other departments have also announced their respective separatist referendums in the upcoming weeks.
This scheme, constitutionally illegal and calculatingly reprehensible, has touched off rejection by mass-based social movements inside and outside of the country, political parties, intellectuals, legal institutions and leaders across the region – who have all expressed their backing of the government of Evo Morales.
The light complexion of Costa might tip off the origin of this opposition, and the character of the strategy his forces wish to impose, despite the existence of the indigenous majorities to whom Costa and company have been losing their privileges.
The call for the referendum was not even supported by people of the Media Luna area, as demonstrated by the fact that the departmental government picked up signatures endorsing the referendum from only a little more than 100,000 thousand people – in a department of more than 2,000,000 citizens.
However, if being fair-haired is not enough to evidence one’s class interests, it should be known that Costa was leader of the East Agricultural Chamber, the Cattlemen’s Confederation, and the Milk Producers – the cream of the crust of that oligarchy so well represented in Santa Cruz, one of the richest departments. That same department is where lies a significant amount of the petroleum and gas reserves of Bolivia, which the faction wants for itself.
On their side can be noted the hand and brain of Branco Marinkovic, an entrepreneur of Croatian origin who leads the Santa Cruz Civic Committee. He is a promoter of racist fervor and is a known secessionist supporting the “Camba Nation” (a band of white separatists groups that profess their superiority over indigenous Andean culture).
Undermining efforts
The nationalization of hydrocarbons —decreed by President Morales so that the public becomes the owner of that wealth and exploits it for the benefit of the entire country— was the first displeasurable occurrence for Costa and Marinkovic. Later, the oligarchy-controlled governorships and their civic committees were mobilized to make a move on the city of Sucre to impede the work of the Constituent Assembly, which was in charge of crafting the legal overhaul of the constitution. It has still not been able to put this document up for vote by the people, and it continues to be questioned by the administrations of the eastern Media Luna departments.
The establishment of the “Dignity Pension,” as the system of life pensions for senior citizens is called, triggered the attack by the opposition once again, since the program was capitalized with funding with the additional income that the Bolivia government began receiving from the Direct Hydrocarbon Tax, thanks to the renegotiation of contracts with transnational corporations that allowed nationalization.
In this struggle, each of the many efforts by the executive to reach consensus through dialogue and negotiation has been frustrated by that opposition group.
This is the broth that is being stirred to feed hate and which has been served up by the empire. Like in Venezuela, the White House is fomenting subversion in Bolivia through agencies like the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and US-AID, while their substantial budgets for workshops in which citizens are educated on topics such as “democracy” prompt just accusations by Evo Morales about the interference of the American embassy in Bolivia’s internal matters.
A recent article in the Bolivian Information Agency points out, with more precision, the activity of US Ambassador Philip Goldberg —who was an assistant of Richard Holbrooke, identified as one of the strategists in the disintegration of Yugoslavia— and whose arrival in Bolivia is related to the break out of the first separatist actions.
To prevent disorder, the government has insisted in that it will not take additional security measures nor will it send police reinforcements to Santa Cruz May 4.
However, some provocation of these same opposition forces cannot be avoided from those backing the referendum. That was the practice in Sucre, where acts of vandalism and physical attacks on MAS assembly members forced the drafters of the constitution to conclude their works in the town of Oruro.
It cannot be ruled out that this practice will be repeated. Destabilization is within the calculations of those who want to smash Bolivia into pieces.
