It’s not every day that you see the sign ‘Wanted: President XYZ’, but if you happen to witness such an event- buckle up, ’cause you’re about to go on a bumpy ride. While coups and political risings have been popping up in the Middle East and Africa, it seems as though lately Latin America is getting a taste of this historical commodity. Particularly, the South American country of Bolivia.

After a contentious round of elections, former Bolivian President, Evo Morales decided to head out of the country, after suggestions of the Bolivian military to step down as President. The BBC reveals in a recent report how “Mr. Morales said he was forced to stand down but did so willingly, so there would be no more bloodshed.” During Bolivia’s election, The New Voice was tipped off by an anonymous source with a video of a woman holding an open bag with voting ballots being transported and escorted by police who do nothing regarding this alleged violation. Unfortunately, there was not enough information that could be gathered from the incident to add to the allegations of corruption in Bolivia’s election.

Morales stated that “the price of $50,000 (£38,000) had been put on his head by coup plotters.”

Moreover, while the fate of Mr. Morales is still up in the air, protestors aren’t buying the alleged coup. In fact, it seems as though protests have only gotten worse over the recent announcement of Bolivia’s new ‘interim’ president, Jeanine Anez. Interestingly enough, the narrative surrounding her rise to power isn’t as black and white as it may appear to be.

The Financial Times elaborates on how, since her inauguration into office, Anez has signed a landmark agreement between protestors of the MAS (Movement for Socialism) Party and the Bolivian Government to annul the results of Morales’ election, create a new electoral authority to oversee next year’s election, and to hire electoral officials within 20 days.

At first glance, it seems as though all is well and that the country is finally heading into a healthy direction. Unfortunately, coups are no fairy tale and rarely end with ‘Happily Ever After’, even if done with good intentions. Interim President Anez has drawn concern amongst citizens and protestors alike, for her “Exceeding the authority of a caretaker government by announcing big changes to Bolivia’s formerly pro-Cuban and pro-Venezuelan foreign policy”.

Furthermore, reports have recently leaked that Anez has gone as far as to sack the former president’s cabinet, Military brass, and replace the board members of crucial state-owned enterprises with political loyalists. This is problematic on numerous levels. First, it calls into question Bolivia’s ability to gut out corruption from the system. Does the discarding of one leader inevitably result in another rising to power?

Secondly, it hurts the country on an economic level. One significant aspect of socialist economies is that they are heavily dependent on state-owned enterprises (SOEs), they act as the backbone for short-run aggregate supply, which inevitably drives up demand and long-term economic growth.

If Anez continues replacing the leaders and managers of SOEs, it’ll result in a trickle-down mass lay-off effect because the new bosses will want their own people to work for them.

Even if the former doesn’t happen in its full effect, there is no way to verify that Anez’s replacements are qualified for their positions or whether or not they’ll end up running the SOEs into the ground. Furthermore, just the nature of the Anez’s seizure of SOEs will be perceived by markets as corrupt and significantly drive down consumer confidence as well as foreign direct investments. Investors won’t feel comfortable due to Anez’s radical shifts and as a result, this will cause a downturn in the business cycle, that if not careful, could lead to long-term decline.

Right now, the coup in Bolivia has the potential to pose a tribal crisis. The primary reason as to why Morales got into power in the first place is to be considered as the tribalist factor. While at first this may be viewed as relatively minuscule, if unattended, it could have Venezuela-level implications.

For a briefer, Tribalism is the idea that we separate things, such as politics, by smaller social groups (tribes).

For years, South American countries have faced cultural oppression by the white majority. After the events of colonization that occurred in the 18th/19th centuries, wealthy white citizens have steadily risen to the top of the South American countries and have claimed the majority of power, despite only representing a minority of the population.

Morales as a socialist, indigenous candidate inspired people and gave critical media coverage to the indigenous tribes that were being systematically harmed by the former government.

“We must be treated equally.”



Indigenous Bolivians fear renewed racism after Evo Morales – Bolivia’s first indigenous president – resigned following protests backed by the army. pic.twitter.com/s7DpXbqX2S — Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 28, 2019

The Nation Magazine argues that while Morales was far from a perfect head of state, “ The potential return of a conservative government after Morales’s 14-year rule has brought with it a resurgence of a virulent strain of anti-indigenous hatred with deep roots in Bolivia, reminiscent of the country’s “gas wars,” in which discontent over the government’s exploitation of Bolivia’s natural gas grew into large-scale protests led in part by Morales. In 2003, the unrest left more than 60 Aymara indigenous citizens dead after clashes between protesters and the national army.”

To put it bluntly, Bolivians and Latin America as a whole don’t care that Morales was a tyrant who abused his power, they now care more about how his ouster is being manipulated to execute the white-conservative branch’s anti-indigenous agenda. And it’s already having regional impacts.

Guatemalan political leaders are holding a series of public marches and protests in support of Evo Morales, according to the Tico Times. They view the ‘coup’ as racist and just another attempt at US imperialism.

This resembles the same level of anti-indigenous hatred that coursed through Venezuela and Chavez’s election. In her book, Political Tribes, Amy Chua elaborates on the anti-indigenous sentiment within Venezuela’s roots that resulted in a tribal-political war between the white minority and dark-skinned majority. See the resemblance?

On the other hand, Bolivia’s current dilemma isn’t US imperialism or an act of aggression by the West. Simply put, it’s a power-hungry politician taking advantage of an ample situation. This is why the Organization of American States needs to act beyond their recent 100 reports on Bolivian corruption, and start enacting crucial action clauses listed within the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

The OAS has the power to sanction Anez’s loyalists, suspend Bolivian voting rights, and even hold special conferences with Anez; all in the effort to minimize her overreaches on democracy and the electoral process.

So while Bolivia’s protests may seem like one crazy game of Wheel of Fortune, its critical that precise action be taken soon or else the system as a whole will bust.

Welcome to our new article series: The Year of Protests! 2019 has been a year filled with street protests from around the world, and no one has been able to figure out why. In this series, New Voice reporters, Juliette Reyes and Polina Protozanova, will analyze and explain these various protests going on in countries from around the world.

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