Bolivian Mutineer Áñez: The Face to Launch a Thousand Deaths

Western Media Whitewash Bolivia’s Far-Right Coup

by Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz - FAIR.org

November 15, 2019

Bolivia has a new US-backed puppet leader, and the Western media can hardly conceal their adulation.

Jeanine Anez receiving the presidential sash from a 

representative of the Bolivian military (photo: EFE).

Western media can hardly conceal their adulation.

Jeanine Áñez declared herself “interim president” in a near-empty Senate chamber on November 12, proceeding to don the presidential sash with the assistance of uniformed soldiers.

Despite a lack of quorum rendering the move nakedly unconstitutional, Áñez was immediately recognized by the Trump administration and 10 Downing Street.

Tuesday’s scene seemed like a parody of January’s events in Venezuela, in which a virtually unknown lawmaker, invoking highly dubious constitutional arguments, proclaimed himself “interim president” to the delight of Washington.

Green Party of Canada Enjoins International Coup Conspirators Against Bolivian Democracy

Green Party Statement on Bolivia

by Green Party of Canada

November 11, 2019

The Green Party of Canada has been closely following events in Bolivia related to the October 20, 2019 presidential elections. A post-election audit conducted by the Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Observer Mission concluded that those elections were marred by serious irregularities and that the results should be annulled. Evo Morales has announced his resignation as President of Bolivia.

The Green Party of Canada welcomes the call for new elections, which should take place as soon as possible. Those elections must take place under the supervision of a renewed Bolivian electoral authority in order to ensure that they reflect the will of Bolivians, and to strengthen confidence in the Bolivian electoral system.

Western Press Whitewashing Israel's Murder Rampages in Gaza

How Western Media Bias Allows Israel to Getaway with Murder in Gaza

by Ramzy Baroud - PalestineChronicle.com

November 16, 2019

An Israeli attack on Gaza was imminent, and not because of any provocations by Palestinian groups in the besieged, impoverished Gaza Strip. The Israeli military escalation was foreseeable because it factors neatly in Israel’s contentious political scene. The war was not a question of “if”, but “when”.

The answer came on November 12, when the Israeli military launched a major strike against Gaza, killing an Islamic Jihad Commander, Bahaa Abu al-Ata, along with his wife Asma.

More strikes followed, targeting what the Israeli military described as Islamic Jihad installations. However, the identities of the victims, along with damning social media footage, pictures, and eyewitness accounts indicate that civilians and civilian infrastructure were bombed and destroyed as well.

As of November 14, when a truce was announced, 32 Palestinians have been killed and over 80 wounded in the Israeli aggression.

Evo Talks About Bolivia Coup

INTERVIEW: President Evo Morales on the Real Situation in Bolivia

by TeleSur English

via 21C Wire

November 15, 2019 

This past week, Bolivia faced one of its worst outbreaks of anarchy and civil unrest in decades, followed by a political vacuum left by the forced resignation of President Evo Morales in an aggressive and violent coup d’etat, endorsed by both the United States and British governments, and their allies.

In his first exclusive interview since being forced into exile in Mexico, following a putsch led by reactionary forces and backed by the military and police, Morales discusses the reality of the political situation in his country and what needs to happen going forward if Bolivia is to achieve a resolution to the current volatile situation teetering on civil war.

The Wiki Remaking of James Le Mesurier

Narrative Managers In Overdrive After Death Of White Helmets Founder

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

November 11, 2019

James Le Mesurier, the founder of the White Helmets, has died. He was found to have plummeted from a height to the street outside his home, and authorities are reportedly calling it a suicide.

Le Mesurier has a history with British military intelligence and was fundamentally involved with an extremely shady narrative management operation geared toward manufacturing support for yet another imperialist military intervention in yet another Middle Eastern nation, so obviously any claims of suicide should be taken with a grain of salt no smaller than a Buick. But it is worth noting that according to Middle East Eye, Le Mesurier’s wife told police that he’d been struggling with psychological issues for which he was taking medications and had previously been hospitalized. Le Mesurier’s home was reportedly only accessible by fingerprint and no video footage of anyone besides Le Mesurier and his wife entering or leaving has been found.

If You Support Democracy...

Oppose the Military Coup in Bolivia. Spare Us Your “Critiques” 

by Joe Emersberger - CounterPunch

November 14, 2019

It would be hard to point to a country whose president has more democratic legitimacy than Evo Morales. Nobody can seriously dispute that he won the first round of the presidential election on October 20 by a landslide.

He received 47% of the vote in an election with 88% turnout, as most polls predicted. That doubles the percentage of the eligible vote that US presidents generally receive.



Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair

I’ll say a bit more about that below, but it’s crucial to note that he was elected to his present term (which does not expire until January) with 61% of the vote in an election with roughly the same turnout.

Bolivia: Canada Quick Again to Legitimize a Latin American Coup

Canada backs coup against Bolivia’s president

by Yves Engler

November 11, 2019
 

In yet another example of the Liberals saying one thing and doing another, Justin Trudeau’s government has supported the ouster of Evo Morales. The Liberals position on Bolivia’s first ever indigenous president stands in stark contrast with their backing of embattled pro-corporate presidents in the region.

Murder by the Dozens: Israel's Latest Killing Spree in Gaza

Dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

by Bill Van Auken  - WSWS

14 November 2019

At least 26 Palestinians had been killed by late Wednesday and 71 others wounded, including 30 children, as Israeli airstrikes against the crowded and impoverished coastal enclave of Gaza continued for a second day.

The violence began early Tuesday morning with the targeted assassination of Bhaa Abu al-Ata, a commander of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad whose Gaza home was struck by a missile that also killed his wife and wounded two of his children.

A second airstrike, for which Israeli authorities declined to claim credit, struck the home of an Islamic Jihad leader in an area of Damascus, Syria that includes a number of foreign embassies and had previously been considered off-limits for such attacks. While the missile missed its intended target, it killed his son and several others.

Bolivia's Coup: A "Resignation" He Couldn't Refuse

Bolivia’s Evo Morales Forced to Resign in Coup d’État

by TRNN

November 12, 2019

Even though Morales agreed to the OAS's push for new elections, the country's opposition and military forced him out.

Bolivia’s president Evo Morales has been forced from office and has been granted political asylum in Mexico. The events that let up to this happened in rapid succession over the weekend. On Sunday, the Organization of American States, the OAS, released a report about the October 20 presidential election in which it said that there were numerous irregularities and that the official result, which gave Morales a more than 10-point victory over this rival, could not be audited. The OAS thus recommended a new presidential election.

President Morales, who had previously promised to abide by the OAS report, announced the same day that the report came out that he would, indeed, call for a new election. However, Bolivia’s top generals came out with a statement that day urging the president to resign.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ellen Moore, Joe Emersberger, Janine Bandcroft November 14, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 14, 2019

The fight against neo-colonism, exemplified by extractivist industry policies everywhere, continues. In Canada, and throughout jurisdictions in both North and South, resource interests and their allies in government have invoked and enacted "consultation" measures. Presented as a means of inclusion for local, primarily indigenous, community participation in the mining, logging, and fossil fuel exploration and extraction decision-making process, in reality consultation only matters when the answer to development is "Yes".

The Xinka people of Guatemala know this too well. They've been struggling for more than a decade to resist transnational capital's plans for the Escobal Mine in their community, where corruption, intimidation, violence and murder have been the response of proponents.


Listen. Hear.

Mining Watch Canada and American Non-Profit organization Earthworks are currently travelling Canada on a speaking and actions tour, and they'll be in Victoria this coming Monday, November 18th.

All are invited to hear Xinka Parliament community organizer and paralegal activist, Luis Fernando Garcia Monroy and my first guest, Earthworks' International Mining Coordinator, Ellen Moore presenting UnderMining Indigenous Rights: Pan American Silver in Guatemala at the Cadboro Bay United Church, 2625 Arbutus Road.

Ellen Moore in the first half.

And; extractivist industries and their proponents are too rumoured behind the violent ouster this past week of the duly elected president of Bolivia, Evo Morales. Canada's government, in concert with its U.S. counterpart have voiced support for the extrajudicial undermining of the president there, as they both have supported anti-democratic campaigns in Honduras, Venezuela, and Brazil in recent years.

Joe Emersberger is a Canada-based writer whose work, primarily focused on media distortion and confabulation, appears at FAIR.org, VenezuelAnalysis, The Canary, and Counterpunch.org.

Joe Emersberger and opening the hood of the well-worn mechanism of regime change in Latin America in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Ellen Moore and UnderMining Indigenous Rights: Pan American Silver in Guatemala.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

UNEARTHING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS: PAN AMERICAN SILVER IN GUATEMALA

UNEARTHING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS:  PAN AMERICAN SILVER IN GUATEMALA

by Mining Justice Action Committee

November 12, 2019

Mining Justice Action Committee (MJAC)
Victoria Central America Support Committee (CASC)
and KAIROS invite you to a very special evening
with Indigenous/Guatemalan land defenders 

7:00 PM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH

Cadboro Bay United Church 2625 Arbutus Road 

 

 

Learn about courageous resistance to a Canadian mine that tries to operate without consent.

Featured guests will be:

♦ LUIS FERNANDO GARCIA MONROY: Luis is from ­the San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa region of Guatemala and he was active in the resistance to the Escobal mine for nearly a decade. Luis, his father,and other community members, were shot outside the mine while participating in a peaceful protest in 2013. He works as a paralegal and community organizer with the Xinka Parliament.

♦ ELLEN MOORE: Ellen is the International Mining Coordinator of Earthworks. Her path to extractive industry work began in Guatemala in 2005 as a human rights observer with NISGUA. She spent the following decade engaged in international solidarity and environmental advocacy work in Central America. More recently, she worked as Guatemala Programs Coordinator, where she collaborated closely with communities standing up to transnational mining corporations.

The Coup That Wasn't: Press Resigns to Bolivia "Facts"

The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen 

by Alan MacLeod  - FAIR.org

November 12, 2019

Army generals appearing on television to demand the resignation and arrest of an elected civilian head of state seems like a textbook example of a coup. And yet that is certainly not how corporate media are presenting the weekend’s events in Bolivia.

When the military forces the elected president to "step down" (New York Times, 11/10/19), there's a four-letter word for that.

No establishment outlet framed the action as a coup; instead, President Evo Morales “resigned” (ABC News, 11/10/19), amid widespread “protests” (CBS News, 11/10/19) from an “infuriated population” (New York Times, 11/10/19) angry at the “election fraud” (Fox News, 11/10/19) of the “full-blown dictatorship” (Miami Herald, 11/9/19). When the word “coup” is used at all, it comes only as an accusation from Morales or another official from his government, which corporate media have been demonizing since his election in 2006 (FAIR.org, 5/6/09, 8/1/12, 4/11/19).

The New York Times (11/10/19) did not hide its approval at events, presenting Morales as a power-hungry despot who had finally “lost his grip on power,” claiming he was “besieged by protests” and “abandoned by allies” like the security services. His authoritarian tendencies, the news article claimed, “worried critics and many supporters for years,” and allowed one source to claim that his overthrow marked “the end of tyranny” for Bolivia. With an apparent nod to balance, it did note that Morales “admitted no wrongdoing” and claimed he was a “victim of a coup.” By that point, however, the well had been thoroughly poisoned.

Media Program on Democracy Progress: Chilean State Oppression - Good; Bolivian State Socialism - Bad

Media Conceal Chile’s State Criminality, Delegitimize Bolivian Democracy

by Lucas Koerner  - FAIR

November 5, 2019

Chilean Carabineros (national police) battling protesters 

(ElDesconcierto.cl, 11/2/19). Photo © Nicole Kramm Caifal.

Chile’s anti-neoliberal rebellion is entering its third week, and the brutal crackdown continues. Hard-right President Sebastian Piñera and his generals have effectively decreed the country’s oligarch-dominated democracy out of existence by sending soldiers into the streets to kill, maim and torture their own people.

And, for the most part, the Western corporate media blackout persists unabated.

Chilean protester beaten by government forces (Twitter, 10/21/19)

October 25’s historic 1.2 million–person march in Santiago—the largest since the end of the dictatorship—has forced some outlets to begin to acknowledge state violence. But corporate journalists continue to largely overlook the Piñera government’s mounting atrocities.

As I examined recently for FAIR (10/23/19), this behavior contrasts remarkably with the corporate media’s unanimous backing of regime change in Venezuela, endorsing insurrectionary protests and vilifying Nicolas Maduro as a “dictator” (FAIR.org, 4/11/19).

This media bias in favor of Piñera’s hardline neoliberal administration must also be juxtaposed with the unfolding coverage of anti-government protests in Bolivia. In yet another case of self-serving hypocrisy, US corporate media have moved to revoke left-wing President Evo Morales’ democratic credentials after his recent re-election.

Finding Peace Guilty: Reflection on the trial of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7

A Doubtful Proposition: A reflection on the trial of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7

by Brian Terrell - VCNV.org

 

November 11, 2019

“Whether nuclear weapons are actually illegal under international or domestic law (a doubtful proposition) is not relevant or an appropriate issue to litigate in this case,” so ruled Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, late on Friday October 18. 

Voices activists Brian Terrell, Kathy Kelly and Sarah Ball outside the
Brunswick Courthouse (Photo: Kings Bay Plowshares 7)

 

This last-minute order, restricting the defense of seven antinuclear activists at a trial that began Monday morning the 21st, made a short trial a foregone conclusion. It also, more than any evidence that the yet to be impaneled jury would eventually hear, made their convictions all but certain.
 

On trial were seven Catholics, who on April 4, 2018 -the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination- cut through a fence and entered the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia, homeport for six Trident nuclear submarines, where in an act of symbolic disarmament, they poured bottles of their own blood onto military plaques and hammered statues of nuclear missiles. 

 

White Helmets Founder Le Mesurier Dead: Mercenary, Spy Killed in Fall from Istanbul Balcony

Founder of 'White Helmets' James Le Mesurier Found Dead in Istanbul

by Sputnik

November 11, 2019

Le Mesurier, a former MI6 officer, created the controversial 'urban search and rescue' organisation in 2013. The White Helmets have been repeatedly accused of staging fake attacks in the conflict in Syria in a bid to prompt a Western-backed military intervention in the war-torn country.

A law enforcement source has confirmed the death of James Le Mesurier at his home in Istanbul. However, the source added that at this time, it remains "unclear whether he was murdered, or committed suicide."

The White Helmets' official Twitter account has confirmed Le Mesurier's passing, saying the group was 'shocked and saddened' by the news and expressing its "deepest condolences to the James family." The group commended the former intelligence agent's "humanitarian efforts which Syrians will always remember."

Earlier, an anonymous diplomat was quoted by Reuters as saying that Le Mesurier's body had been found early Monday morning at his home in the city's Beyoglu district.

Sözcü, a major Turkish daily newspaper, reported, citing police sources, that Le Mesurier may have killed himself, and that he had been taking anti-depressant medication for some time ahead of Monday's incident.

Sabah, another major Turkish paper, also reported, citing law enforcement, that police consider suicide the most likely cause of Le Mesurier's death, with the former spy possibly jumping to his death from the balcony of his 3rd floor apartment. No traces of gunshot or knife wounds were found his body, police told Sabah.