Statement on the current situation in Bolivia

bolivia / peru / ecuador / chile | community struggles | press release

Thursday June 16, 2005 17:49

by Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y el Gas

We will go on in this same, irreversible direction, in this collective horizon laid out years ago by the people, to build a country for ourselves, for our children and our children's children

TO THE MOBILIZED COMRADES IN COCHABAMBA AND BOLIVIA:
TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINIÓN:

The "Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y el Gas" wishes to make known its evaluation of the current situation:

* With the gigantic mobilisation of Bolivian people and of the indigenous peoples from all over the national territory we have temporarily defeated the greatest manoeuvre of the transnational corporations, the US government, the Santa Cruz oligarchy (1) and the traditional Bolivian political parties.

* Yesterday, thanks to the efforts of thousands of men and women, and the life of the cooperative miner Juán Coro, we managed to prevent the return to government of the Mega-coalition of Vaca Díez that would have meant a bloodbath of the Bolivian people and the continued theft of our natural resources.

* This, comrades, is no small thing: all the power of the world’s capital was in coalition against us and we have been able to stop it. For this reason, we have obtained a great deal but we have not yet reached the strategic goals proposed by the whole poor, working population of Bolivia. These goals are still the following:

1) The NATIONALISATION, or rather, the expropriation by society of Bolivia's hydrocarbon resources which are currently in the hands of the transnationals.
2) The calling of a CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, which must be sovereign and include the majority of Bolivian people (and not of the political parties), which will set out a new form of internal rule and social regulation for all of us, and can build a new collective will from the grassroots.

* Over the coming days, we should begin a vast debate about how can we achieve these goals.

* After 3 weeks of confrontation and mobilizations, we consider it useful to have a pause in the mobilizations so that the population can stock up with food and fuel, and also to listen to the position that the new president, Mr. Rodríguez, will take towards the Bolivian population. To Mr. Rodríguez, we say clearly that he must understand that the aims of the population are those mentioned above and that he is president because previous presidents did not listen to the Bolivian population, they did not take our opinions into account, they did not govern according to the will of the people, and that we will not accept new manoeuvres being prepared against us: you have already seen the people’s strength.

* It is also important to make the following observation: During the May-June mobilization we saw two things. On the one hand, the gigantic force of the social movements; we are able to paralyse the entire territory and to impede the actions of the bosses and bad governments. On the other hand, we were unable to impose our decisions and goals on the governmental power, that is in the worst crisis that it could possibly be in. Based upon those two facts it is essential that we begin a vast process of reflection and debate in all the neighbourhoods and communities of Cochabamba and throughout the whole country, regarding the need to build, little by little, our own capacity for SELF-GOVERNMENT, so that we can promote it during the next mobilization.

* Our great ability to paralyse the country must be matched with a great creative capacity to enable our decisions to go beyond the official institutions and the traditional parties, who are yet again leading us to the precipice. This time around we occupied the oil wells, the gas plants, the refineries. Next time, we will also have to be able to turn them to our own use.

* We will go on in this same, irreversible direction, in this collective horizon laid out years ago by the people, to build a country for ourselves, for our children and our children's children.

LONG LIVE THE UNITED PEOPLE OF BOLIVIA!!!

DEATH TO THE TRANSNATIONALS!!!

Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y el Gas

Cochabamba, 10th June 2005

Translator note: 1. Santa Cruz is the economic capital of Bolivia

translation by A-Infos

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Comments (6 of 6)

Translation

by nestor

Thu Jun 16, 2005 17:50

This article in Spanish:

Current situation

by mitch

Fri Dec 09, 2005 20:26

wsany at hotmail dot com

What's the current situation like in Bolivia these days? Have any anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist goups developed this past year?

situation today...

by José Antonio Gutiérrez - OCL-Chile

Sat Dec 10, 2005 01:43

I have some articles on that, unfortunately, they are all in Spanish. I'll try to translate something soon.

Texts

Sat Dec 10, 2005 22:34

Pepe,

I can read spanish, so feel free to email any texts, tec.

In solidarity,
mitch

one we wrote a couple of months ago...

Sun Dec 11, 2005 05:53

http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1674 this one you can find in anarkismo.net, and has an analysis on perspective of the events in Ecuador and Bolivia. I'm finishing another one soon, that I'll post in the next week, probably.

DECLARATION OF THE FIRST NATIONAL WORKERS AND POPULAR SUMMIT

Sun Dec 18, 2005 02:46

I'd be curious to learn more and any anarchist responses or current activities.
Has the FIJL disappaeared?

Note the contradictions of the statement, between direct action, workers self-organization and the need for a workers and peasants government. This is interesting in a sense that it suggest a multitude of tendencies and ideas being argued, some more liberatarian than others.

Any documents or other items in Spanish or English would be welcomed.

In solidarity,
mitch

"DECLARATION OF THE FIRST NATIONAL WORKERS AND POPULAR SUMMIT

(El Alto, Bolivia -- December 10, 2005)

On the eve of the national and departmental elections in Bolivia [scheduled for December 18 -- Translator's Note], we workers and social movements met in the city of El Alto -- considered the headquarters of revolution in the 21st century -- at the first National Workers and Popular Summit. We hereby declare the following:

1. The workers' and social movements of Bolivia are now more than ever convinced that the National and Departmental Elections were organized to disarticulate the tenacious struggle of the exploited and will not resolve the problems that strangle the Bolivian people, nor will they defend the sovereignty or dignity of the nation. Poverty, hunger, and unemployment will continue.
2. We are consciouss that our recent struggles were characterized by the fact that they put neo-liberalism´s back to the wall. But we were unable to transform these struggles into the taking of power. Thus, the workers' and social movements of Bolivia have the elementary obligation to articulate and consolidate the National Originary [Originaria] Popular Assembly as an organ of power. The Constituent Assembly which the current government is preparing [for June 2006 --T.N.] only aims to protect the interests of the multinationals.

3. At this juncture, the workers and exploited of our country are certain that none of the candidates who have a chance of winning power through the elections will dare to reclaim our natural resources; thus our only alternative is to end the truce [cuarto intermedio] called during the events of last May-June to achieve the following objectives:

- The nationalization of the hydrocarbons [oil and gas], without compensation, and the reclaiming for the public sector of all the natural resources.

- The deepening and concretization of the Political Instrument of the Workers, approved at the National Plenary of the Bolivian Workers Confederation (COB).

- The complete cancellation of Supreme Court Decision 21060

-- The implementation of the minimum wage with a sliding wage-scale and the guarantee of labor stability. We will not let any of the governments cancel the labor tribunals [fuero sindical].

- The recuperation of all the public social services.

- The intransigent defense of the unity of the nation, and the struggle against the divisive maneuvers of the oligarchy of Santa Cruz and Tarija, under the pretext of autonomy.

- The immediate extradition of the killer Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and his jailing, together with his cronies in Chonchocoro.

4. The exploited and social movements are conscious that to achieve our immediate results, which requires the creation of a workers' and popular government, we can only rely on the direct action of the masses and our own instruments of struggle. This is why we have the elementary obligation to strengthen the COB, CODes, CORes, local unions, and popular organizations that identify with the struggle of the Bolivian people.

5. We Bolivian workers declare ourselves on alert in the face of an attempted foreign military intervention.

6. The exploited and social movements of our country call on all the exploited people throughout the country to organize Regional Popular Assemblies in March 2006. The representatives of these Assemblies are summoned to elect their delegates to the National Originary Popular Assembly, which will meet on April 10th, 2006, in the city of El Alto.

EL ALTO, DECEMBER 10, 2005

Central Obrera Regional - El Alto (COR-El Alto)
Central Obrera Boliviana (COB)
Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia (FSTMB)"
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this english translation by the trotskyist International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples --mitch

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Statement on the current situation in Bolivia

TO THE MOBILIZED COMRADES IN COCHABAMBA AND BOLIVIA:
TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINIÓN:

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Statement on the current situation in Bolivia

TO THE MOBILIZED COMRADES IN COCHABAMBA AND BOLIVIA: TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINIÓN:

Comments (6 of 6)

TO THE MOBILIZED COMRADES IN COCHABAMBA AND BOLIVIA:
TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINIÓN: