The fight for the “Federal and Parliamentary Republic of Bolivia” starts now

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) With the swearing-in of Luis Arce as the President of the Plurinational State, Castrochavism retakes the government in Bolivia. It does so with impunity, corruption, and treason to the homeland in the aftermath of a government that should have been a transitional government but was an accomplice, with a complete functional opposition, with electoral fraud, control of all branches of government, denial of justice and the prevarication of electoral and judicial authorities. It is a new theatrical act in the dictatorial system and now Bolivian people, in order to regain their freedom and democracy, must initiate the fight for the Federal and Parliamentary Republic of Bolivia.

The successful electoral fraud, the admitted collusion with the dictatorship, the interim government and the opposition against the Bolivian nation, the covering-up of the fraud with the violent proclamation of a winner, the treason of the opposition’s candidates that is in fact part of the fraud by their omissions and commissions, the denial and prevarication of electoral and judicial officials, have left Bolivians in a “situation of defenselessness”. Popular protests denouncing the fraud and requesting an electoral audit have been silenced and manipulated until the expedited swearing-in of the new President of the dictatorial state has been accomplished.

Those who serve as elected officials in the 18th of October elections have neither the legality, nor the legitimacy, because they are a product of rigged elections, without democracy, under a dictatorial system, with violence and intimidation on the population. The newly elected President of the Plurinational State is nothing more than the “dictator’s surrogate”, his designation is the end result of a chain of manipulations that include impunity to himself, Evo Morales and his inner circle, the illicit enabling of his political party Movement Towards Socialism (MAS in Spanish), the violent imposition of the date for elections through road blockades of desperately needed oxygen, the fraud committed with counterfeited electoral registers, the cover-up, denial of justice, prevarication and more.

We are facing the consequences of having continued to act with a simulation of democracy imposed with a counterfeited constitution that supplants -up to now- the Republic of Bolivia. In the aftermath of Evo Morales’ flight, the dictatorship’s infrastructure was kept intact because Janine Añez and her government did not recognize the Republic and they subjected themselves to the Plurinational State’s constitution, respected the MAS’ criminal-territorial organization, and ensured their impunity. In November of 2019 “the dictator left but not the dictatorship” and now comes back stronger than ever.

In Bolivia, the so-called Plurinational State’s Constitution, is a dictatorial statute imposed by Cuba and Venezuela that has made universal suffrage, citizens’ equality, and democracy disappear. It is an instrument that ensures centralism, statism, authoritarianism, and the existence of the narco-state. It is null and void of legality because criminal acts do not produce legal results. Crime does not create rightfulness.

To be able to regain freedom and democracy in Bolivia we cannot continue “making the opposition functional”, acting under the dictatorship’s rules and simulating a democracy that does not exist. In Bolivia, there is no respect for human rights and individual basic freedoms, there is no judicial equality, there is no rule of law, there is no separation and independence of the branches of government, there are no free and fair elections, and there is no free political organization. Under these conditions we have to “reconcile with the national reality” and fight for the recovery of the REPUBLIC and make it FEDERAL AND PARLIAMENTARY.

We must understand that today the axis of political and social confrontation in Bolivia is neither ideological, nor regional, nor racial, nor generational. The axis of confrontation is “the dictatorship, the narco-state, and Castrochavism” against “democracy, the Republic, and the Bolivian nation”. It boils down to a “an existential confrontation” whose result will be either the consolidation of the dictatorship as a satellite of the Transnational Organized Crime which is Castrochavism, or to give back democratic and republican freedom based on the Bolivian nation as an expression of unity in diversity. It is the dilemma of either turning Bolivia into a Cuba or a Venezuela, or to be free, independent, and sovereign.

Bolivia must go back to be a REPUBLIC because this is the political system “based upon the rule of law and of equality before the law that governs equally for the whole population regardless of any type of conditions”, based on the “separation and independence of the branches of government whose maximum executive authority is “elected for a specified period of time”.

For Bolivia to remain united it must be FEDERAL because federalism is “the system based on the permanent union of states that are linked under principles of national unity, hierarchy, autonomy and participation”. A system in which “the functions of government are shared and distributed between the linked states and the competency of the Federal State”. On the other hand, as shown throughout history, centralism and unitarism are the scenarios for dictatorships.

PARLIAMENTARISM has already been proven successful in Bolivia because due to the Law of Popular Participation the entire municipal system is parliamentarian. Under this system “the election of the executive branch’s head of government derives from parliament and he/she is politically responsible to it”. Parliamentarism contributes to stability, control, and transparency. A good government can remain for many years without being a dictatorship and a bad government can be quickly stopped without a coup d etat.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
www.carlossanchezberzain.com

Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators Association, ATA # 234680.