Martin Granovsky
Evo Morales spoke to Página/12 about such historical heroes as Tupac Katari, the rebellious Aymara who, before being executed in 1781, said “I will return and I will be millions”. Or Zárate Willka, another Aymara, who led an uprising against the conservatives in 1899. Above all, he announced that he would not be a candidate in the next elections in order to contribute to the pacification of Bolivia.
That newspaper interviewed the “first president of the plurinational state of Bolivia” via Skype. Evo was able to speak from Mexico, after arrangements made by his colleague and former health minister Gabriela Montaño, who is living in the Mexican capital accompanied by the president and Vice President Álvaro García Linera. On Saturday afternoon, November 23, the parliamentary committees of the Movement Toward Socialism completed the negotiation of the bill to convene new elections and the social movements signed an agreement to stop the repression. By that time Evo’s children, Evaliz and Álvaro, had arrived in Argentina as asylum seekers under the administration of Alberto Fernández.
I thank the Argentine people and those who guaranteed their presence,” said Evo. Until 4 a.m. Bolivian time I stayed awake doing the follow-up and happily there was no problem.
If Evo Morales’ children have already arrived in Argentina, they will surely be present on December 10 when Alberto Fernández assumes the presidency. Will the father come?
I have received a public invitation. How beautiful it would be… It would be a pride and an honor to accompany the possession of the command. We are going to consult our comrades. Furthermore, Argentina is closer to Bolivia and I could thank Brother Alberto Fernández once again for his great solidarity. He was one of those who saved my life, and he saved the life of Alvaro and the team that accompanied me on Sunday, November 10 and Monday, November 11. I have affection, respect and admiration for him. Sometime we will be able to comment in detail on what we experienced on November 11 in the jungle trails of the Department of Cochabamba.
The Senate has already agreed on a bill for an early call for elections.
Yes, there was a meeting under the United Nations, the Catholic Church and the European Union. The day after my arrival in Mexico I asked in a press conference for international facilitators and personalities from all over the world to help in the pacification of Bolivia. Luckily that meeting has just taken place, in which the de facto government of (Jeanine) Añez participated. The Movement Towards Socialism represents two thirds of the senators and deputies. We are going to do everything possible for unity. And for the sake of pacification, I renounce my candidacy.
Despite the result of the October 20 elections, when the MAS came in first?
Yes, and I want to emphasize that this victory was stolen from us. My great crime is to be an Indian and above all to have nationalized natural resources, such as hydrocarbons. When I nationalized the oil companies I remember perfectly that brother Néstor Kirchner called me on the phone and told me: “If the oil transnationals do not invest, Argentina will invest in Bolivia”. I have great memories of the struggle for the dignity and independence of the States, for the dignity and identity of our peoples.
You spoke of pacification.
I am going to do everything possible to pacify Bolivia. I resign from the candidacy even though I was qualified to present myself as a candidate for President. I am not making a claim. I say that I resign so that there will be no more deaths, no more aggressions. Brother journalist, do you know why with Brother García Linera we resigned on Sunday afternoon, the 10th? Because they grabbed my brother leaders, militants, departmental governors, mayors and told them that they would burn down their houses if I did not resign from my post. The brother of the president of the Chamber of Deputies was told: “If your brother doesn’t resign, we’re going to burn you in the square. They burned down my sister’s house in Oruro. From racism to fascism and from fascism to coup. That’s what happened in Bolivia. For this reason I seek unity and pacification. That’s what I said to our supporters. I announced that Alvaro and I would resign from the presidential and vice presidential candidacies.
Will you leave Mexico and return to Bolivia?
I would very much like to return to Bolivia. But I want you to know that we were told from the North that the United States does not want me to return to Bolivia. The coup government doesn’t want it either. But even if it is a de facto government, it must guarantee the life not only of Evo, but of everyone. Now in Bolivia they are debating a law of guarantees. There are people in jail. One in prison because he was driving without a license. Another prisoner, in Cochabamba, for shouting “Homeland or death, we will win. It’s a hunt. The ministers who are in the embassy of Argentina and those who are in the embassy of Mexico are not granted safe conduct. Is that a way to apply the law? I repeat: with so much gunfire, with so much repression, they momentarily hold political power. But that will end.
Do you plan to change the Mexican asylum for an Argentine asylum?
I don’t rule it out. I want to be closer to Bolivia. Brother and sister Fernandez always cooperated with me. They never abandoned me. I have many good memories of when Sister Cristina was President. Once there was no flour for the bread. We imported 70 to 80 percent flour from the United States and Canada. Flour production was never encouraged. One day there was no flour and everyone was about to say that I would be responsible for the lack of bread, so I called and said: “Sister Cristina, you have to sell me wheat”. She replied: “Evo, you are completely committed”. I don’t know what Sister Cristina did, but we received wheat and flour in Bolivia one day. We have worked in solidarity. If they never abandoned me then they are not going to abandon me at this difficult time that Bolivia is going through, with so many dead, so many wounded, so many unjust detentions. Problems are solved through cooperation. I remember the attempted coup d’état in 2008. Thanks to the help of Unasur, we defeated the coup.
What was the cause of this last coup?
They did not accept our economic policy and our social programs. They didn’t accept that indigenous people and social movements changed Bolivia as we began to do. After nationalizing we began with industrialization. Our big project was to industrialize lithium. So the transnationals and some groups in Chile did not want us to continue. Unfortunately, they also acted violently. They paid 300 Bolivians to attack, to block streets. I am still amazed that the groups that hold economic power do politics that way. But it doesn’t matter. I want to say through this means of communication so well known throughout the world, throughout Latin America, that soon we will return. There are people who still cannot believe that the commander of the National Police or the commander of the Armed Forces are part of a coup d’état. A coup d’état that has killed 32 people in days. Dead by bullets! And there are also about 700 wounded by bullets. More than a thousand people have been arrested. Imagine how many dead, how many widows, how many widowers, how many orphans. Children shot… A coup d’état in the style of dictatorships. I want to tell the brothers of Argentina that with or without Evo we are going to recover our democratic and cultural revolution.
On Sunday, November 10, General Williams Kaliman, who later resigned and settled in the United States, publicly voiced the famous “suggestion” that you resign. Was it a surprise?
On August 7, the anniversary of the Armed Forces, he declared himself in favour of the process of change and anti-imperialist. I don’t know if his change is due to silver or class struggle. Sooner or later the Armed Forces themselves and the people will identify the enemies of our beloved Bolivia. I equipped the Armed Forces. When I became President in 2006, they had only one helicopter. And some of those devices, bought with the people’s money, are shooting and killing my brothers. It is very painful.
Before and after the coup they accused their government of having committed fraud in the October 20 elections.
I want the world to know that on Sunday, November 10, at dawn, the OAS joined the coup d’état. They did it with an alleged preliminary report, when they had previously agreed with our foreign minister that they would present their final report on Wednesday the 13th. I have foreign reports. They show that there was no fraud. One from the University of Michigan. Another from the Washington Center for Economic and Policy Research. Yesterday I had a long meeting with the Carter Center. I spoke with brothers very close to Pope Francis and with United Nations officials and I asked them to set up a Truth Commission to carry out an in-depth investigation. We are going to prove that there was no fraud.
Is this your request to invalidate the call for new elections?
No. I am sincere: that call is already underway. But I want to show the whole world that the OAS was biased along with conservative power groups that never loved the Indian, their homeland, that they were against social programs. We have reduced poverty. We are going to tell our truth in Bolivia and around the world. The OAS cannot be an instrument of the wealthy.
You spoke of racism and fascism. Did they increase?
I thought oppression and humiliation were over. Bolivia had a new Constitution. But I see with surprise the expressions of Luis Fernando Camacho’s civics in Santa Cruz. The Bible cannot be used for hatred. It is not all the inhabitants of Santa Cruz, of course, who called to identify enemies and kill them using the sicariato. But I know that in civic meetings, with 20 or 30 thousand people, when they pray, it begins and ends with them shouting: “Evo, you bastard”. It’s racism. They humiliate humble people. The pollera sisters. They kick poor people in the street and call them “kolla”. This is how fascism comes about. They identify the house of a deputy or a governor of the MAS and burn it down. And the police don’t provide any security. The excuse is that they are Cubans. But the Cubans, gratuitously and unconditionally, contrary to the United States, which always conditioned assistance to the policies of the International Monetary Fund, gave help. We build hospitals and receive the help of Cuban doctors. I remember a dialogue between Hugo Chávez and Fidel. Fidel said: “Hugo, we are going to make a program to operate free of charge for 100,000 Latin Americans without sight”. Fidel seemed crazy. They were operations that could cost three or four thousand dollars. But in Bolivia the doctors came and operated. The state did it for free. Now the racist groups not only sought the excuse of the Cuban presence. Now racist groups not only sought the excuse of Cuban presence. They burned educational institutions created with the people’s money. How can one understand that? How can one understand that in the Tropic zone they have persecuted deputies? It is a dictatorship. Our senator Adriana Salvatierra had her clothes torn when she was entering the Assembly. A 30-year-old girl… Murillo Square surrounded by tanks! I remembered when I was conscripted into the Armed Forces in 1978 and my commander Daniel Padilla Arancibia became president. I didn’t understand what happened. Coups and coups…
What will be the way to redress the aggressions?
We have never been revanchists. Tupac Katari during the struggle for independence said that the whites of the cities should also be organized in ayllus, which was the organic structure of those times as the agrarian union would be today. Together they fought for our independence, for our life in community, in solidarity. Harmony between human beings and harmony with Mother Earth. During the Republic, another indigenous brother, Zárate Wilka, called for an alliance with the whites of the cities to defend rights and natural resources. The indigenous movement has never been racist, let alone fascist. And when there is poverty we all come together and unite. We have always been very tolerant. They haven’t. That’s the right. A colleague called me and told me that they want to eliminate the housing program for single mothers. I have been informed that they want to privatize Boa, Boliviana de Aviación. When we nationalized, comrade Kirchner sent me technicians from Argentina to help us. We didn’t even know how to set up a public company. Boa made a profit and now they thought of privatizing it. It’s not just an ideological confrontation. It is also programmatic: this is not a transitional government but a de facto government that did not even respect the constitutional succession.
What will be the axis of the MAS electoral campaign?
It will review the past, talk about the present and project hope for future generations. Of my almost 14 years in office, Bolivia was the first in South America in terms of growth for six years. Brother journalist, two things from this coup d’état hurt me. The dead hurt me and it hurts me how in a short time they began to destroy the economy. I have now been informed that there has been a devaluation. The dollar passed seven bolivianos. We take good care of the economy thanks to the technicians and the economist comrades. Professionals and patriots. Once Lucho Arce, the Minister of Economy, was offered a job by an international organization. They were going to pay him 18,000 dollars a month. As a minister he earned a little more than two thousand dollars. “I’m for the homeland, I’m staying here,” he said. And he stayed working. We’ve been working for the homeland and not for the money. Many cabinet members could be abroad earning a lot. Once I said to Arce: “Go and give us half for the campaign and half for you. And when brother Arce was sick we helped him. He needed it. We haven’t made wealth in government. I’m sure my brothers will organize. There is a lot of political awareness to face this situation.
He mentioned lithium. Is Bolivia’s uranium appetizing too?
Especially lithium. And zinc. We were finishing the industrial cycle of iron to end imports. We did the same with fertilizers. Before, we imported one hundred percent. Now we export 350,000 tons to Brazil, Paraguay and to neighboring regions. We are completing the large lithium carbonate plant. We already produce 400 tons. The internal opposition groups don’t understand how the Indian is capable of industrializing Bolivia. How can patriotic social movements and professionals do it?
Did you talk to relatives of the dead?
I talked to some. Listening to tears makes you cry. I’m far away, but I tried to help by going to friends who were very supportive. Some haven’t even had enough to pay for the coffin. Others are hospitalized. We will always help humble people.
And the new elections?
The issue of the Law of Guarantees is not yet consensual but our people are waiting for the Assembly to approve it and for the self-appointed Añez to enact it. That law guarantees new elections and would be a very important instrument to pacify Bolivia. Then we will have to look for programs to reconcile the Bolivian people.
Do you expect a commitment from Añez not to order repression again?
We hope that the deaths by gunshot will awaken the conscience of the authorities of the de facto government. That many detainees might soften consciences. Let there be no more deaths or injuries. Let the comrades be released, simply because they have been arrested for sowing sedition There is a prosecutor I know. He had a double salary, one from the Public Ministry and the other from the United States embassy. The embassy paid him more money. The DEA had a lawyer. Now he is vice-minister of Social Defense. Maybe it’s a message and they want the U.S. military base to come back. That’s why I told him that I want to refresh his memory and see what’s happening. And I want to take this opportunity to greet all the brothers and sisters from Bolivia who are in Argentina. There we have won by 70 or 80 percent. We have worked a lot on residency issues when Brother Alberto Fernández was Kirchner’s and Cristina’s chief of staff. We all support the humblest of our beloved land.
Translation by Internationalist 360º
