While some may be surprised by its response to the Bolivia crisis, Human Rights Watch’s support for a U.S.-backed right-wing coup is no aberration.By Alan MacleodBolivia is currently in turmoil after President Evo Morales was deposed in a U.S.-supported coup d’état on November 10. The new coup government forced Morales into exile, began arresting politicians and journalists while pre-exonerating security services of all crimes committed during the “re-establishment of order,” effectively giving them a license to kill all resistance to their rule. Dozens have died and massacres of indigenous protesters have occurred in the city of Cochabamba and the small town of Senkata.In confusing and alarming situations such as these, millions of people around the world look to international human rights organizations for leadership and guidance. However, far from standing up for the oppressed, Human Rights Watch has effectively endorsed the events. In its official communiqué, it refrained from using the word coup, insisting Morales “resigned”, its Americas Director José Miguel Vivanco claiming the President stepped down “after weeks of civil unrest and violent clashes” and does not even mention opposition violence against his party or the role of the military in demanding, at gunpoint, that he resign. Therefore, Morales mysteriously “traveled to Mexico,” in the organization’s words, rather than fleeing there to escape arrest. Instead, it tacitly endorses the new government, advising it to “prioritize rights.”Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth Roth went further, presenting the elected head of state fleeing the country at gunpoint as a refreshing step forward for democracy, claiming that Morales was “the casualty of a counter-revolution aimed at defending democracy…against electoral fraud and his own illegal candidacy,” noting that Morales had ordered the army to shoot protesters.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/western-media-whitewash-bolivias-far-right-coup">RELATED CONTENT: Western Media Whitewash Bolivia’s Far Right Coup</a>Bolivia’s Evo Morales was “the casualty of a counter-revolution aimed at defending democracy..against electoral fraud & his own illegal candidacy. The army w/drew its support because it was not prepared to fire on people in order to sustain him in power.” <a href="https://t.co/jeVnGta0Kk">https://t.co/jeVnGta0Kk</a>— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) <a href="https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1196318814599884801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2019</a>Roth also described the coup approvingly as an “uprising” and a “transitional moment” for Bolivia, while presenting President Morales as an out-of-touch “strongman.”The most important thing now in this transitional moment for Bolivia is ensuring that authorities reestablish the rule of law and protect fundamental rights, including to protest peacefully and to vote in transparent, competitive, and fair elections. <a href="https://t.co/ayWcCKdedS">https://t.co/ayWcCKdedS</a> <a href="https://t.co/WdxFmxEuhw">pic.twitter.com/WdxFmxEuhw</a>— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) <a href="https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1194415776205352961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2019</a>New self-declared President Jeanine Añez, whose party received 4% of the vote share in the October elections, has already expelled hundreds of Cuban doctors, broken off ties to Venezuela and pulled Bolivia out of multiple international and intercontinental organizations and treaties. She describes the indigenous majority of Bolivians as “satanic” and insists they should not be allowed to live in cities, instead, being sent to the desert or the sparsely populated highlands. Añez declared that she is “committed to taking all measures necessary to pacify” the population.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/bolivia-faces-croatian-style-ethnic-cleansing-south-african-like-apartheid">RELATED CONTENT: Bolivia Faces Croatian-Style Ethnic Cleansing & South African-Like Apartheid</a>“I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous…

By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Ana Maldonado, Pilar Troya Fernández, and Vijay PrashadRevolutions do not happen suddenly, nor do they immediately transform a society. A revolution is a process, which moves at different speeds whose tempo can change rapidly if the motor of history is accelerated by intensified class conflict. But, most of the time, the building of the revolutionary momentum is glacial, and the attempt to transform a state and society can be even more slow.Leon Trotsky, sitting in his Turkish exile in 1930, wrote the most remarkable study of the Russian Revolution. Thirteen years had elapsed since the Tsarist empire had been overthrown. But the revolution was already being derided, even by people on the Left. ‘Capitalism’, Trotsky wrote in the conclusion to that book, ‘required a hundred years to elevate science and technique to the heights and plunge humanity into the hell of war and crisis. To socialism its enemies allow only fifteen years to create and furnish a terrestrial paradise. We took no such obligation upon ourselves. We never set these dates. The process of vast transformation must be measured by an adequate scale’.When Hugo Chavez won an election in Venezuela (December 1998) and when Evo Morales Ayma won an election in Bolivia (December 2005), their critics on the left in North America and in Europe gave their governments no time to breathe. Some professors with a leftist orientation immediately began to criticise these governments for their limitations, and even their failures. This attitude was limited politically—there was no solidarity given to these experiments; it was also limited intellectually — there was no sense of the deep difficulties for a socialist experiment in Third World countries calcified in social hierarchies and depleted of financial resources.<strong>Pace of Revolution</strong>
Two years into the Russian Revolution, Lenin wrote that the newly created USSR is not a ‘miracle-working talisman’, nor does it ‘pave the way to socialism. It gives those who were formerly oppressed the chance to straighten their backs and to an ever-increasing degree to take the whole government of the country, the whole administration of the economy, the whole management of production, into their own hands’.But even that—that whole this, and whole that—was not going to be easy. It is, Lenin wrote, ‘a long, difficult, and stubborn class struggle, which, after the overthrow of capitalist rule, after the destruction of the bourgeois state…. does not disappear…. but merely changes its forms and in many respects becomes fiercer’. This was Lenin’s judgment after the Tsarist state had been taken over, and after the socialist government had begun to consolidate power. Alexandra Kollantai wrote (such as in Love in the Time of Worker Bees) about the struggles to build socialism, the conflicts within socialism to attain its objectives. Nothing is automatic; everything is a struggle.Lenin and Kollantai argued that the class struggle is not suspended when a revolutionary government takes over the state; it is in fact, ‘fiercer’, the opposition to it intense because the stakes are high, and the moment dangerous because the opposition—namely the bourgeoisie and the old aristocracy—had imperialism on its side. Winston Churchill said, ‘Bolshevism must be strangled in its cradle’, and so the Western armies joined the White Army in an almost fatal military attack on the Soviet Republic. This attack went from the last days of 1917 to 1923—a full six years of sustained military assault.Neither in Venezuela nor in Bolivia, nor in any of the countries that turned to the Left over the past twenty years, has the bourgeois state been totally transcended nor has capitalist rule been overthrown. The revolutionary processes in these countries had to gradually create institutions of and for the working-class alongside the continuation of capitalist rule. These institutions reflect the emergence of a unique state-form based on participatory…

We, the undersigned US organizations condemn the civic-military coup in Bolivia and the brutal repression unleashed by the police and military authorized by the self-proclaimed anti-Indigenous “President” of Bolivia, Senator Jeanine Áñez.The regime has burned the Wiphala, flag of the Indigenous nations of Bolivia; decreed an exemption to prosecution for the police and military for the use of lethal force against demonstrators; and has criminalized democratically elected officials and rank and file members of organizations associated with the deposed government. These decrees led to the massacre in Cochabamba on November 15 in which police and the armed forces opened fire on demonstrators killing five people and wounding more than 100, as well as the massacre of Senkata on November 19 in which at least 8 people were killed and at least 30 wounded. They have also led to the deployment of military, police and private intelligence agencies to hunt down and arrest political opponents of the coup regime.We urge an immediate investigation by the UN of the killing of at least 32 people and the wounding of more than 700 by the police and security forces since the coup against President Evo Morales on November 10, 2019, based on official data from the Office of the People’s Defender (“Defensoría del Pueblo”). We also call for the release of all political detainees.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/evo-morales-nationalization-of-resources-is-conflicts-cause-they-do-not-accept-that-indians-govern">RELATED CONTENT: Evo Morales: “Nationalization of Resources is Conflict’s Cause”- “They do Not Accept that Indians Govern”</a>We support calls by the constitutional President, Evo Morales as well as the United Nations, for dialogue to avoid further bloodshed. We call for the return of security forces to the barracks and an investigation into the crimes committed by the police and military, as well as those who authorized the use of lethal force, to hold perpetrators accountable.We also reject the illegal self-proclamation as “President” of Senator Jeanine Áñez, elected without a quorum and without the presence of MAS members of congress, whose safety is under permanent threat. This self-proclamation also violates article 161 of the Bolivian Constitution, according to which Congress must accept the President’s resignation in order for it to be valid, which so far hasn’t taken place.We urge the US Congress and the Organization of American States (OAS) to condemn the coup against the constitutional government and support the path of dialogue over escalating confrontation.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/secret-us-intelligence-files-provide-historys-verdict-on-argentinas-dirty-war">RELATED CONTENT: Secret US Intelligence Files Provide History’s Verdict on Argentina’s Dirty War</a>WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE KILLING OF INDIGENOUS BOLIVIANS!PEACE FOR BOLIVIA!<strong>SIGNATURES</strong>Forum of Sao Paulo, Executive Committee in Washington DC, Maryland and VirginiaCODEPINK, USAANSWER Coalition, USADemocratic Socialists of America, Richmond, Virginia chapterSocialist Unity Party, USAInternational Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity, USAFriends of the Congo, Washington DCNational Network on Cuba, USAPopular Resistance, Washington DCParty for Socialism and Liberation, Washington DCBlack Alliance for Peace, Washington DCWomen’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, Washington, DCCommunist Party, USACentral Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party of California, San Diego, CaliforniaCouncil on Hemispheric Affairs, COHA, Washington DCPeace Council, Greater New Haven, ConnecticutRed Nacional de Salvadoreños en el Exterior, RENASE, USACarolina Peace Resource Center, South CarolinaLeonard Peltier Defense Committee, San Diego, CaliforniaCongreso de los Pueblos, Colombia, international committee in DCFigTree Foundation, USA,Comité de Salvadoreños en Washington DCFriends of Latin America, Columbia, MarylandRutilio House, Takoma Park, MarylandCommittee…

By Caitlin JohnstoneThe Guardian has published an editorial titled “The Guardian view on extraditing Julian Assange: don’t do it”, subtitled “The US case against the WikiLeaks founder is an assault on press freedom and the public’s right to know”. The publication’s editorial board argues that since the Swedish investigation has once again been dropped, the time is now to oppose US extradition for the WikiLeaks founder.“Sweden’s decision to drop an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange has both illuminated the situation of the WikiLeaks founder and made it more pressing,” the editorial board writes.Oh okay, now the issue is illuminated and pressing. Not two months ago, when Assange’s ridiculous bail sentence ended and he was still kept in prison explicitly and exclusively because of the US extradition request. Not six months ago, when the US government slammed Assange with 17 charges under the Espionage Act for publishing the Chelsea Manning leaks. Not seven months ago, when Assange was forcibly pried from the Ecuadorian embassy and slapped with the US extradition request. Not any time between his April arrest and his taking political asylum seven years ago, which the Ecuadorian government explicitly granted him because it believed there was a credible threat of US extradition. Not nine years ago when WikiLeaks was warning that the US government was scheming to extradite Assange and prosecute him under the Espionage Act.Nope, no, any of those times would have been far too early for The Guardian to begin opposing US extradition for Assange with any degree of lucidity. They had to wait until Assange was already locked up in Belmarsh Prison and limping into extradition hearings supervised by looming US government officials. They had to wait until years and years of virulent mass media smear campaigns had killed off public support for Assange so he could be extradited with little or no grassroots backlash. And they had to wait until they themselves had finished participating in those smear campaigns.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/i-was-fired-for-helping-julian-assange-and-i-have-no-regrets-interview">RELATED CONTENT: “I Was Fired for Helping Julian Assange, and I Have No Regrets” (Interview)</a>There is, needless to say, no hint or suggestion in the Mueller Report that Paul Manafort visited Julian Assange ever in his life, let alone 3 times in the Ecuadorian Embassy during the election. It would obviously be there if it happened. How can the <a href="https://twitter.com/guardian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@guardian</a> not retract this?? <a href="https://t.co/5ory1w0mfj">pic.twitter.com/5ory1w0mfj</a>— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1118944500259414016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2019</a>This is after all the same Guardian which published the transparently ridiculous and completely invalidated report that Trump lackey Paul Manafort had met secretly with Assange at the embassy, not once but multiple times. Not one shred of evidence has ever been produced to substantiate this claim despite the embassy being one of the most heavily surveilled buildings on the planet at the time, and the Robert Mueller investigation, whose expansive scope would obviously have included such meetings, reported absolutely nothing to corroborate it. It was a bogus story which all accused parties have forcefully denied.This is the same Guardian which ran an article last year titled “The only barrier to Julian Assange leaving Ecuador’s embassy is pride”, arguing that Assange looked ridiculous for remaining in the embassy because “The WikiLeaks founder is unlikely to face prosecution in the US”. The article was authored by the odious James Ball, who deleted a tweet not long ago complaining about the existence of UN special rapporteurs after one of them concluded that Assange is a victim of psychological torture. Ball’s article begins, “According to Debrett’s, the arbiters of etiquette since…

<strong>AN INTERVIEW WITH RAFAEL CORREA</strong>In an exclusive interview, Ecuador’s former president Rafael Correa spoke to Jacobin about the coup against his ally Evo Morales in Bolivia and the mass resistance to his rightward moving successor Lenín Moreno in Ecuador.Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, ranks among the Pink Tide’s greatest leaders. Coming to power in a land ravaged by poverty and crippled by austerity and privatization programs, Correa oversaw a transformation of Ecuador. In his decade-long tenure, Ecuador’s minimum wage more than doubled, billions were invested in health care, and poverty was cut in half.His story is not unlike that of the recently ousted Evo Morales. Morales was not just Bolivia’s first indigenous president, but its most successful. Since his first election in 2005, the lifelong trade unionist presided over the most consistently high economic growth in Latin America, while also slashing poverty and illiteracy. Yet this did not win him the support of all Bolivians. After three weeks of armed demonstrations fanning out from the country’s eastern provinces, last weekend the army high command told Morales to go.The coup’s organizers hail from traditionally reactionary sections of Bolivian society: the key coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho, a businessman from the Santa Cruz province, arrived in La Paz last weekend promising to “bring God back into the presidential palace.” Like Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, Camacho combines Christian rhetoric with open racism toward indigenous people and intense anticommunism. Such themes are the cutting edge of a bid to criminalize the social movements and progressive leaders who have come to prominence in Latin America in recent years.https://youtu.be/TBcRWMafaUYReacting to events in both Bolivia and Ecuador, Correa spoke to Jacobin’s Nicolas Allen about Donald Trump’s interference in Latin America, the continued challenge to neoliberal hegemony, and how popular mobilization can resist the far-right upsurge.<strong>NA</strong>
<strong>Let’s start with Bolivia, the most pressing problem. How do you understand what is happening there?</strong>RC
When the police are rioting and the military “suggest” the president resigns, it’s very clearly a coup d’état. In Brazil or Argentina or China, we’d call this a coup, but some people don’t like to call things by their real names. Yes, President Morales did resign. But if someone holds a gun to your head and says very politely, “give me your wallet,” and you give it to them, does this mean it wasn’t robbery, but agreed by mutual consent? Clearly, what happened in Bolivia was a coup.<strong>NA</strong>
<strong>As well as the military, the domestic security forces, and certain sectors of Bolivian society, it seems the Organization of American States (OAS) was also a factor in this coup?</strong>RC
The OAS states toe the US line, and they usually act in concert. We’ve seen how the OAS has reacted to not just the Bolivian crisis, but also the one in Ecuador. When the Ecuadorian people rose up against President Lenín Moreno’s betrayals, insisting on the need for early elections (as the constitution allows in times of crisis), the OAS stated that Moreno must complete his four-year term.It preferred deaths, injuries, and arrests to a vote that Moreno would clearly have lost, like the servant of Washington that he is. OAS general secretary Luis Almagro even went to Ecuador to congratulate Moreno on his democratic spirit, right as he was robbing democracy from us. But the OAS didn’t say Morales ought to finish his term. How can we explain such a double standard?Latin America must reflect on the OAS’s role. There is no doubt that Washington carries a predominant, hegemonic weight in the OAS, and obviously Almagro is a spokesman for Washington. Don’t take me for an anti-gringo, I love the United States deeply — I lived there for four years, and I have two degrees from US universities. But I have to…

By Carlos AznarezBolivia is resembling Palestine these days. For many reasons it is important to make this comparison now as the horror of the installation of a brutal dictatorship is unfolding in that South American country.First and foremost these are two native peoples who not only face an implacable enemy but also a religious factor that is among the most lethal weapons that could be used against them. In the name of a defamatory and unhealthy version of true Christianity, the Bolivian oligarchy in true Nazi style is promoting “racial purity”, by using the Bible as its mandate, including brainwashing being applied by the Pentecostal churches to co-opt the poorest layers of society and the different and numerous original ethnicities that it considers inferior.If these tricks don’t work, plan B is rolled out to show them hatred by mocking and humiliating them in every circumstance and destroying the most precious symbols of their identity. Burning of their wiphalas for example, despising and degrading Bolivian indigenous women or cursing the indigenous people as a whole as Camacho, Mesa and the de facto president have done, are concrete elements of punishment to those who look different.This is the same script Zionism wields against the Palestinian people. It is the idea of ethnic cleansing, by the way of distorting the reading of a history where fundamental data is omitted to disguise that when the invaders arrived, they found the indigenous people who had lived there for centuries clinging to their territory with the same strength and determination that they do in the present. The Zionist entity is, like the stateless Bolivian oligarchy, racist and violent to the core, one in the name of Jehovah and the other using an invented God to justify its crimes.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/president-correa-to-jacobin-clearly-what-happened-in-bolivia-was-a-coup-interview">RELATED CONTENT: President Correa to Jacobin: “Clearly What Happened in Bolivia Was a Coup” (Interview)</a>This Bolivian dictatorship of today, which orders its military and police to repress the indigenous-peasant people, workers and students as they did in the most sinister days of the Latin American decade of the 60s and 70s, are shooting from helicopters or tanks, torturing and murdering. This also has class hatred in it against those who, thanks to a popular and revolutionary government, could feel included for the first time, treated as equals, empowered and entwined with the rest of the population.In Palestine, the occupier not only seizes territories, expelling the native inhabitants, demolishing their homes and destroying their crops, but also manifests a deep hatred towards those who, in spite of continuous persecution and massacres, maintain a profile of political and above all cultural resistance. The occupants act as an oppressive class, being in reality an elite of new riches nourished by the wealth that others like them send from the diaspora. The objective of these voluntary contributions, sometimes under pressure, is to achieve, among other projects of economic opulence, to grease the machinery that carries out the continuous looting of Palestine and through a gigantic war apparatus, to militarize that territory in order to harass the rest of the Arab world from there.On the other hand, what can we say about the resistance to the oppressor in Bolivia when every day we are seeing the next Tupaj Katari, Bartolina Sisa and Evo Morales, heroic scenes in which the masses guided by their natural organizations using all the methods of struggle, but making the main weight fall on the peaceful resistance to which the indigenous peoples have been accustomed to using for centuries. An important aspect of this strategy is the blockade of the big cities to make the maximum weight felt by those who sow, produce, manufacture and distribute food. Or at the same time they generate massive mobilizations, occupying the streets, the highways and the diverse territories…

Last Friday, November 15, professor of the Simón Bolívar University (USB), Emilio Hernández, had a talk “Wikipedia: collective content development and ideological bias” as part of the forum on reading, social networks and digital media that was taught at the International Book Fair of Venezuela (Filven 2019).In his talk, he explained the operation of the well-known collaborative web encyclopedia, its advantages and disadvantages, the hierarchies of available users (among them the famous “librarians”), the experiences, some of its rules, the ways of editing content, the cases of “wars of editions”, among many other peculiarities.He pointed out that in the Wikipedia articles on natural sciences (biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.), based on scientific topics, experimentation and elements that can be verified, they are more or less adjusted to reality and are good quality.However, articles on social sciences (politics, economics, sociology, etc.) and those related to some current struggle (for example, political events in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia or Chile) are generally very biased by the same passions of the moment. “People get to edit them. As Wikipedia is a collective creation, it is edited by anyone who wishes. It’s like a semiotic and ideological battlefield,” he explained.He indicated that “in general it is because, in social sciences, there are no absolute truths but ideological struggles . It should be a reasoned argument and not a fight of lies and fake news .”“The Wikipedia organizers themselves have tried to fight against this phenomenon, but it is very difficult,” Hernández explained. “There have been cases in which the Wikipedia administrators themselves cannot stop expressing their own point of views and also has their own ideological bias.”<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-supreme-court-presents-proposals-for-reforming-violence-against-women-law">RELATED CONTENT: Venezuela’s Supreme Court Presents Proposals for Reforming Violence Against Women Law</a>In his talk, he noted that there have been cases in which it was detected that Wikipedia editions came from IP addresses linked to companies editing their own profiles, something that contravenes Wikipedia’s standards, as well as US government agencies (including the CIA ) .He recommended that people participate in Wikipedia, editing the articles that are wrong, “to write other complementary versions without deleting what is there, but with links to recognized sites where that version is obtained. That is part of the rules of Wikipedia, and in principle they cannot push back”.There are people who have suggested using MediaWiki or other free software for the creation of wikis, in order to create their own Wikipedia, an experience that Cuba has tried with the EcuRed website .<a href="https://i0.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WhatsApp-Image-2019-11-15-at-4.19.24-PM.jpeg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1">WhatsApp-Image-2019-11-15-at-4.19.24-PM</a>In this regard, Hernández said that “it is something that does not have much effectiveness in the media battle, because Wikipedia always appears in the first places of the Google search, and any page that one is going to make will not appear in the search results” of said search engine.He gave as an example that, when searching for «José Martí» on Google, the first results are from Wikipedia, and the EcuRed articles appear only on the second or third page of results, which are usually not reached by people who search. “Then, you have to fight in Wikipedia,” he recommended.Nor does he agree to sabotage or vandalize Wikipedia articles, because “doing that has no effect: the previous version is quickly restored.”<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/non-existent-support-68000-fake-twitter-accounts-supporting-the-coup-in-bolivia">RELATED CONTENT: Non-Existent Support: 68,000 Fake Twitter Accounts Supporting the Coup in Bolivia</a>To those people who are afraid or annoyed by participating…

More than 200 protesters have been blinded by pellets fired by state security agents. The National Congress has bowed to a key demand of the monthlong rallies and ordered a referendum on a new constitution.The principle medical organization in Chile announced Thursday that well over 200 people have lost their sight, either partially or completely, due to being shot by pellets fired by state security agents during protests in the South American country.Of those, at least 50 people will require prosthetic eyes said Dr. Patricio Meza, vice president of the Medical College of Chile. “This means that the patient doesn’t only lose their vision, but they lose their actual eye.”Additional statistics from the medical body showed that the average age of victims is 30. In a large majority of the cases, the wound is caused by the impact of a lead or rubber projectile on their eyes, the Medical College confirmed.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/in-bolivia-as-in-palestine">RELATED CONTENT: In Bolivia as in Palestine</a>“We are facing a real health crisis, a health emergency given that in such few days, in three weeks, we have had the highest number of cases involving serious ocular complications due to shots in the eye,” Meza added.The police “are firing at 90 degrees, which is to say, directly at the face,” said Meza.<a href="https://i2.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Chile_police_beat.jpg?resize=700%2C394&ssl=1">Chile_police_beat.jpg</a>Protesters seek cover from riot police wielding a baton. The latest protest followed a short break in the wave of demonstrations in which several people have died, forcing the cancellation of two upcoming international summits.
Reuters/J.Silva // DW.com<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/chiles-government-agreed-to-a-constitutional-assembly-will-it-stop-the-protests">RELATED CONTENT: Chile’s Government Agreed to a Constitutional Assembly. Will it Stop the Protests?</a><strong>Referendum on constitution</strong>
More than 20 people have been killed and 2,500 injured since the protests began on October 18 in what started out as a student protest over an increase in subway fares.However, it has since evolved into a much larger and broader movement, with a lengthy list of demands that are related to the ever-widening financial disparity between rich and less well-off Chileans. Citizens are calling for reforms to health care, education, the pension system, and the country’s constitution.Lawmakers in the National Congress on Thursday approved a pathway for a new constitution to replace the current charter enacted by the former military junta of Augusto Pinochet in 1980.A referendum will be held in April on whether to proceed and voters will decide how the new constitution should be drafted. <em>Featured image: Getty Images/AFP/C.Reyes // DW.com,</em><a href="https://portside.org/2019-11-21/hundreds-chileans-blinded-police-protests-began">Source URL: Portside</a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fhundreds-of-chileans-blinded-by-police-since-protests-began&linkname=Hundreds%20of%20Chileans%20Blinded%20by%20Police%20Since%20Protests%20Began"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fhundreds-of-chileans-blinded-by-police-since-protests-began&linkname=Hundreds%20of%20Chileans%20Blinded%20by%20Police%20Since%20Protests%20Began"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fhundreds-of-chileans-blinded-by-police-since-protests-began&linkname=Hundreds%20of%20Chileans%20Blinded%20by%20Police%20Since%20Protests%20Began"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fhundreds-of-chileans-blinded-by-police-since-protests-began&linkname=Hundreds%20of%20Chileans%20Blinded%20by%20Police%20Since%20Protests%20Began"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/whatsapp?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Forinoc…

“The strike continues”, that is one of the hashtags used by Colombians that have flooded the streets of claims against the Government of Iván Duque in the framework of the national strike on November 21. Sputnik reviews key moments during the mobilization that was historic.“And now that?”. That is the question that resonates in Colombia. With songs, banners and multiple claims, on November 21 (21N) a national strike was held against Duque and the ‘package’ that aims to boost with reductions in the minimum wage for young people, a ‘fare hike’ of electricity and changes in the pension system .In addition, there were demonstrations against the death of social leaders , attempts to regulate social protest and demanding Police Riot Squadron to be dismantled and peace agreements with the FARC be fully implemented.Unemployment and demonstrations were called by various groups of workers and students, and social organizations. The day was the biggest wave of protests against Duque , was topped with a “cacerolazo”. After the massive peaceful demonstrations that took place throughout the country, the incidents have been concentrated in Bogotá and Valle del Cauca, where three people died.Lo que esta pasando en este momento no es broma, Colombia se canso y el paro no se va a detener <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElParoSigue?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ElParoSigue</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/22Nov?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#22Nov</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IvanDuque?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IvanDuque</a> <a href="https://t.co/0twlREFoB0">pic.twitter.com/0twlREFoB0</a>— COLOMBIA DESPERTÓ &#127464;&#127476; (@heroeswild) <a href="https://twitter.com/heroeswild/status/1197875557846962176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2019</a>There were denunciations of police abuse during the “cacerolazos”, with police brigades braking windows of houses and apartments participating in the “cacerolazo” along with car windows.Policía rompe vidrios de casas en el barrio Policarpa de Bogotá <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cacerolazo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cacerolazo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MafeCarrascal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MafeCarrascal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/GataFranca?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GataFranca</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/21N?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#21N</a> <a href="https://t.co/9S8rOcwOvR">pic.twitter.com/9S8rOcwOvR</a>— Yoana Arenas Bedoya (@yarenasb) <a href="https://twitter.com/yarenasb/status/1197704974962167809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2019</a><strong>The 21N in figures:</strong>253,000 Colombians participated in the protests,622 activities and concentrations were carried out throughout the country, in 350 municipalities,3 dead people and273 people injured.Venezuelan Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, <strong>called it State Terrorism</strong>, posting in his twitter account a video showing how an unarmed demonstrator was killed by a police gunshot from the back.This is how Ivan Duque’s exercises “democracy” in Colombia. <a href="https://t.co/u9tEAXXSWz">https://t.co/u9tEAXXSWz</a>— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrinocoTribune/status/1198280444191608832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a> <strong>The situation in Cali: “collective panic”</strong>
The Mayor’s Office of Cali had decreed a curfew between 19:00 on November 21 (GMT-5) and 6:00 on November 22. The Colombian Army confirmed the deployment of the Third Brigade military troops that, along with the Police, patrolled the streets of Cali, the third most populous city in Colombia.However, at nightfall on the night of the 21st, the dissemination of false and true news about impending robberies caused people to arm themselves with sticks, stones and firearms to defend themselves, the magazine Semana published . A “collective panic” was generated, said Maurice Armitage, mayor of Cali, at a press conference.About 125 people were injured in the riots, police coordinator…

By Marco TeruggiA colleague who had to leave Bolivia writes to me. She is being chased along with her partner who, they told her, they are looking for him to “liquidate him”. Since before Evo Morales was forced to resign, a list of names began to circulate; its application accelerated from that moment. It was Arturo Murillo, de facto government minister, who was responsible for putting it black on white: he talked about “hunting” three leaders, after chasing parliamentarians accused of “sedition” and “subversion.” Communication minister Roxana Lizárraga pointed to “journalists and pseudo-journalists”, and on Thursday the Telesur TV channel was taken off from Bolivian television stations.The strategy of decapitation and persecution is part of the coup d’etat architecture that moves according to a series of planned steps. The first was to force the resignation of Evo and Álvaro García Linera. The second, build a de facto government, materialized from the self-proclamation of Jeanine Añez. The third, initiated before and deepened in these days, is the persecution of leaders, along with the beginning of militarized repressions. The latter was announced with the decree to exempt the Armed Forces from criminal responsibility and an additional budget credit of four thousand eight hundred million dollars.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/in-bolivia-as-in-palestine">RELATED CONTENT: In Bolivia as in Palestine</a>The fourth step is the one that is under development without having yet materialized, the call for general elections, for which new authorities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Departmental Electoral Courts must be appointed. This is the point of greatest complexity for those who are leading the coup. The appointment of authorities of the TSE must pass through the legislative branch, where the Movement to Socialism (MAS) has two thirds of the seats. The de facto government and the real powers after the coup seek to force the agreement with the MAS to accept the electoral call according to their conditions. That means getting the MAS to recognize Añez as president, impose the electoral authorities, and, simultaneously, outlaw Evo.The fifth and final step will be the election as such. There is still no agreement within the coup block about the date. Fernando Camacho said that the deadline for the contest is until January 19 – the 20th would end Evo’s mandate – while other voices have already raised that there are no conditions to achieve the election in January. This point is central to the structure of the coup d’etat that from the beginning was presented as democratic and thus was backed by President Donald Trump and his administration, by the secretary of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro and by the European Union.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/is-colombia-exploding-in-some-cities-the-21n-is-not-over-yet-state-terrorism">RELATED CONTENT: Is Colombia Exploding? In some Cities the 21N is Not Over Yet – State Terrorism?</a>But the democratic fiction that conceals the coup requires the call for elections. Añez appeared from the outset as interim president and the OAS itself, which denies that there has been an “institutional breakdown” – as Uruguay did, for example, asking to be incorporated in the last OAS resolution – urges the de facto government and the politicians to achieve that electoral call. What the coup leaders debate, without internal agreement so far, is about the times and conditions for those elections. They seek to guarantee the proscription of Evo Morales, some claim to do the same with the MAS, and, in turn, have a TSE under control.While that happens, the persecution deepens, police and military repressions have killed more than thirty people, pain and rage increase. Given this, there are resistance in the streets and in the legislative power that advance together, although not necessarily in a coordinated way. The MAS, it has already announced, works to achieve electoral output in…

Come and join us to celebrate Orinoco Tribune’s 1st Anniversary with a Facebook livestream from our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/orinocotribune">Facebook Page</a>. <strong>You just have to visit our Facebook Page to enjoy and participate in the party.</strong>Today, November 24th at 4:00 pm (Caracas time) we will hold our party with our readers, followers and even haters (they are welcome if they behave). We want to celebrate the massive number of readers that have put us, in less than a year, side by side with historical venues for Venezuelan progressive information in English like <a href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/">Venezuelanalysis.com</a>, according to benchmark services.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/orinoco-tribune-anniversary-donations-needed-please-share-we-are-12-days-away-from-renewing-hosting-services">RELATED CONTENT: Orinoco Tribune Anniversary: Donations Needed (Please Share – We are 12 Days Away From Renewing Hosting Services)</a>To make it easier for you here you have the time for the event in different cities and countries:12:00pm (California-Vancouver Time)2:00pm (Chicago Time)3:00 pm (New York – Toronto Time)4:00pm (Caracas Time)8:00pm (London -Dublin Time)10:00pm (South Africa Time)1:30am +1day (India Time)8:00am +1day (Sidney Time)<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/latin-america-update-anti-imperialist-by-nature-a-conversation-with-jesus-rodriguez-espinoza">RELATED CONTENT: Latin America Update: “Anti-imperialist by Nature” (A Conversation with Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza)</a>For our livestream 1 year birthday celebration, Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza, the editor, will be on camera with the audience and in chat as much as possible and Elizabeth Ferrari, our co-editor, in chat and moderating, in order to give as many of our community members as possible a chance to participate.We have created a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/414766279222203/">Facebook event</a> and we encourage you to join it because we are planing to update our followers on the event using that tool.We hope to see you there and we thank you all for your support during the last 12 months.See you there!OT/JRE/EF<a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/whatsapp?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcome-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time&linkname=Come%20to%20the%20Party%20Today%E2%80%93%20Orinoco%20Tribune%E2%80%99s%201st%20Anniversary%20%284pm%20Caracas%20Time%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/wechat?lin…

On November 25, the International Day of Non-Violence against Women is celebrated, recalling the date on which the sisters Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal were murdered in 1960, during the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, in the Dominican Republic. This was explained by Isabel Gómez, a feminist militant belonging to the Tinta Violeta collective, in an interview for Alba Ciudad 96.3 FM, where she also reported on the street-taking that feminist movements will do shortly.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ndice.jpeg?resize=800%2C599&ssl=1">ndice</a>Interviewed by the journalist María Laura Cano, she stressed that November 25 is one of the most important dates promoted by the feminist movement, also recognized by the Organization for the United Nations (UN). At present, they continue to gather to make visible, vindicate violence and denaturalize it [violence]. “There are explicit manifestations of violence against women such as femicide but there is also violence that is a bit more subtle, that is completely naturalized by society, such as media violence.”<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-supreme-court-presents-proposals-for-reforming-violence-against-women-law">RELATED CONTENT: Venezuela’s Supreme Court Presents Proposals for Reforming Violence Against Women Law</a>Gomez also stressed that this International Day of Non-Violence Against Women, aims to break the stereotypes that have emerged in the hegemonic media by placing women as an object. Therefore, they have created a media campaign that began on Monday 18, showing the different types of violence typified in the Law of the right of women to a life free of violence.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ndice-1.jpeg?resize=800%2C599&ssl=1">ndice-1</a>She also explained that another type of violence is psychological, which introduces the harassment to which women are subjected in different spaces, as well as domestic violence, the latter, which the feminist movement targets more.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/socialist-feminism-and-the-communal-state-blanca-eekhout-interview">RELATED CONTENT: Socialist Feminism and the Communal State – Blanca Eekhout (Interview)</a>In that same sense, there is the obstetric violence to which those who give birth are subjected.On the other hand, Gómez reported on the street-taking that they will be doing shortly to demand from the institutions a deep revision and generation of public policies that really address the need of women, “although we have a very inclusive, very revolutionary law regarding this issue, we have seen with great disappointment that public officials of the state revictimize these women who are going to report violence and even try to persuade them not to. ”Finally, she established the difference between femicide and feminicide, and that is that femicide is when a woman is murdered for gender reasons; feminicide occurs when the state is involved in the murder, as in the case of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic. <a href="https://albaciudad.org/2019/11/feministas-tomaran-las-calles-para-exigir-politicas-publicas-que-realmente-atienda-la-necesidad-de-las-mujeres-audio/">Source URL: Alba Ciudad</a>Translated by JRE/EF<a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffeminists-will-take-the-streets-on-monday-to-demand-public-policies-that-address-violence-against-women&linkname=Feminists%20Will%20Take%20the%20Streets%20on%20Monday%20to%20Demand%20Public%20Policies%20that%20Address%20Violence%20Against%20Women"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffeminists-will-take-the-streets-on-monday-to-demand-public-policies-that-address-violence-against-women&linkname=Feminists%20Will%20Take%20the%20Streets%20on%20Monday%20to%20Demand%20Public%20Policies%20that%20Address%20Violence%20Against%20Women"></a><a href="https://ww…

Military Veterans Demand an End to U.S. Intervention in Latin AmericaVeterans For Peace strongly condemns the violent U.S.-backed right-wing coup in Bolivia. Evo Morales was the first Indigenous president in Bolivia, which is 65% Indigenous. The openly racist Bolivarian oligarchy, descendants of European colonizers, could not stand to see a government that was led by Indigenous people and whose policies were lifting millions of people out of poverty.The U.S. government tries to hide its involvement in Latin American coups, but we know that the U.S. and the CIA have a long history of interfering in Latin America , and USAID has “invested more than $97 million in “decentralization” and “regional autonomy” projects and opposition political parties in Bolivia since 2002″. Several of the coup generals were trained at the infamous School of the Americas (aka School of Assassins) at Fort Benning, Georgia, where Veterans For Peace members have gathered every year – for 30 years – calling SHUT IT DOWN!<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/31-us-organizations-denounce-the-brutal-repression-in-bolivia">RELATED CONTENT: 31 US Organizations Denounce Brutal Repression in Bolivia</a>For over two centuries, the United States has been dominating and exploiting Latin America, which the powers-that-be considered to be “our backyard.” This has included many direct military interventions as well as support for military dictatorships. The U.S. is now intervening all around the globe, but it has been hyperactive in Latin America over the last few years. The Trump Administration is openly attempting to overthrow the socialist government of Venezuela, and is busy undermining progressive forces in the region. The U.S. government was the first to recognize the illegal coup government in Bolivia. Donald Trump immediately called out the governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua, suggesting they could be next. The U.S. has doubled down on its economic blockade of Cuba. The powers-that-be will not tolerate any Latin American government that puts the needs of its people above the greed of foreign corporations.Evo Morales incurred the wrath of North American corporations when he nationalized the gas industry in Bolivia and was moving to do the same with the mining of lithium, a vital element for electric cars and smart phones. U.S. and Canadian mining companies are now cheering, but the Indigenous majority of Bolivia are not. They are crying foul and they have filed the streets, where many have been killed and wounded by repressive police action.Veterans For Peace stands in solidarity with the Indigenous majority in Bolivia who are resisting the racist, right-wing takeover of their democracy. We demand that the coup be stopped and democracy restored in Bolivia. As military veterans who have been used and abused in too many unjust wars, we demand an end to 200 years of U.S. intervention in Latin America.<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/position-statements/veterans-peace-condemn-racist-coup-bolivia?fbclid=IwAR0aIH93ZA_TZ5xjQeNRfip3ao3BkJMkiTEWf6rW78jpGR_hRGAKNmyrsWU">Source URL: Veterans for Peace</a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fveterans-for-peace-condemns-racist-coup-in-bolivia&linkname=Veterans%20for%20Peace%20Condemns%20Racist%20Coup%20in%20Bolivia"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fveterans-for-peace-condemns-racist-coup-in-bolivia&linkname=Veterans%20for%20Peace%20Condemns%20Racist%20Coup%20in%20Bolivia"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fveterans-for-peace-condemns-racist-coup-in-bolivia&linkname=Veterans%20for%20Peace%20Condemns%20Racist%20Coup%20in%20Bolivia"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fveterans-for-peace-condemns-racist-coup-in-bolivia&linkname=Veterans%20for%20Peace%20Condemns%20Racist%20Coup…

By Gabriel HetlandIf there was any doubt before, the horrifying events of the past week in Bolivia should have laid those doubts to rest: It was a coup. But there should have been no doubt to begin with. While it is true that the events preceding Morales’s ouster were complex and multifaceted, there is no disputing that the military demanded Morales step down. The fact that the military head used the word “suggest” is irrelevant. When the military “suggests” a president step down, and he or she does immediately after, that is a coup. As Bernie Sanders said when asked about this issue, “[A]t the end of the day it was the military who intervened…and asked [Morales] to leave. When the military intervenes…that’s called a ‘coup.’”Lead-up to Morales’s OusterThe most immediately relevant time period to understand events preceding Morales’s resignation is from 2016 to the present. Focusing on this period helps with understanding the virulent opposition Morales faced in the weeks before he was forced out. Urban middle classes initially led these protests, with far-right upper-class forces subsequently seizing control and directing them. This opposition focused on two charges. The first is that Morales should not have run in the 2019 election, because Bolivia’s constitution permits re-election only once, and because Morales—narrowly—lost a 2016 referendum on indefinite presidential election. It is worth pointing out—as NACLA did at the time—that the run-up to this referendum involved what Morales supporters felt to be a “dirty war” against him, with some justification. In the weeks before the referendum, conservative media played up a scandal involving a “love child” of Morales, with subsequent reporting suggesting the child died shortly after birth or never existed. It is likely that this campaign had some effect on the referendum result, which Morales lost by only a few percentage points.<a href="http://orinocotribune.com/the-oas-and-us-help-overthrow-another-government">RELATED CONTENT: The OAS and US Help Overthrow Another Government</a>A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research makes a convincing case that the OAS acted in a biased manner and failed to present evidence of actual fraud.A 2017 electoral court decision overturned the referendum result, which allowed Morales to run this year, but also generated widespread dissent, particularly from urban middle classes. This combined with the second charge—that Morales stole the October 20 election—and resulted in large protests against Morales in the weeks after the election. The Organization of American States led the charge of fraud. After weeks of questioning the official results that gave Morales a first-round victory, on November 10 the OAS issued a report stating that it could not certify the results of the vote as accurate. A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research makes a convincing case that the OAS acted in a biased manner and failed to present evidence of actual fraud. This means that Evo Morales won the October 20 election in the first round. Irrespective of any valid criticisms one can make of the MAS or Morales, this fact is crucial to remember.Many Bolivians, however, were convinced there was fraud, and took to the streets, first to demand the annulment of the election, and then for Morales to resign. Luis Fernando Camacho, a conservative businessman and leader of Santa Cruz Civic Committee, led the call for Morales’s resignation. By eclipsing the centrist Carlos Mesa, who finished second in the October 20 election, Camacho also pushed the protests to the Right. All this lies behind the final events that led to Morales’s downfall: Police mutinies on November 8-9 and the military’s November 10 “suggestion” that Morales resign, which he quickly did.A longer-term perspective on Morales’s downfall would also take account of the decomposition of popular movements that took place in the wake of the 2011 TIPNIS conflict, which pitted Morales and the…

Two international studies, done by independent investigators, have contradicted the reports published by the Organization of American States (OAS) on alleged irregularities in the elections of October 20 and have shown that Evo Morales won in the first round without committing fraud.One of the research papers is entitled ‘What happened in the vote count of the 2019 elections in Bolivia? The role of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission’ and was carried out by the Center for Research in Economics and Politics ( CEPR ).This 18 page document summarizes the statistical analysis of the electoral results and the minutes of the general elections of last October 20 in Bolivia, which “does not show evidence of irregularities or fraud that has affected the official result that gave a first round victory to President Evo Morales».According to the study prepared by Guillaume Long, David Rosnick, Cavan Kharrazian and Kevin Cashman, the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) supported a “post-election narrative without evidence” that referred to alleged inconsistencies in the process.The Washington-based CEPR was founded by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot and includes as consultants the Nobel Prize in Economics winners Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz, among other specialists.<strong>Understanding the TREP</strong>
In the Bolivian electoral system there are two mechanisms for scrutiny that work in parallel: one of rapid counting or Transmission of Preliminary Electoral Results (TREP), which both Bolivia and other countries have used following the recommendations of the OAS, and the Official Counting of the Votes or official calculation, legally binding according to Bolivian law.As explained, the TREP is managed jointly by a private company and by the Civic Registry Service (SERECÍ). Its function is to deliver fast, non-binding and partial results on the night of the elections, unlike the official calculation.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/the-oas-lied-to-the-public-about-the-bolivian-election-and-coup">RELATED CONTENT: The OAS Lied to the Public About the Bolivian Election and Coup</a><a href="https://i0.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/5dd6b8db59bf5b23dc1c57c9.jpg?resize=800%2C485&ssl=1">5dd6b8db59bf5b23dc1c57c9</a>Voting of candidate Evo Morales in Villa September 14, in the Chapare region, Bolivia, on October 20, 2019.Ueslei Marcelino / ReutersThe pause that took place between Sunday and Monday occurred because the quick count reached 83.85%. The remaining percentage corresponded to the rural vote, whose data could not be transmitted immediately due to the lack of nearby internet access.Experts state that this pause was planned by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which had announced a week before the elections that it would announce the results of the rapid count after having verified at least 80% of the preliminary counts.<strong>Objections to the OAS report</strong>
The MOE said one day after the elections, in a press release, “its deep concern and surprise at the drastic and difficult to justify change in the trend of preliminary results [of the quick count] known after the polls close”.Until the transmission of 83.85% of the minutes, Morales had 45.71% of the votes, while Carlos Mesa, 37.84%, which meant a difference of 7.87 percentage points between both candidates. That is, until that moment avoiding the second round was not assured. However, this result was modified as the results were scrutinized.<a href="https://i2.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/5dd6d7c859bf5b46cc0c2556.jpg?resize=800%2C485&ssl=1">5dd6d7c859bf5b46cc0c2556.jpg</a>People around polling stations found near a building in La Paz, Bolivia, on October 21, 2019. David Mercado / ReutersThree days after the elections, the director of the MOE, Gerardo de Icaza, read his preliminary report before the Permanent Council of the OAS in which he stated that “the changes in the TREP trend were difficult to explain and did not…

On Thursday 21 a group of anti-Chavista students marched to “Fuerte Tiuna” (the biggest military base in Caracas) to deliver a document to the authorities of the Military Academy. During the meeting, one of the cadets addressed the students respectfully and welcomed them to talk.https://youtu.be/bHtlO5VmDYE” I feel very proud that we as the Armed Forces and you as part of the people – although we also come from the people – you can come here and we can discuss this kind of things,” said the official.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/come-to-the-party-today-orinoco-tribunes-1st-anniversary-4pm-caracas-time">RELATED CONTENT: Come to the Party Today– Orinoco Tribune’s 1st Anniversary (4pm Caracas Time)</a>He pointed out  that this rapprochement between civilians and the military cannot be done today in countries such as Bolivia and Chile, where law enforcement is repressing, killing and disappearing people.You can see from the t-shits of the anti-chavista student leaders how the OCPOR philosophy have penetrated  the right wing student movement in Venezuela.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/hundreds-of-chileans-blinded-by-police-since-protests-began">RELATED CONTENT: Hundreds of Chileans Blinded by Police Since Protests Began</a>“Here in Venezuela we are an Armed Force and we are also the people and we live day by day. We have family that lacks a dish to eat, they lack medications, but that is not the issue. The fact is that we are fighting is against this economic blockade, because the problem is the interference that this American country has against Venezuela that does not allow us to emerge, to be a developed country, to be a powerful country,” were the blunt words of the young military who received no answer from the anti-chavista students.This Thursday the deputy Juan Guaidó called for a march with the students, who he then abandoned again and received new criticism for the continuous failures of the opposition.<a href="https://www.laiguana.tv/articulos/607841-militar-estudiantes-fuerte-tiuna-respuesta/">Source URL: La IguanaTV</a>Translated by JRE/EF<a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/whatsapp?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition-student-protesters-and-leaves-them-speechless-video&linkname=FANB%20Cadet%20Talks%20to%20Opposition%20Student%20Protesters%20and%20Leaves%20Them%20Speechless%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/wechat?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Ffanb-cadet-talks-to-opposition…

<strong>The attack occurred in Santander de Quilichao, in Cauca.</strong>https://youtu.be/Q3F8xMNV7UEThe night of this November 22, around 20:45 (local time), the explosion of a pump truck has been recorded in Santander de Quilichao, north of the Department of Cauca, reports El Tiempo . The incident has occurred near a police station.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/is-colombia-exploding-in-some-cities-the-21n-is-not-over-yet-state-terrorism">RELATED CONTENT: Is Colombia Exploding? In some Cities November 21 is Not Over Yet – State Terrorism?</a>Coche bomba explota cerca de estación de la Policía Nacional en Colombia. El atentado se produjo en Santander de Quilichao, en el Cauca.SEPA MÁS: <a href="https://t.co/yBCqcsF6Sh">https://t.co/yBCqcsF6Sh</a> <a href="https://t.co/4WBIhmtpK2">pic.twitter.com/4WBIhmtpK2</a>— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) <a href="https://twitter.com/ActualidadRT/status/1198076224905662466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a>In videos, spread on social networks, several victims are seen . The preliminary figure is 3 dead and at least 10 injured , according to El Tiempo.For his part, the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, said the attack left 7 people injured.“We condemn the cowardly terrorist attack in Santander de Quilichao that leaves 3 of our police dead and 7 wounded. The order to our public force is to identify those responsible for this act.  We stand in solidarity with this community and the families of these heroes” , he stated on his Twitter account.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/colombia-calis-mayor-declares-curfew-amid-national-strike">RELATED CONTENT: Colombia: Cali’s Mayor Declares Curfew Amid National Strike</a>According to the media, the police killed by the explosion were identified as Ever Danilo Canacuan Cuaical, a native of Cumbal, Nariño; Jesús Norbey Muelas Ipia, from Piendamó, Cauca; and Roy Valentino Gallyadi Fernández, born in Popayán.Imágenes de los heridos por el camión bomba que fué detonado este 22 de noviembre en Santander de Quilichao, Colombia, llegando a un hospital para ser atendidos.SEPA MÁS: <a href="https://t.co/yBCqcsF6Sh">https://t.co/yBCqcsF6Sh</a> <a href="https://t.co/9MycKbnI8N">pic.twitter.com/9MycKbnI8N</a>— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) <a href="https://twitter.com/ActualidadRT/status/1198331283472027649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a>According to the media, there were two explosions that “were felt throughout the city.” In addition, immediately, after the outbreak, the electric power was cut in the municipality in question.The event occurs on the second day of protests nationwide, which have been marked by clashes between protesters and police, as well as numerous acts of vandalism.On the other hand, the curfew in part of Bogotá remains in force because of the riots.<a href="https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/334627-video-coche-bomba-explota-colombia">Source URL: Actualidad RT</a>Translated by JRE/EF<a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcolombia-car-bomb-attack-against-national-police-station-at-least-3-dead-and-several-injured-video&linkname=Colombia%3A%20Car%20Bomb%20Attack%20Against%20National%20Police%20Station%20%E2%80%93%20At%20Least%203%20Dead%20and%20Several%20Injured%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcolombia-car-bomb-attack-against-national-police-station-at-least-3-dead-and-several-injured-video&linkname=Colombia%3A%20Car%20Bomb%20Attack%20Against%20National%20Police%20Station%20%E2%80%93%20At%20Least%203%20Dead%20and%20Several%20Injured%20%28Video%29"></a><a href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Forinocotribune.com%2Fcolombia-car-bomb-attack-against-national-police-station-at-least-3-dead-and-several-injured-video&linkname=Colombia%3A%20Car%20Bomb%20Attack%20Against%20National%20Police%20Station%20%E2%80%93%20At%20Least%203%20Dead%20and%20Several%20Injured%20%28Video%29"></a><a…

 By Nina CrossOn 5th November Luis Almagro, Secretary of the Organisation of American States (OAS) spoke at a Canning House meeting in London.  Almagro made the purpose  of his visit clear: ‘We need more sanctions, not less’.  Almagro came to ask the UK for <a href="https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/02/18/darling-of-the-commons-bill-browder-helps-frame-britains-fake-human-rights-agenda/">Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on Venezuelan leaders and his visit marks an escalating international plan featuring asset seizure, coercion and bribery of prominent people around President Maduro in an attempt to engineer regime change.Almagro, whose OAS salary is heavily <a href="https://www.oas.org/saf/DFAMS/2018/02/RF_TABLE_QUOT_20180228_ENSP.pdf">funded by the US, has been at the forefront of the efforts to oust Maduro from power and enable <a href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/">Juan Guaido, the self-proclaimed Interim President and leader of Venezuela’s <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/video/13016">defunct National Assembly, to carry out a coup d’etat in that country.Questions regarding legality of sanctions and their use as acts of <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2016/04/01/the-hybrid-war-of-economic-sanctions/">hybrid warfare were not raised, despite the meeting room being filled supposedly with intelligentsia and lawyers and advocates of human rights.  The only person to raise such questions was journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/Moncaro">Carolina Graterol who was then physically thrown out while <a href="https://twitter.com/Canning_House/status/1191766136859312128">the bored-looking Almagro stared into space.New tools of UK imperialism: coercion and bribery through targeted sanctionsAlmagro’s visit to the UK calling for Magnitsky-style sanctions is clearly being coordinated with the recent ramping-up of sanctions aimed at high-ranking individuals in the Venezuelan government and its military forces by the Trump administration.  There are Magnitsky provisions in the UK’s 2018 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act or <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/13/contents">SAMLA, that provide a framework for waging economic warfare on individual foreign targets under a range of pretexts framed in human rights rhetoric, ostensibly  “Gross human rights violations”. <a href="https://i1.wp.com/36s81n24kn0c1i9se62v6acw-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/William_F._Browder_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2011_cropped-915x1024.jpg?resize=196%2C458&ssl=1">Global Magnitsky: Will UK Join US in Sanctions Against Venezuela Post Brexit?Bill Browder (Image: Michael Wuertenberg via Wikicommons)These have their roots in the US 2016 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/284">Global Magnitsky Act which followed the original <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1039">2012 Act.  This was built upon a web of allegations made by <a href="https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201808161067229962-bill-browder-anti-russia-narrative-msm/">Bill Browder, that Sergei Magnitsky, a  “Russian lawyer” (in reality only an accountant) who worked for Browder in Moscow, was persecuted for ‘blowing the whistle’ on corrupt government officials, before dying as a result of state-sponsored abuse while in prison. This version of events <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/plus/russland-der-fall-magnitski-story-ohne-held-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000167093479">has been challenged by numerous competent and qualified critics of Browder. As it turns out, Browder himself <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/29/london-times-runs-fake-browder-opinion-piece/">wanted for massive fraud in Russia, has also been linked to the UK Foreign Office information warfare program known as the <a href="https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/02/06/integrity-initiative-browder-the-hsbc-connection/">Integrity Initiative.  Aside…

<strong>“The military has guns and a license to kill; we have nothing.” – A Bolivian mother shot by police</strong>By Medea BenjaminI am writing from Bolivia just days after witnessing the November 19 military massacre at the Senkata gas plant in the indigenous city of El Alto, and the tear-gassing of a peaceful funeral procession on November 21 to commemorate the dead. These are examples, unfortunately, of the modus operandi of the de facto government that seized control in a coup that forced Evo Morales out of power.The coup has spawned massive protests, with blockades set up around the country as part of a national strike calling for the resignation of this new government. One well-organized blockade is in El Alto, where residents set up barriers surrounding the Senkata gas plant, stopping tankers from leaving the plant and cutting off La Paz’s main source of gasoline.Determined to break the blockade, the government sent in helicopters, tanks and heavily armed soldiers in the evening of November 18. The next day, mayhem broke out when the soldiers began teargassing residents, then shooting into the crowd. I arrived just after the shooting. The furious residents took me to local clinics where the wounded were taken. I saw the doctors and nurses desperately trying to save lives, carrying out emergency surgeries in difficult conditions with a shortage of medical equipment. I saw five dead bodies and dozens of people with bullet wounds. Some had just been walking to work when they were struck by bullets. A grieving mother whose son was shot cried out between sobs: “They’re killing us like dogs.” In the end, there were 8 confirmed dead.The next day, a local church became an improvised morgue, with the dead bodies–some still dripping blood–lined up in pews and doctors performing autopsies. Hundreds gathered outside to console the families and contribute money for coffins and funerals. They mourned the dead and cursed the government for the attack and the local press for refusing to tell the truth about what happened.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/colombia-car-bomb-attack-against-national-police-station-at-least-3-dead-and-several-injured-video">RELATED CONTENT: Colombia: Car Bomb Attack Against National Police Station – At Least 3 Dead and Several Injured (Video)</a>The local news coverage about Senkata was almost as startling as the lack of medical supplies. The de facto government has<a href="https://www.clarin.com/mundo/video-nueva-ministra-comunicaciones-bolivia-amenazo-aplicar-ley-sedicion-periodistas_0_dP5Amy_v.html"> threatened journalists with sedition</a> should they spread “disinformation” by covering protests, so many don’t even show up. Those who do often spread disinformation. The main TV station reported three deaths and blamed the violence on the protesters, giving airtime to the new Defense Minister Fernando Lopez who made the absurd claim that soldiers did not fire “a single bullet” and that “terrorist groups” had tried to use dynamite to break into the gasoline plant.<a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AP_19324479402798_edited.jpg?resize=800%2C534&ssl=1">Bolivia Coup</a>It’s little wonder that many Bolivians have no idea what is happening. I have interviewed and spoken to dozens of people on both sides of the political divide. Many of those who support the de facto government justify the repression as a way to restore stability. They refuse to call President Evo Morales’ ouster a coup and claim there was fraud in the October 20 election that sparked the conflict. These claims of fraud, which were prompted by a report by the Organization of American States,<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-oas-lied-to-the-public-about-the-bolivian-election-and-coup-2019-11-19"> have been debunked</a> by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank in Washington, D.C.<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/two-independent-studies-contradict-oas-and-rule-out-fraud-in…

By g.a. mercadoVenezuelan Dark Blue Pill #013Since the conception of the <a href="https://medium.com/@flickmaking/petro-a-crypto-case-study-29a84e846594">Petro</a> president Nicolás Maduro has been so eager to promote it that at times his announcement on this subject have been plagued with inconsistencies or have not been thought through enough, discounting from it what any unit holding of value needs the most: <a href="https://medium.com/@flickmaking/trustworthiness-thats-the-question-27cf6ce939ef">Trust</a>.Nonetheless over the last two months president Maduro has made the following announcements of real facts regarding the Petro that profoundly strengthen its value and enhance its adoption:<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/bcv-venezuelan-economy-contracted-by-23-7-percent-in-first-trimester-of-2019">RELATED CONTENT: BCV: Venezuelan Economy Contracted by 23.7 Percent in First Trimester of 2019</a>Petro ValueAn allocation of an operational <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com/politica/53259/maduro-asigna-mina-de-oro-productiva-a-gobernadores">gold mine</a> to each state and a bimonthly budget of 1 million Petros to be shared among them. Since gold is the ultimate asset of value but it is not used as tendered money, the <a href="http://tcv.com.ve/">Tresury of Crypto-Assets</a> will safeguard the extracted precious metal and will grant the respective governor, the corresponding value in <a href="https://www.petro.gob.ve/">Petro</a>.An allocation of 5 million <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_of_oil_equivalent">crude barrels</a> a year to the <a href="http://tcv.com.ve/">Tresury of Crypto-Assets</a>, which will be commercialized by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDVSA">PDVSA</a> on their behalf. These assets plus some additional diamond, steel and iron reserves, which altogether are estimated to be worth <a href="http://www.minci.gob.ve/gobierno-nacional-expone-avances-de-la-criptomoneda-petro-en-la-nacion/">350 billion dollars</a>, make the value of the each <a href="https://www.petro.gob.ve/">Petro</a> very real and truly stable at $60.<a href="https://i1.wp.com/miro.medium.com/max/2200/1*d8-UohDvuP_f4zTcz0J4JQ.png?resize=800%2C480&ssl=1">Petro Easy Does It: Value & Adoption</a><a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelan-central-bank-would-incorporate-cryptocurrencies-as-international-reserves">RELATED CONTENT: Venezuelan Central Bank Would Incorporate Cryptocurrencies as International Reserves</a>Petro AdoptionA Well Thought-Out Strategic Alliance between <a href="https://sunacrip.gob.ve/eng/home.html">SUNACRIP</a> and <a href="http://www.bancodevenezuela.com/">Banco de Venezuela</a> (BDV) has enabled <a href="http://www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve/bdv-inicia-proceso-de-usabilidad-del-petro-en-27-000-comercios-afiliados/">27.000 retailers</a> to accept payments in <a href="https://www.petro.gob.ve/">Petros</a>, thanks to their state-of-the-art <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/point-of-sale.asp">Points of Sale Systems</a>: a) PuntoYaBDV which works with SMS & QR code and b) BiopagoBDV which works with a thumb print scanner.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/miro.medium.com/max/2508/1*O8QTvkkvstKIIZhpg-bsmg.jpeg?resize=800%2C372&ssl=1">Petro Easy Does It: Value & Adoption</a>Enabled dedicated Bank Tellers capable of issuing <a href="https://www.petro.gob.ve/">Petros</a> at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Ir1TuhHT9/?igshid=vyep2rvru9xr">23 Bank of Venezuela Branch Agencies</a> across the nation.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/miro.medium.com/max/2904/1*0GyObi65ALelblVU7IbQjA.jpeg?resize=800%2C545&ssl=1">Petro Easy Does It: Value & Adoption</a>The announcements of these milestones show a shift in approach with president Maduro who seems to have realized that people are expecting to hear about solutions already put in place instead of frail or unclear promises.<a href="https://medium.com/@flickmaking/petro-easy-does-it-value-adoption-b54f8b2b6ea6">Source URL: The Medium</a><a href="https://www.addtoany.c…