2019 Coup in Bolivia

Planning the Coup
In early October, weeks before the elections, leaked audio files of conversation between the coup plotters enabled a detailed a description of what was ongoing in an English-language two-part series (1 (archive) 2 (archive)). The audio files, originally posted on dropbox but since deleted, can be found here. Three parts of the plan are described as follows.
 * 1) “PREPARATORY PHASE” (already executed): Its purpose is preparing and organizing the field for the subsequent stages.
 * 2) “INTENSIVE STAGE” (in operation): Its purpose is generating convulsion and social instability in the country.
 * 3) “FINAL STAGE” (not executed): Proclamation of electoral fraud and imposition of a parallel government. It is perceived to be carried out once the presidential elections end.
 * The US Is Preparing to Oust President Evo Morales - Nik Nikandrov, Strategic Culture Foundation, June 9, 2016
 * A coup in the making: Evo Morales forced out - Bolivia Information Forum, November 11, 2019 Chronology of events up to November 10
 * Who overthrew Evo Morales government and why? - Gabriel Moyssen, El Universal November 15, 2019
 * Bolivia: More Than 68,000 Fake Twitter Accounts Supported Coup - teleSUR, November 18, 2019

Alleged Electoral Fraud

 * Preliminary Report of the Electoral Observation Mission in Bolivia - Organisation of American States, October 23, 2019


 * OAS AT THE VANGUARD OF THE (ONGOING) COUP IN BOLIVIA - Mission Verdad, October 24, 2019
 * What Happened in Bolivia’s 2019 Vote Count?, Center for Economic and Policy Research, November 2019


 * This paper presents results from statistical analysis of election returns and tally sheets from Bolivia’s October 20 elections. This analysis finds no evidence that irregularities or fraud affected the official result that gave President Evo Morales a first-round victory. The paper presents a step-by-step breakdown of what happened with Bolivia’s vote counts (both the unofficial quick count, and the slower official count), seeking to dispel confusion over the process. The report includes the results of 500 simulations that show that Morales’s first-round victory was not just possible, but probable, based on the results of the initial 83.85 percent of votes in the quick count.


 * Opinion: The OAS lied to the public about the Bolivian election and coup - Mark Weisbrot, MarketWatch, November 19, 2019
 * Bolivia: Let’s Tell the Truth - Angel Guerra Cabrera, Resumen, November 21, 2019

2020

 * A Bitter Election. Accusations of Fraud. And Now Second Thoughts - Anatoly Kurmanaev and Maria Silvia Trigo, NYT June 7, 2002 - (Mirrored here)


 * NYT Finally Gets Around to Reporting OAS Fraud Election Claims in Bolivia Were Bogus - Eion Higgins, Consortium News June 10

Lithium
The world's largest/one of the largest identified lithium reserves (info-graphics).


 * Bolivia’s lithium boom: dream or nightmare? - Rafael Sagárnaga, Diálogo Chino, September 15, 2015
 * Bolivian President Evo Morales Visits Russia And Agrees Crucial Lithium Deal With Putin! -YouTube, July 15, 2019
 * China, USA and the Geopolitics of Lithium - F. William Engdahl, New Eastern Outlook, November 18, 2019
 * Since 2015 a Chinese mining company, CAMC Engineering Company, has been operating a large plant in Bolivia to produce potassium chloride as fertilizer. What CAMC downplays is the fact that beneath the potassium chloride are the largest known lithium reserves in the world in Salar de Uyuni salt flats, one of 22 such salt flats in Bolivia. China’s Linyi Dake Trade in 2014 constructed a lithium battery pilot plant on the same site. Then in February 2019 the Morales government signed another lithium deal, this with China’s Xinjiang TBEA Group Co Ltd who will hold a 49 percent stake in a planned joint venture with Bolivia’s state lithium company YLB.


 * "Elon Musk Is Acting Like a Neo-Conquistador for South America’s Lithium" - Peoples Dispatch, March 10, 2020
 * (Noted, not made obvious how...)
 * Elon Musk Confesses to Lithium Coup in Bolivia - Telesur, July 25, 2020
 * ...letter from the coup regime’s Foreign Minister Karen Longaric to Elon Musk, dated march 31st, says “any corporation that you or your company can provide to our country will be gratefully welcomed.”


 * United Tesla Company: Widespread Condemnation of Elon Musk’s Bolivia Coup Comments - Alan Macleod, Mint Press, July 27, 2020
 *  After being challenged on Twitter about his alleged involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Evo Morales in Bolivia last November, Musk responded, “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.”

Deal with ACI

 * May 21, 2018: Bolivian State lithium company YLB announces a strategic partnership with German ACI Systems to develop the Lithium exploitation
 * December 12, 2018: Joint-Venture between YLB and ACI is founded in Berlin with participation of the German minister of economics
 * October 7, 2019: Some sort of committee starts a hunger strike in protest over the implications of the deal for the local people (unclear, machine translation from Spanish)
 * October 14, 2019: Strike ends after consultation with Morales
 * November 4, 2019: Morales stops the project per decree without informing the German partners

Coup Regime

 * BIF Special Bulletin - first days of Añez’s interim government - 17 November 2019- Bolivia Information Forum, November 17, 2019
 * 1. Key events after Morales’ resignation 2. Claims to legitimacy, the nature of the succession 3. Añez’s cabinet 4. Economic policy: the business agenda 5. Foreign policy: reversal 6. Conflict and repression


 * Bolivia coup led by Christian fascist paramilitary leader and millionaire – with foreign support - The Grayzone, November 11, 2019
 * Bolivia's Jeanine Anez recognizes Guaido as Venezuelan president - Reuters, November 13, 2019
 *  “As Constitutional President of Bolivia I invite you to appoint the new ambassador of Venezuela in Bolivia, who will be recognized immediately by our government.”


 * Bolivia announces severing diplomatic relations with Venezuela - Tass, November 15, 2019
 * Bolivia: Coup-Born Government Threatens Independent Journalists - teleSUR, November 15, 2019
 * Bolivia's Interim Gov't Announces Withdrawal From ALBA - Bakhtawar Ameen, Pakistan Point, November 15, 2019
 * Bolivia’s New Puppet Regime Wastes No Time Aligning With US Foreign Policy - Caitlin Johnstone, November 16, 2019
 * Bolivia's De Facto Gov’t Grants Impunity to Security Forces - teleSUR, November 17, 2019
 * Bolivia’s De Facto Government Constructs the Internal Enemy - Marco Terrugi, Resumen, Novemeber 19, 2019
 * BOLIVIA EN EL ABISMO: ¿QUIÉNES INTEGRAN EL GABINETE DE FACTO DE JEANINE ÁÑEZ? - Mission Verdad, November 21, 2019
 * How middle class Bolivia learned to stop worrying and love the coup - Wyatt Reed, The Grayzone, December 5, 2019
 * “I can’t go out at night because of all these thieves and rapists lurking about,” one panicked middle class woman from a relatively well-to-do section of El Alto, remarked to me. She had spent days glued to the national news, where every channel has been melded together by the junta into a unitary propaganda mechanism injecting terror into the minds of its viewers at all hours. Older Bolivians who do not seek alternative sources of news on social media have proven particularly susceptible to the fear-mongering.


 * Bolivia's interim president: Arrest warrant to be issued against Morales - PressTV, December 15, 2019
 * Bolivia’s New US-Backed Interim Gov’t Wastes No Time Privatizing Economy - Alan Macleod, Mint Press, December 16, 2019

International reaction

 * Venezuela Condemns Bolivia Coup d’État - Paul Dobson, Venezuela Analysis November 11, 2019

Anti-coup protests and police and military crackdown

 * Thomas van Linge (Twitter), November 15 - #Bolivia: several #Morales supporters suffered gun shot wounds from the police during clashes outside of #Cochabamba
 * (Twitter) Inter American Commission on Human Rights November 15, 2019 Condemning excessive force from security forces in Cochabamba resulting in 5 deaths.
 * Fars News Agency Bolivia’s ousted leader Evo Morales pleaded with his country’s military to stop firing on unarmed demonstrators protesting the coup-imposed interim leadership, after several activists were killed in clashes with security forces. November 15, 2019
 * Massive Anti-Coup Protests Explode Across Bolivia 'Against the Many Violations to Democracy' - Eoin Higgins, Common Dreams, November 15, 2019
 * Morales’ MAS in talks with Bolivia coup regime on how to quell unrest - Bill Van Auken, WSWS, November 16, 2019
 * Protest blockades have brought vehicular traffic in Bolivia to a virtual halt, leaving thousands of trucks bringing goods to the cities stranded. Peasants have vowed that they will stop sending food into La Paz and other urban centers. And, most damaging of all, the distribution of gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas, which is used to power much of the country’s industrial sector, has been interrupted with the main plant of the state-operated energy corporation, the YPFB, in Senkata outside of El Alto, blocked by demonstrators. The gas pipeline between Carrasco and Cochabamba has also been cut off.
 * Military join protests against the coup in Bolivia - Noticias en red, November 17, 2019 (video)
 * ''Sectors of the Bolivian armed forces folded to the mass protests against the coup d'etat to the indigenous president Evo Morales in Bolivia.
 * ''In the last hours, images of the Andean country infantry could be seen, joining the march of the Copacabana Union on the Oruro-La Paz highway.
 * La CIDH eleva a 23 los muertos y a 715 los heridos en la crisis de Bolivia - Informa21, November 17, 2019
 * Last night, Bolivia's Defense Minister assured that "the Army did not fire a single projectile" in the operation in Senkata, El Alto, which left at least 08 dead and 50 wounded. The videos, however, show the opposite. - Mission Verdad November 20, 2019. Police claim subversives used explosives near the hydrocarbons plant.
 * - Videos of events in Senkata November 19
 * 'What happened was a massacre': grief and rage in Bolivia after day of deadly violence - Tom Phillips, The Guardian, November 20, 2019
 * BOLIVIAN COUP GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES TO CONSOLIDATE POWER WITH REPRESSIONS AND VIOLENCE - Southfront, November 22, 2019
 * Footage of security forces attacking the funeral procession in La Paz - Redfish
 * La DEA y el nar­co­gol­pe en Bo­li­via - Fernando Oz, Puente Aereo, November 24, 2019
 * With the right-wing coup in Bolivia nearly complete, the junta is hunting down the last remaining dissidents - Wyatt Reed, The Grayzone, November 27, 2019

2020: Resistance and repression

 * Bolivia: Armed Forces Threaten Senate and Demand Promotions - Telesur, May 22, 2020
 * Bolivia: General Elections Are Postponed to October - Telesur, July 23, 2020
 * Summary executions and widespread repression under Bolivia’s interim government reports rights advocates from Harvard and University Network for Human Rights - July 27, 2020 (PDF) Black Novermber & Bolivia's Interim government
 * Bolivia: The Coup Within the Coup - Hector Bernardo, Internationalist 360, August 5, 2020

2020 General Strike against Election postponement


August 8: The regime and the OAS have been accusing protesters of blocking medical services responding to the Covid pandemic, despite repeated denials of the social movements with evidence to the contrary.
 * Bolivian Workers Ratify Call For Mobilizations On August 3 - Telesur, July 31, 2020
 * Bolivia's Coup-Born Regime to Deploy Troops to Quell Protests - Telesur, August 7, 2020
 * Video - Bolivia's regime is terrorising the population by sending planes to fly at almost ground level over protesters. They're preparing for a massacre. - @OVargas52, August 7, 2020

August 9: The regime mobilises far right paramilitary groups against protesters Kawsachun News:''Bolivian pro-coup terror group 'Resistencia Juvenil Cochala' have attacked pro-democracy protesters in Quillacollo, Cochabamba. They are armed, one is wearing a US military hat.''

August 10: Kawsachun News: ''The US government formally condems the protests for democracy in Bolivia. Likewise, unions and social movements have condemned the US for propping up the unelected regime.''

August 11: Redfish - Scenes from Bolivia where Indigenous people, miners, students and others have been on a national strike for 9 days now to demand free elections... Regime minister Artur Murillo ''did not rule out the use of military force to dislodge the demonstrations. He said the government will try to reach an agreement to remove the blockades, but warned that failure to do so will activate the military: “There will be no other way to act but with the toughest hand, with the law in hand,” he said.''

August 12: Signatories of the Progressive International including Rafael Correa call on the UN & the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to guarantee fair elections in Bolivia. ''We are outraged that the de facto government has been permitted to continue its assault on the democratic institutions of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. ''

August 13: Ollie Vargas - ''Today will be key for Bolivia. The coup regime must decide whether they want to leave power peacefully by holding free elections, without persecution, without further delays...''

August 14: Telesur ''Bolivia's Legislative branch Thursday processed a law so that October 18 be the deadline for holding presidential elections. This law would include provisions to generate criminal consequences for anyone who attempts to postpone the date.'' Kawscahun News - ''Bolivia's workers unions (COB) have voted to pause the protests for democracy until the 18th of October, now that a law guaranteeing elections has been won. However, they'll mobilize again if the coup regime refuses to accept their coming defeat after the 18th.''

August 19: Leader of the COB and others have arrest warrants and criminal suits layed against them, for terrorism and sedition.
 * “Bolivia’s Coup President Will End up Fleeing the Palace in a Helicopter” - Anton Flaig and Denis Rogatyuk, Orinoco Tribune, August 14, 2020

Covid 19

 * BIF Bulletin 49 - Coronavirus, elections and more - Bolivia Info Forum, July 3, 2020
 * Bolivia, a Devastated Country - Resumen, July 21, 2020
 * Bolivian prison inmates riot over coronavirus exposure - Reuters, July 27, 2020
 * While Bolivia’s coup regime lets its citizens die, Cuba has nearly defeated Covid-19 - Ollie Vargas, The Grayzone, August 2, 2019
 * Bolivia: La Paz Uses Mobile Crematories as COVID Deaths Increase - Telesur, August 13, 2020
 * La Paz Mayor’s Office, one of the cities most harmed by the virus, reported local cemeteries received over 2,000 bodies in July, an atypical figure from the 500 average. 

Analysis

 * Luis Fernando Camacho, Bolivia's ‘Bolsonaro’ Leading the Coup - teleSUR, November 11, 2019
 * Lev Vershinin (Putnik1), Bolivian diary 1, 2,, 11 November, 2019 (some background of events/actors/Morales, etc; in Rus.)
 * Bolivia Does Not Exist - VJ Prasad, Dissident Voice November 14, 2019
 * First interview with Evo Morales from Mexican exile - teleSUR, November 14, 2019
 * Evo's Bolivia is not over - Sean Orr, FightBack News, November 14, 2019
 * Evo Morales: from the Rainy Place to the Burnt Palace — and back again - Leonidas Oikonomakis, ROAR Magazine, November 14, 2019
 * The clear US role in Bolivia’s tragic hard-right coup - Fiona Edwards, The Canary, November 14, 2019
 * Bolivia: Evo’s Fall, the Fascist Right, and the Power of Memory - Raúl Zibechi, Brecha, November 15, 2019
 * The Far-Right Coup in Bolivia - Matt Wilgress, Jacobin, November 2019
 * Evo overthrown, but Bolivian Socialism will be victorious! - Andre Vltchek, OffGuardian, November 19, 2019
 * Bolivia is falling into the grips of a brutal right-wing regime - Gabriel Hetland, Washington Post, November 19, 2019
 * How OAS Deception Helped the Coup in Bolivia - Real News Network, November 19, 2019
 * How Human Rights Watch Whitewashed a Right-Wing Massacre in Bolivia - Alan Macleod, ''Mint Press News, November 20, 2019
 * Baby Shark Coup - John Steppling, OffGuardian, November 22, 2019
 * Lessons From The Bolivian Coup - Nathan J Robinson, Current Affairs, November 26, 2019
 * EXCLUSIVE: Indigenous Bolivia Ready to Go to War Against Fascism - Andre Vltchek, 21st Century Wire, December 9, 2019
 * Mission Verdad Twitter thread on pro coup NGO's and twitter bots - December 16, 2019
 * Video: Glenn Greenwald interviews Evo Morales - December 3, published December 16 by The Intercept
 * Bolivia’s Ongoing Coup - Oliver Vargas, Tribune, July 27, 2020
 * Bolivia Headed for a Showdown as Mass Protests Erupt Against US-backed Anez Administration - Alan Macleod, Mint Press, August 14, 2020

Aggregate Sources

 * Orinoco Tribune (Bolivia)
 * Friends of Bolivia - Twitter
 * Bolivia Information Forum - Twitter
 * The Grayzone (Bolivia)
 * Kawsachun News - Twitter
 * Mission Verdad - Twitter (English)
 * Ollie Vargas - Twitter
 * teleSUR (Bolivia)
 * Resumen Latin America - English (Bolivia)
 * Francisco Guaita - Twitter RT correspondent
 * Fernando Oz - Twitter
 * Denis Rogatyuk - Twitter
 * William Bowles.info - Bolivia News Links November 15
 * Axis of Logic (Bolivia)