On November 10, weeks after a hotly contested election, Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, was forced to resign in what many observers have called a coup d'etat. Since Morales was deposed, violent clashes have erupted around the country and and a right-wing politician has assumed the presidency. Dan Jaffee interviews Dr. Gisela Rodriguez, a Bolivian sociologist living in Portland, about the roots of the conflict; the record of Morales's MAS party during 14 years in power; the reasons for the opposition to Morales by some Bolivian progressive, indigenous, and popular movements; and what Morales' ouster means for democracy in Bolivia and for the future of the Latin American left. Dr. Rodriguez completed her doctoral thesis in 2019: Reproduciendo Otros Mundos: Indigenous Women's Struggles Against Neo-Extractivism and the Bolivian State.
Demonstrators protest electoral fraud in La Paz, Bolivia, October 23, 2019. (Photo by Paulo Fabre/Wikimedia)
Resources for further reading on Bolivia and Evo Morales:
In English:
- Democracy Now debate over the coup in Bolivia, with Pablo Solón and Kevin Young:https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/13/bolivia_evo_morales_coup_debate
- Analysis from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/17/bolivia-more-volatile-than-ever-as-president-flees-and-leaders-denounce-a-coup
- Analysis from The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2019/11/13/bolivia-and-brazil-at-the-crossroads/
- Interview with sociologist Jeffrey Webber: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4493-the-eighteenth-brumaire-of-macho-camacho-jeffery-r-webber-with-forrest-hylton-on-the-coup-in-bolivia?fbclid=IwAR1cxFcrarEnxJZNEv3amht58J_zarzfUOXjGJDT_RgopPlMAXRBHzRHtUs
In Spanish:
- Mujeres Creando (Bolivian feminist collective): https://www.mujerescreando.org/
- Argentine academic Damian Andrada: http://revistaanfibia.com/ensayo/pensar-bolivia-con-el-corazon-en-la-boca/?fbclid=IwAR23cswscrBRYqMh8PQLvEbIt7SEcW90LQViAR4lD95ACT-6UpNXOKmSZzA
- Uruguayan journalist and political theorist Raul Zibechi: http://uninomadasur.net/?p=2309&fbclid=IwAR26ANcb3dvAdgFEQhZhrs0yr4PUDbO5R1fZ3fCWDsR0Qam8xCpVyQxnxGg
- KBOO