Morales plots his own coup in Bolivia

AP/IHT:

Riots convulsed Bolivia's colonial capital Sunday after allies of President Evo Morales approved the framework for a new constitution that would permit his indefinite re-election and could radically alter Bolivian politics.

At least two people, including a police officer, were killed.

A full article-by-article version of the constitution, which would establish a multiethnic state with 36 self-governing regions for indigenous groups, has yet to be approved.

But Morales on Sunday declared that the new charter's essence has now been determined. Voters will determine its fate, he said, without giving a date.

"The constitution will be approved in a referendum by the people, which is the most democratic" way, said Morales, 48. An Aymara Indian and coca growers' union leader, Morales' political playbook has followed closely that of his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The unrest prompted national police commander Gen. Miguel Vasquez to order all units out of Sucre, where the draft constitution was approved Saturday, "to avoid more confrontations." He said the slain police officer had been "lynched" but offered no details.

Hospital officials said the other victim was a carpenter who died of injuries after being hit by a tear gas canister as protesters attacked police headquarters and set fire to a jail, allowing 100 inmates to escape.

A third person, a lawyer previously identified as a student, was shot and killed on Saturday. It was unclear who killed the lawyer.

Forty others were injured as protesters hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and dynamite at police.

Morales said the protests in Sucre "were manipulated by oligarchic and neoliberal (pro-capitalist) groups that don't want change."

...

Who knew that carpenters were part of the oligarchic? The fact is that the people of Bolivia are not fooled by these manipulations anymore than they are in Venezuela. If Morales wins, it will have more to do with vote manipulation than the will of the people. This is just another back door attempt to establish a dictatorship for communism and socialism.

The Houston Chronicle looks at the South American tendency to rewrite constitutions.

Comments

  1. Unknown8:31 PM

    C'mon, you're totally out of your mind. Like it or not (I don't), Morales won the general election by more than 50% of the votes and will more likely get similar support for the new constitution. Let me translate that for you: campesinos (about 60% of this country) do support Evo Morales because he, himself, is a campesino who is friggin' tired of us "whites".

    Now, I don't give a shit about Morales, but don't come with "manipulation", "dictatorship", or "Morales inventing his own coup" crap. We don't like him but the majority of this third-world country does. Period.

    ...I'm so tired of fucking gringos missinforming the world with bullshit...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

Is the F-35 obsolete?

Headline USA: Pentagon Fires Back after Musk Calls Its Most Expensive Project ‘Obsolete’ 'Yeah, as I'm sure you can appreciate, Mr. Musk is, currently, a private citizen, I'm not going to make any comments about what a private citizen may have to say about the F-35....'   ... ... Drones appear to be replacing jets for many operations.  The Russia-Ukraine war is an example of that.  Drones are often hard to detect and can be used for intelligence operations as well as for attacking enemy targets.  It would not surprise me to see drones engaging other drones in combat.  They also cost much less than manned fighters.  
Read more

Apple's huge investment in US including Texas facility

Blaze: Apple announced a $500 billion commitment to infrastructure in the United States over four years, its largest commitment to domestic spending to date. Apple said it will expand teams and facilities in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington as part of its new spending. With a new facility in Houston, Texas, Apple will reportedly double its investment in advanced manufacturing along with increasing investments in AI and silicon engineering. The company said in a press release that the Houston facility will produce servers to support Apple Intelligence, the "personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves, and get things done." ... The Texas facility will be for advanced technologies.   Texas has become a place that is very supportive of the tech industries.  Austin and Houston have seen much of the tech growth in the state.  Texas universities have been active in the AI field.
Read more