CARICOM has been vindicated over Bolivia

Our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been completely vindicated by the results of Bolivia’s presidential and parliamentary elections of 18th October 2020 – a landslide victory for Luis Arce, the presidential candidate of Evo Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism ( MAS) political party, and also massive victories for MAS’ candidates in the elections to both Houses of Congress!

It will be recalled that almost exactly one year ago, the Movement Towards Socialism’s then Presidential candidate, Evo Morales – Bolivia’s first native American President – had won a smashing electoral victory, but that his victory had been effectively nullified by claims of electoral fraud emanating from the Organization of American States (OAS) and its Electoral Observer Mission, leading ultimately to President Morales resigning and fleeing the country under threat from right wing military and political forces.

It will also be recalled that President Morales’ violent ouster led to the assumption of power by a right wing “interim” Administration, and precipitated a violent crackdown on many sectors of the indigenous population of Bolivia – the segment of the population that had, historically, been the victims of racism by the white Bolivian elite, and also the segment of the population that was most supportive of Evo Morales and his MAS.

It was against this background that on the 18th of December 2019, thirteen of our fourteen independent CARICOM member states introduced a Resolution in the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) denouncing the illegal anti- Indigenous violence in Bolivia, and demanding that the “interim” Administration of Jeanine Anez comply with its obligations under International Law and uphold the human rights of the indigenous people of Bolivia.

The text of the CARICOM Resolution read, in part, as follows:

“Taking note of the deep concerns about the human rights situation, including violence in racist and discriminatory ways, expressed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ... after its visit to Bolivia;

Also noting the findings of the IACHR that, following the electoral process, a wave of violence occurred, and serious allegations were made of human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions and arrests, massacres and murder, wounding of the civilian population, criminalization and persecution of political opponents, and violations of freedom of expression ...

RESOLVES TO:

Condemn the human rights violations and the use of violence against any citizen of Bolivia, especially any and all forms of violence and intimidation against Bolivians of indigenous origins ...

Urge the authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to respect, comply with and effectively implement all their obligations under international law as they apply to indigenous peoples, particularly those related to human rights ...”

Our thirteen CARICOM states gained the support of Argentina, Panama, Uruguay, Mexico and Nicaragua for our Resolution, and we were therefore able to attain the eighteen votes required to pass the Resolution!

It should be noted however, that the Governments of Colombia, the United States of America, Bolivia (the said “interim” Administration), and Venezuela (as represented by the Juan Guaido faction) voted against the CARICOM Resolution, while nations such as Canada, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay and Honduras abstained, and Haiti was absent.

The US Ambassador to the OAS – Carlos Trujillo – was particularly scathing in his denunciation of the CARICOM Resolution. According to him, “the proponents of the resolution pretend that there is a major crisis and violence focused on indigenous people in Bolivia ... Second, this resolution ignores the real problem in Bolivia ... the OAS ... have exhaustively documented intentional and massive election fraud by the former Morales regime ... the resolution says nothing about Morales’ election fraud and subversion of democracy ...”

Well, in the months following the adoption of CARICOM’s crucial human rights supporting Resolution, more and more evidence emerged about the scores of indigenous people who had been killed in Bolivia; about the hundreds of people - mainly indigenous- who had been wounded and maimed; about the illegal incarceration of political prisoners, inclusive of prominent Afro- Bolivian union leader Elena Flores; and about the gutting of social programmes upon which the Bolivian poor depended.

In addition, the OAS’ claim of electoral fraud on the part of Evo Morales – the allegation that had effectively scuttled Evo Morales’ electoral victory, and that had opened the way for the right wing in Bolivia to force President Morales to resign and leave the country – was demonstrably proven to have been wrong by several highly respected independent institutions.

Such institutions included the Washington DC based Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Michigan, Tulane University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Indeed, the verdict of disinterested, independent analysts was virtually unanimous: namely, that there was no evidence of fraud in Bolivia’s October 2019 Presidential Elections, and that Evo Morales and his MAS political party had won a legitimate victory.

And if we had any doubt as to who was right about this claim of electoral fraud – the OAS Secretariat and its Electoral Observation Mission, or the various disinterested and independent experts who examined the matter in detail – the Bolivian elections of 18th October 2020 provided us with clear and irrefutable proof!

You see, as a result of the “interim” right wing Administration of Jeanine Anez banning Evo Morales from participating in the elections, Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) put up an alternative candidate in the form of Luis Arce (President Morales’ long serving Minister of Economic Affairs) and – in a contest against six (6) other Presidential candidates – Arce and the MAS won a whopping 55 per cent of the vote!

On the other hand, Luis Camacho – the candidate of the right wing forces that had denied President Morales his 2019 victory – garnered a mere 14 per cent of the vote !

And so, CARICOM has been vindicated, and we can all be justly proud of the principled, responsible and courageous role that our regional organization has played in this entire affair. Indeed, CARICOM has embellished its image as a defender of the rights of the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and the Americas, and as a champion of human rights, justice and democratic governance.

But what does this whole sorry saga say about the OAS, and about the Secretariat of the OAS in particular ? Furthermore, what does it say about those powerful entities that always have so much to say in the corridors of the OAS as they set out to dominate policy-making in that institution and across our hemisphere?

Yours faithfully,

David Comissiong

Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM