14 Countries Smack Down Secessionists in Bolivia

[magbana]

MACHETER CONTINUES ON A ROLL!


The OAS is turning out to be a not so convenient U.S. tool these days.

Electoral Authorities From 14 Countries Support Resolutions Against Referendums in Bolivia

Rosa Rojas - La Jornada

Translation: Machetera

Electoral authorities in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries, Mexico among them, expressed their support for the resolutions of the Bolivian National Electoral Court, "aimed at preserving the electoral institution and maintaining respect for domestic legal and constitutional norms as a fundamental principle in the strengthening of democracy in Bolivia."

In recent days, the Court rejected the holding of a referendum over the autonomy statutes of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, a decision that was ignored by the departmental electoral courts, which continued their work toward holding said referendums.

The regional declaration was signed by Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Santa Lucia, Belize, and Trinidad and Tobago, all present at the fifth inter-American reunion of Electoral Authorities of the Organization of American States (OAS) which ended the previous day in Quito.

FULL ARTICLE:

http://machetera.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/14-countries-smack-down-the-secessionists-in-bolivia/#more-193

http://snipurl.com/2632x

[Judi Lynn]

1. It was surprising to see Colombia is trying to act like one of the countries of the Latin America

community. What's up with that? Also surprising to see Chile did not sign the declaration. Hope there's a credible explanation which covers it safely. It's true there are a LOT of Pinochet-era people in government there, still, a whole lot of powerful assholes providing pressure on actions which would ordinarily never be considered, like that evil damn going up in the Patagonia region which will destroy so wildly large an area of irreplaceable precious land, flora, fauna.

One paragraph which jumps out also sticks in the throat:

Antonio Peredo, Senator of the governing Movement toward Socialism (MAS) described the statement of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, as “insolent.” Shannon called the Bolivian government’s denunciation of the U.S. Ambassador, Philip Goldberg, for supporting the separatists, “stupid.”

Shannon, according to today’s La Prensa, declared that his country was “strongly committed to Bolivia’s territorial integrity and to the success of democratic government in Bolivia,” and that the “serious disputes” between “Bolivia’s federal government (Bolivia is a unitary state, not a federal one) and the states need to be resolved by political mechanisms and dialogue.

Isn't that a hot one? Shannon's beloved embassy has been instructing Peace Corps volunteers in Bolivia to spy on Venezuelan and Cuban workers, and has been conspiring, counseling, and providing material support to these white racist separatist assholes. Oh, someone shoot me. Put me out of my misery.

Question: who looks stupid, this terrific guy, Antonio Peredo, shown with Evo Morales, or this sleazy, absurd lump, a professional scum, a world class liar and bully, Thomas Shannon?



I'd bet on Shannon.

[Bacchus39]

2. this should be on breaking news. Colombia is NOT part of Latin America

as declared by DU's Latin America expert.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Critical: Right-wing revolt threatens Bolivia. Please sign the petition!

Critical: Right-wing revolt threatens Bolivia. Please sign the petition!
By Federico Fuentes
Apr 27, 2008, 23:12

Editor's Note: We can expect the next focus of Washington's attack on the Bolivarian Revolution to be in Bolivia. Many here in Latin America fear that the attack could take almost any form imaginable, including armed conflict with the backing of the United States and Colombia. The plan has been in place for over 3 years to sever the gas-rich state of Santa Cruz from the rest of Bolivia, leaving the vast majority of Bolivians in poverty. Those who have been the wealthy benefactors of Bolivia's natural resources for decades are centered in Santa Cruz. Their Washington-backed plan is being crystalized in an upcoming, unconstitutional referendum. They plan an attempt to annex Santa Cruz from the rest of the nation - which would be akin to the State of Texas claiming independence from the United States. The author of the article below, Fred Fuentes, outlines the details of the battle that is now taking shape. Axis of Logic joins many media-left, calling for everyone in the international community to sign the petition below, in support of the sovereignty and independence of Bolivia and the democratically elected government of President Evo Morales.
(snip)

Illegal referendum

At the heart of the latest round of tensions in Bolivia are the plans by the elite in the eastern department of Santa Cruz (a stronghold of Bolivia's oligarchy) to push ahead with a referendum on "autonomy" scheduled for May 4.

Despite the referendum being declared illegal by the national electoral court, the Santa Cruz electoral court has stated it will press ahead with the vote, which many fear is aimed at fracturing the country.

The right-wing campaign of destabilisation against the indigenous-led government of President Evo Morales — which the referendum is one component of — has intensified in the last few weeks.

"Leaving clear the success of the bunkering-down by the business sectors in Santa Cruz", wrote Pablo Stefanoni on April 19 in the Argentine daily Clarin, "Morales yesterday had to pull out his vice minister for land, Alejandro Almaraz, from the Bolivian Chaco".

"Days before, the functionary tried without luck to enter the hacienda of the US citizen Ronald Larsen in order to verify compliance of his land in regards to its economic and social function, but was received with stones and armed picket lines, and had to take refuge in military quarters." Stefanoni also reported that the president of the Chamber of Exporters of the East, Ramiro Monje, threatened that "after May 4, another economic model will begin to function".

Sectors of large agribusiness have been on a war footing against the government following recent moves to restrict exports of certain food products — in order to tackle food shortages provoked by agribusiness.

While loosening some of the restrictions, Morales threatened to nationalise companies that "are provoking a bosses lockout" by enforcing a holiday on May 4.

More:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_26605.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

4. So Shannon informs the world Bolivia is a "unitary state."

I didn't know what that meant so I did a quick, cheap run to google for a definition and got "wikipedia:"

A unitary state is a state whose three organs of state are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with one constitutionally created legislature. The political power of government in such states may well be transferred to lower levels, to national, regional or local elected assemblies, governors and mayors (devolved government), but the central government retains the principal right to recall such delegated power (for example Farum Municipality was ruled by the Danish Government for a while).

In a unitary state, any sub-governmental units can be created or abolished, and have their powers varied, by the central government. The process in which sub-government units and/or national or regional parliaments are created by a central government is known as devolution. A unitary state can broaden and narrow the functions of such devolved governments without formal agreement from the affected bodies. In federal systems, by contrast, assemblies in those states composing the federation have a constitutional existence and a set of constitutional functions which cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government. In some such cases, such as in the United States, it is the federal government that has only those powers expressly delegated to it.

Most federal states also have unitary lower levels of government. Thus while the United States itself is federal, the U.S. states are themselves unitary, with counties and other municipalities having only the authority given (devolved) to them by the state constitution or legislature.

The majority of the world's countries are unitary states. Many of the non-unitary states of the world are very large in size, particularly Mexico, Canada, Russia, United States, Brazil, India and Australia. This does not imply that large size will invariably result in non-unitary government; China, for instance, due to its political and socio-cultural history, has not seen the rise of a non-unitary arrangement, though certain economists argue that the current political and economic situation in mainland China constitute a unique form of Chinese federalism. Other counter-examples are Belgium and Switzerland, which despite a small territory have developed a complex federal system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whatever sad state Bolivia finds itself in, with a handful of scum having controlled the entire country for ages, even, until 1952, making it ILLEGAL FOR THE MAJORITY OF BOLIVIAN CITIZENS TO WALK ON THE ####ING SIDEWALKS, you can be sure it didn't happen because of democratic actions in their democratic government.

As any clown can tell you who has read any history of Bolvia, outside forces have controlled that country, regardless of what the huge majority of the people thought or wanted. That's going to change, it's going to change everywhere, no matter how many nasty little stupid meddlers try to convince people that it's better this way.

Not better, and things are changing. Latin America is changing, democracy is coming, and they are going to run out of whores to maintain the security and prestige of the scum trying to control things there now.