Bolivia, dictatorship and narco-state, 18 years after the October 2003 coup

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) On October 17, 2003, Bolivian Constitutional President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was the victim of a coup d’état instigated by the fallacy of a supposed “gas war”, and forced to resign. The then “cocalero” leader Evo Morales and the conspirators, including Vice President Carlos Mesa, fractured the democratic system by storming on the presidency.

They publicly agreed on the so-called “October agenda”, which included among others, “the convocation of a constituent assembly, nationalization of hydrocarbons, prosecution of the overthrown government officials, liquidation of the political system and full amnesty for the coup plotters”. It’s what Bolivia has become today, a dictatorship and a narco-state.

“Coup d’état” derives from the French and means “the sudden seizure of political power by a powerful group in an illegal, violent way or by force.” It is also defined as “the illegal seizure of power, and through violence or coercion, to displace the person in power or change the current political system.”

The coup that ended in the overthrow of Sanchez de Lozada on October 17, 2003 was a long process of sedition and conspiracy against Bolivian democracy, which had begun as a plot against the two previous presidents. It was carried out with violence, coercion, treason, foreign armed intervention and crimes that the conspirators later blamed on their victims.

The 2003 coup in Bolivia was one of the initial actions of the “Bolivarian” populist project, the so-called 21st Century Socialism, also known as Castro-Chavism.

The plotter’s narrative justified the coup as part of a supposed “gas war”. They falsely claimed that Sanchez de Lozada was selling natural gas to Chile, an option they opposed. That narrative referred to a situation that actually never existed, because the original project was the sell the Bolivian gas to clients in Southern California, and Chile was just a transit territory, not a destination. Later on, with Evo Morales in power, Bolivian gas ended being sold to Chile through Argentina.

The coup plotters of October 2003 continue to hold power today in Bolivia, covering up impunity for Evo Morales and his accomplices. They even protected themselves from prosecution by amnesty decrees 27234 and 27237, signed by co-conspirator Carlos Mesa. Unfortunately, former President Jeanine Añez did not want to repeal those decrees.

This impunity still supports the coup narrative and prevents legal and historical clarification. While the coup leaders enjoy amnesty and impunity and still hold power in Bolivia, the defenders of democracy have been prosecuted, many wrongly sentenced, imprisoned, persecuted and even exiled, and they stand as victims of “reputational murder.”

After 18 years, the 2003 coup has produced what Bolivia is today:

1.- There is no Republic of Bolivia. It was supplanted by the “Plurinational State” denomination,
by falsifying a “constitutional reform” in the 2631 law of February 20th, 2004, that illegally introduced the term “constituent assembly” in open violation of the Bolivian Constitution.

2. Coup plotters once in power claimed for themselves the right to represent the people with the 3941 law, which allowed Congress to modify the bill of a constituent assembly, with complicity and agreement of the opposition, that controlled the Senate at that time.

3.- Nationalization of hydrocarbons with the so-called Supreme Decree 29701 of May 1st, 2006, in addition to promoting corruption, implemented the dismantling of the Bolivian oil industry to the point that today Bolivia cannot comply with contracts to export natural gas to Brazil and Argentina. There’s no gas even for internal consumption, with very serious cases such as that of the Bermejo Sugar Mill.

4.- Bolivia is a dependant and intervened country, part of the group of dictatorships of 21 Century Socialism, also known as Castro-Chavism. In Bolivia none of the essential requirements of democracy are met. There are 52 confirmed political prisoners, more than 1,700 politicians and activists in exile. And the opposition that once was a functional one, is now “hostage” of the regime, facing trials and, in order to preserve freedom, accommodating themselves to the regime.

5.- The Judiciary is used as mechanism of political repression and instrument of “state terrorism”, as in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Human rights are violated even through laws created by the regime. There is no due process, no separation or independence of powers, and no freedom of the press.

6.- Bolivia is in practicality a narco-state, a country whose institutions are significantly influenced by drug trafficking and whose leaders simultaneously hold positions as government officials and members of illegal drug trafficking networks. Just watch at the increase in illegal coca crops, and the regime’s repression of legal coca growers.

The effects of the October 2003 coup in Bolivia are dire -that’s what they intended- and will continue to worsen until freedom, democracy and the Republic are recovered.

(*) Lawyer and Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy

Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators Association, ATA # 234680.