Dictatorship subordinated to Cuba surrenders Bolivia to Russia, China, and Iran

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) Bolivia, with over 280 political prisoners, thousands of exiles, judicialized persecution, State-terrorism, and violating all essential components of democracy, is 21st Century Socialism’s masked dictatorship under the command of Cuba. This dictatorship in which Luis Arce is the head of government and Evo Morales is the Dictator-In-Chief, functions with a façade of democracy and is Cuba’s satellite, under whose orders just surrendered Bolivia’s lithium to Russia and China, and its national security to Iran.

Dictatorship is “the political regime who, by force or violence, concentrates all power onto a person, group, or organization and represses human rights and basic individual freedoms.” Today, in Bolivia, there is not any of the essential components of democracy and the same methodology that Castrochavism uses in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, namely State-terrorism, is applied in Bolivia where “the government uses illegitimate methods aimed at instilling fear or terror in the population in order to accomplish its objectives or promote behaviors that would otherwise not occur by themselves.”

If the Arce/Morales regime argues to have democratic legitimacy stemming from the 2020 elections, a fraudulent electoral process that is up to now endorsed by the opposition, such argument was voided and lacks democratic legitimacy since none of the essential components of democracy exist in the exercise of governmental duties.

This is not about a domestic dictatorship, it is about a satellite dictatorship resulting from the expansion of Cuba’s dictatorship with the contributions of Venezuelan wealth by Hugo Chavez that birthed 21st Century Socialism, or Castrochavism. The total control of power in Bolivia was accomplish through coups d’état, bloody massacres, judicialized persecution, falsifications, the violent imposition of the Plurinational State that supplanted the Republic of Bolivia, and the establishment of a narco-State. A long litany of crimes that are still unpunished -with the false Cuban narrative of it being a revolution- only because through violence the perpetrators wield power indefinitely.

Bolivia has lost its self-determination and sovereignty ever since Evo Morales took the government as shown by the internal situation of overt Cuban-Venezuelan intervention in Bolivia’s internal affairs. In the international arena, Bolivia has become a puppet companion of dictatorial impositions as shown by; its voting record and position at international events and organizations, its subordination to the Cuban regime and to its dictums with Venezuela as its main platform.

In this context, this past 5th of July, the wielders of power in Bolivia signed an Agreement on Lithium with Russia’s state-owned company Rosatom and with China’s state-owned company Citic Guon Group with their promise to invest $1.4 Billion U.S. Dollars that add up to a similar amount offered by China’s battery manufacturer CATL with whom it had signed a similar agreement in January of this year. On 20 July, in Iran, Bolivia also signed a “Memorandum of Understanding to expand bilateral cooperation in the areas of security and defense.”

If Bolivia had been a democracy, none of these events -neither over Lithium, nor the Military Agreement with Iran- would have occurred. They are not legal, there is no legitimacy, there is no transparency, they are all acts of corruption because Bolivia’s best interests are disregarded and its sovereignty is not respected. This is treason to the homeland, and surrendered servitude that was cooked-up as follows: 1. Visit of Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on 17 to 21 of April of this year to Lula’s Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. 2. Visit of Iran’s President on 11 to 14 of June to Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The joint travel of Evo Morales and Luis Arce to Cuba on 1 to 3 July. 4. The Lithium contracts of 5 July and the Military Agreement of 20 July.

The dependence of Bolivia’s regime to Cuba’s regime is so obvious that Russians and Iranians do not even bother to deal with Bolivia’s dictatorship, instead they do it so openly and publicly with the central and main power in Havana. In the context of Russia’s invasion to Ukraine, Bolivia’s position demonstrates that Bolivia is an appendage of decisions made by the Cuban Dictatorship-In-Chief. If we add the close relationship that Russia has with Iran, Bolivia’s dictatorship has surrendered strategic resources to the consortium of dictatorships from the world something that in-turn threatens international peace and security.

This is an extremely serious matter because it takes advantage of the inexistence of the rule of law, the absence of independence and separation of the branches of government, the institutionalized violation of human rights and basic individual freedoms, and the existence of a “functional” opposition that is typically part of this type of dictatorships. All of this while Bolivian people suffer, decisions are counterfeited, and the popular sovereignty is supplanted, empowering the attack capabilities of Russia, China, and Iran’s dictatorships through Cuba, and turning Bolivia’s territory into a platform for attack.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas