What counts as democracy in Bolivia? (Buffalo News)

[struggle4progress]

Nation’s first indigenous president challenges entrenched elite, confronts U. S. influence
By Newton Garver
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Updated: 11/30/08 10:09 AM

... To many, Morales appeared weak because he declined to use armed force to stop the occupation and ransacking of government offices. He took diplomatic action instead. On Sept. 10, the Bolivian government expelled Goldberg ...

This year’s 9/11 proved even more dramatic and more consequential than 9/10. A thousand peasants were preparing to march into Cobija, capital of the state of Pando, for a rally in support of the CPE. Such a thing had not happened before in Pando, and it was more than Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez, the oldest and most entrenched of the Half Moon governors, could tolerate. Pando’s state militia opened fire with automatic weapons and high-powered rifles, leaving at least 18 dead and more than a dozen others wounded.

The event was immediately labeled a massacre. It was the first large-scale use of armed force since 2003, and the first significant bloodshed in these five years of confrontation. The reaction of Morales was swift and decisive. He immediately declared martial law in Pando, pronounced Fernandez a criminal and sent in the army to secure Cobija and its airport. The city and the airport were secured in a matter of hours. Fernandez was arrested a day or two later and remanded to San Pedro Prison in La Paz, where he remains without bail, charged with genocide.

Morales’ prestige rose dramatically. The following Monday in Santiago, Chile, there was an emergency meeting of the Union of South American Nations. Heads of state came, summoned by Michelle Bachelet, president of Chile and current head of UNASUR, and they unanimously approved a nine-point declaration that condemned the massacre, endorsed Morales and urged CONALDE to enter into dialogue with him. When Morales was elected, the only South American states he visited were Venezuela and Cuba. This time he had the support of all the states of South America, another big boost to his prestige ... http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/509084.html