On 8 November 2021, exactly one year after Bolivia’s socialist president Luis Arce took office after defeating the coup government, reactionary elements in the departments of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz launched a strike designed to topple him. The action, led by the far-right Santa Cruz Civic Committee, was ostensibly a protest against a new law targeting illicit profits and the financing of terrorism. But its leader Romulo Calvo was clear: ‘the government of Lucho Arce must be overthrown’. Despite the repeal of the law after days of violence, road blocks and destabilisation by the ‘Strike Committee’, Calvo has vowed that the sabotage and actions will continue. But the indigenous communities and rural poor are mobilising in their hundreds of thousands to defend the progressive MAS government and Arce has made it clear: ‘We will not allow another coup’.
This reactionary movement is led by the same forces that instigated the 2019 coup against then President Evo Morales. Its participants are the owners of small road haulage firms, landlords and business owners. On the first day of the strike a group of indigenous farmers were attacked by a racist mob in Potosi and one was killed; 63 people were injured. The following day two of the ‘strikers’ were arrested carrying explosives. These forces are linked to the paramilitary groups which were unleashed by the coup government of Jeanine Anez two years ago to repress, brutalise and torture the indigenous working class. Law 1386 was introduced as part of a government strategy to undermine the money laundering by the wealthy right wing in Santa Cruz and around La Paz which has channelled illegal funds into what the law describes as terrorist activities. Although the government retracted the law, saying the actions of the right-wing strikers were damaging a still-fragile economy and offering a pretext for a new wave of reactionary violence across the country, poorer workers and indigenous communities have made it clear they are 100% behind Arce. As action continues in parts of the country, the indigenous campesino unions of Santa Cruz warned that if the strike continued, their members would seize private property in the region. On 17 November, hundreds of thousands of workers, predominantly from the informal sector, filled a valley as they rallied in support of the government. On 23 November tens of thousands of protesters led by former president Evo Morales set off on a 190-kilometre march in defence of the Arce government. It is expected to arrive in La Paz on 29 November.
There is much for them to defend. In the last year, despite the catastrophic impact of the pandemic, Bolivia’s progressive government has brought continuing gains for the working class. The economy has begun to grow again – 9.4% in the last quarter, after seeing falls of nearly 13%. Six public companies closed down by the coup government have been re-opened and public spending has increased by 111%, with progress being made towards a national health system. New factories have been opened and new hospitals, schools, housing and highways are being constructed. Educational grants and pensions have been reinstated and increased. Nearly a million Bolivians who were unemployed during the pandemic have found new jobs. During the pandemic, a ‘bonus against hunger’ of about $145 a month was paid to the poorest households. This is being funded by a new wealth tax on citizens with assets over $4.3m. More than 50% of the population is now double vaccinated against Covid-19, and the country is seeing a 92% recovery rate from infection. Meanwhile, the government is pressing ahead with prosecutions of those responsible for some of the worst crimes of the coup government – those who carried out the Sacaba and Senkata massacres in November 2019, and the former coup president Jeanine Anez, who faces a long list of criminal charges.
The fault lines in Bolivia remain. The powerful right-wing, predominantly white elite based in Santa Cruz and funded by US imperialism will continue to attempt to bring down the country’s progressive and democratically elected government. Just as after the 2019 coup, it is only constant mobilisation and organisation by the poorest sections of the working class and the indigenous masses which can guarantee Bolivia’s continuing progress.
Cassandra Howarth
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 285, December 2021/January 2022
