In May just over 50 per cent of the population in the province of Santa Cruz participated in a referendum on autonomy for the province from the Bolivian state. Some 85 per cent of those who voted supported a de facto secession. The right wing prefect of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, told a delirious victory rally: “Today we begin in Santa Cruz a new republic, a new state.”The purpose of the right wing is simple: to grab the oil and gas reserves of the country, and to prevent a land reform which would hit the big ranchers in the most agriculturally productive part of the country.Santa Cruz is the most populous of four departments which comprise the so-called Media Luna (half moon) in Bolivia’s eastern lowland provinces – the others being, Pando, Tarija and Beni. These three other departments plan to hold their own autonomy votes in June. The Media Luna accounts for some 60 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, whilst containing only 35 per cent of its population.
President Evo Morales has agreed to the Bolivian parliament’s sudden implementation of a recall referendum for his post, that of the vice president and prefects of all nine of the country’s departments. Morales believes, probably correctly, that he will easily defeat the recall vote, thus enhancing his democratic mandate.
The recall referendum is due on 10 August. Of course socialists should call on Bolivians to vote “no” to the recall of Morales, since those voting yes will be aiming to abort Morales’ attempt at land reform and nationalisation of the country’s hydrocarbons. However, in the departmental referendums, socialists would of course campaign for a yes vote, to recall those prefects who want to rob the masses of the wealth of the country. But what about Morales’ strategy? This whole referendum game, the pointless attempt to win new democratic mandates when the majority of the masses have repeatedly expressed their demand for land reform and nationalisation of the huge oil and gas reserves, is a dangerous and unnecessary ploy. It gives the secessionists more time and potentially can demobilise and demoralise the masses.The right are simply not bothered about the niceties of the Bolivian constitution and will continue with their plans to form their own state. Already they are setting up a parallel administration, tax collection system, police and elements of an armed force – all with the collusion of the US Embassy and backing from Latin American and US business interests greedy for the mineral wealth of the country. US ambassador Philip Goldberg has been channelling money and logistical support to the secessionists.
And yet, instead of countering these plans by decisive action, Evo Morales continues to talk about a negotiated settlement with the racist, anti-democratic oligarchs. The mass of the Bolivian people, workers, peasants, the indigenous majority, cannot afford such conciliation; they must demand the Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo help mobilise and arm the masses to fight the right, otherwise they will be defenceless in the face of an outright secession, or a military coup claiming to “defend national unity” by giving the right all they want.The coup plotters and secessionist leaders should be arrested, their backers stripped of their property, their referendum “victory” annulled, their marches banned and their reactionary supporters driven from the streets. The secessionists’ support should be undermined by granting land to the poor peasants in Santa Cruz, and by appealing to the rank and file of the army to oppose the break-up of the country.
All through the political crisis of the past two years, Morales and the MAS have offered negotiations with the oligarchs. They have postponed referendums on the constitution and land reform, undermined pensions reform, and retreated from full nationalisation of the oil and gas industry, which has been fought for by the revolutionary mass movements of the first half of the decade. Large sections of the peasant and indigenous organisations, and the trade union confederation Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), have condemned these concessions and mobilised for more decisive action.
The workers and indigenous people must demand that the MAS carry out its promised reforms in full and without paying a cent of compensation to the reactionary plotters. The land bill must be enacted now; it would prove overwhelmingly popular and strike at the heart of the oligarchs, evaporating much of their social base in the countryside. The MAS must also fully nationalise the hydrocarbon industry – with no compensation – not the fraud of increased taxation. The land and the businesses of the oligarchs should also be taken over and run by committees of workers and peasants.The COB and the local mass coordinating bodies, like the Fejuve of El Alto, should take the lead in forming a united front of workers’, peasants’ and indigenous organisations to defeat the counterrevolutionary forces and their plot to keep all the natural wealth of the country for themselves. They should form militias as a matter of urgency to defend progressive forces against the landowners and the fascistic youth organisations.While the army has kept out of politics so far, due mainly to the fact that Morales has not asked it to enforce central decisions against the secessionists, the Bolivian people cannot rely on it under its present officer corps and high command. However the rank and file soldiers must be won over to the cause of the people, granted political and democratic rights, including the right to elect their own officers and NCO’s and join hands with the workers’ and peasants’ militias.
Last, but not least, Bolivians need their own mass revolutionary party that is prepared to prosecute the class struggle against the oligarchs and the multinationals to the end, to the seizure of power, the installation of a workers’ and peasants’ government and the abolition of capitalism in Bolivia. The COB and other workers’ organisations have been debating the creation of their own instrumento politico (political instrument) – now is the time to do it!
This article can be read in Spanish here
http://www.london.workerspower.com/node/1093