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YVON GRENIER

In the end of her statement on the presidential crisis in Bolivia, on Nov. 10, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland had this to say: “We note the resignation of President (Evo) Morales and will continue to support Bolivia during this transition and the new elections.”

Morales was for many years a very popular president, especially among the poor and his Indigenous base of Aymara and Quechua people in the highlands. He was hands down the most successful president of the ailing Bolivarian Alliance, which also include countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. If he had accepted the result of his own referendum in 2016, in which voters rejected his proposal to change constitutional term limits so he could run again, he would be mostly remembered as an illiberal but progressive and democratic president. By overstaying his welcome, he provoked a political and social crisis, leading to civil unrest and violence. According to Human Rights Watch, at least three people have died over the past few weeks, with hundreds more injured and hundreds arrested.

Unlike the U.S., the EU and other allies in the region, Canada was initially not quick to condemn the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of Oct. 20, which granted Morales a fourth consecutive term. But once an audit of the vote, by a 90-member observer mission of the Organization of American States, confirmed that verdict, Canada appropriately denounced Morales and called for new elections.

Canada’s hesitant position in the past few days reflects the uncertainty over the manner in which President Morales resigned or was overthrown. And yet, even if events do not resemble a classic coup scenario (the military did not use force or seized power), and regardless of Morales’s responsibility for the current presidential crisis, the fact is that the head of the armed forces, Gen. Williams Kaliman, did go on television and said "we suggest that the president resign."

In a country that experienced about 200 coups since independence, such a “suggestion” can easily be construed as a threat. In which case, there can be no doubt: it was essentially a coup, if by stealth. A coup is generally clear cut; this story definitely isn’t. Regardless, Canada’s credibility as a force for human rights and democracy in the hemisphere depends on being crystal clear on rejecting any military intervention in politics.

Yvon Grenier is a professor of political science at St. Francis Xavier University and a Latin America specialist.