Bolivia: "Gone with the
Wind"
Anselmo Miranda
Obviously, we are not talking about the
famous film brilliantly performed by Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable, but the hurricane-like
"wind" which rocked Bolivia and swept away many undesirable things from that
South American country... and brought us some hope.
The significant popular uprising that took
place in Bolivia during September-October was the culmination of the expectations of all
the dispossessed and excluded people of Bolivia. They could no longer endure the wretched
and obsolete status which has been suffocating them for five centuries as a result of
colonialism, 127 years of self-governing dependent republics, and 18 years of a loathsome
neo-liberal imperialist model. Only the usual people did not expect such a reaction: the
ruling elites and their corrupt political parties who believed they could continue
business as usual with no repercussions. But they were mistaken! Clearly, they were unable
to learn the lessons of what was going on in that mistreated country. And it was not for a
lack of warning signs, which in the last few years have not only been many but also very
significant. In suffices to recall:
1. The water war in March-April 2000
2. The Black September of the same year
3. February 12-13, 2003...
What other warning signs did they need? How
many deaths did they think they needed to make them understand that things had to
change... like it or not? The truth is that arrogance, total contempt for the people and
lack of direct contact with their reality, together with dependence on their
"master's voice" (read the United States) have led these so-called rulers to
make many fatal mistakes. Sooner or later, they, like Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Goni),
have to fall. And the fact is that Goni was not the exception, but the ninth "democratically
elected" president to experience a hasty departure before finishing his
presidential term. He joins a growing list of departed presidents which is likely to
increase in the coming months given the tottering governments of Alejandro Toledo and
Lucio Gutiérrez, both from the agitated Andean region.
Remember that before Goni, Argentinean
President Fernando de la Rúa (and two subsequent governments) fell last year. And before
that, the Ecuadorean governments of Jamil Mahuad and Abdalá Bucaram had fallen. But even
before them , Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas fell. For his part, Alberto Fujimori had to
go into exile in Japan. And before him, the Guatemalan government of Elías Serrano which
tried to engineer an auto coup d'etat which was rejected internationally. The
Brazilian government of Fernando Collor de Mello also fell. And before all of them,
Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez was the first link to go which started this
long list of presidents "overthrown" by popular demand. This is who has Gone
with the Wind in Latin America in the decade of the 1990s alone.
But let us also review other undesirable
things which have Gone with the Wind along with Goni:
• Gone is the obsolete way of
achieving "governability" using the legislative and executive branches to reach
dubious compromises and agreements amongst various minority parties so that the
"alliances," whose price of membership was exchange of money and influential
positions, could form a pro-government majority which is able to pass laws, decrees and
everything necessary to rule without paying attention to the real problems of the majority
of the population.
• Gone is the erratic Parliamentary
method based on "raising hands" to rubber stamp everything that is sent by the
executive. In Bolivia, referring to the kitchen instrument, this is called "the
rolling pin" as it can overwhelm the votes of the minority in the Parliament.
• Gone is the very Bolivian political
habit of divvying up political offices within the executive, legislative and judicial
branches and those public posts which generate the highest dividends amongst the parties
in power. During Goni's presidency, the MNR (Nationalist Revolutionary Movement) received
60 per cent of the positions and the MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) received 40
per cent. When the NFR (New Republican Force) took its portion of the spoils, then the MNR
got 40 per cent of the positions and the MIR and the NFR got 30 per cent each.
• Gone is the way of appointing
friends of the President and members of his party to the cabinet with complete disregard
for other competent personalities and parties.
• Gone is the abominable practice of
holding onto power by means of the armed forces, either orchestrating auto-military coups
or by dissolving Parliaments or even engineering classical coups d'etat.
All of these undesirable things have, at
least for the time being, Gone with the Wind. However, there are still other
serious problems which persist in Bolivia (and in nearly all Latin American countries)
which will be very difficult for President Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert to solve, his
willingness to do so notwithstanding.
Here are some of the problems which,
unfortunately, still exist and which have yet to be Gone with the Wind:
• The neo-liberal model imposed on the
country since 1985 by then President Víctor Paz Estennsoro (for whom the same Goni was
Minister of Finance) remains intact and appears untouchable.
• The transnationalized power of the
owners of Bolivian Bank, the main industries, businesses, mines and huge landholdings, as
well as the entire productive sector which has come out of this situation unscathed, are
waiting to see what Mesa has in mind and will do.
• The omnipolitical presence of and
economic dependence on the United States continues to be a very real objective and a
palpable fact of life which is highly unlikely to change. It is also true that the U.S.
does not feel "comfortable" with Mesa as it does not see him as a supporter of
U.S. interests in Bolivia. For that reason, the U.S. is likely to seek the ways and means
to cut off his progressive and/or renovating strivings and get someone who conforms to its
own idea of what's needed -- which, as a matter of fact, it is already doing.
• The Armed Forces and National Police
remain in the hands of the same ruling classes which have been ruling to date. Although
"resentful" of Goni because he "forced" them to repress the
defenceless people, they are still in the service of the model.
• The Congress of the Republic which
keeps the same structure as concerns the number of senators and deputies (157), in spite
of reshuffling the arrangement between supporters and opponents of the government. The
fact that President Mesa does not have his own bench because he has never been a member of
any political party is also an aggravating factor. This means he will have to govern on
the basis of striking alliances in which he will get support only if he responds to the
party or class interests involved -- a very difficult task!!
And besides all of these structural
problems which exist in Bolivia, the country is unfortunately facing the fact that the
broad popular movement which made the overthrow of President Sánchez de Lozada possible
is fragmented due to its varied social and ethnic composition.
The social uprising that rocked Bolivia was
characterized by the presence of different social forces, small parties from the
traditional left, and above all, by a number of very complex indigenous movements. Under
the slogan of overthrowing Sánchez Lozada, they joined together in this particular
context to fulfil their objective. But in practice they have not united around other
strategic aims such as changing the neo-liberal model and proposing a viable alternative
for the First Nations and for the country as a whole. This is a big limitation, especially
for a country where the concept of nation is itself questioned not only by the Aymaras,
the Quechuas, and the Tupiguaranies, but also by the whites themselves (who are called by
the derogatory word K'aras), not to speak of the significant number of Mestizos who
are discriminated against by both the native peoples and the whites who have held
political power since 1825.
This will be a huge challenge which Carlos
Mesa will have to take up immediately. Already all kinds of claims and demands are raining
down on him from all sides. They include not only claims of a national character which the
majority holds in common, but also the most diverse and complex sectoral demands which are
urgent for those social sectors which fought to overthrow Goni. In a nutshell, it can be
said that the traditionally excluded and marginalized are merely asking Mesa to change the
neo-liberal model...! As if Carlos Mesa would even try!! Furthermore, so long as Mesa
keeps the entire economic and political structure on which Bolivian neo-liberalism is
based, his hands are virtually tied to even try. And keep in mind that the Americans, who
are the founders of neo-liberalism, are very very vigilant. They will not permit Mesa to
take too many liberties with the neo-liberal model.
It can be said that even if Goni is gone, there are still
many other things which it is hoped, better sooner than later, will also go. One day we
hope we can truly say that neo-liberalism has Gone with the Wind.
November/2003
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