U.S. hands off Bolivia

The Indigenous, the poor, the working people of Bolivia are speaking out loudly for themselves, for Latin America and for much of the world when they confront the richest 1 percent of the population, their police and army, and their international backer: U.S. imperialism. The three-week-old strike by Bolivia’s poor is saying “No!” to the imperialist takeover and privatization of Bolivia’s natural resources. That “No!” is resounding around the world.

The first question to ask when the class struggle reaches the level it has in Bolivia is: Which side are you on?

In Bolivia the answer is clear. On one side is a tiny capitalist class of some hundreds of enormously wealthy families, the politicians who work for them, and the mercenary army they employ. These exploiters, besides being a parasitic burden on the Bolivian workers and farmers, are completely dependent on their close ties with U.S. imperialism. Their rule is increasingly dependent on bullets and tear gas.

On the other side are the rest of Bolivia’s 8 million people, over 55 percent of whom are Aymara or Quechua, and over two-thirds of whom live below the poverty line in the poorest country in South America. Coca farmers, driven into poverty by the U.S.’s phony “war on drugs,” are blocking the roads between Bolivia’s cities. Miners are bringing their dynamite blasting caps with them to demonstrations. Teachers and civil servants are striking and demonstrating. And La Paz’s entire satellite city of El Alto, where hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people live, is joining in this struggle.

Nineteen months ago such mass demonstrations in La Paz, the capital, drove the previous Bolivian president out of office. The current president, Carlos Mesa, succeeded him, making promises to the workers and farmers that he would hold on to Bolivia’s resources—especially the natural gas that the imperialist energy monopolies want to pillage—while making more discreet promises to the ruling class and its U.S. backers that he would pacify the Bolivian people.

Three months ago another series of pro tests forced Mesa to resign. It was a temporary maneuver to win a statement of support from the Congress and from Bolivia’s ruling class. But now, for the second time this year, mass demonstrations have again forced Mesa to offer his resignation. In a clear sign of who gives orders in this Andean country, Mesa’s resignation offer followed a meeting with the U.S. ambassador.

In their desperation to save their situation, Bolivia’s wealthy class and the U.S. imperialists are considering splitting the Andean country into two or more parts, so that Santa Cruz, with its concentration of ruling-class families, can control the fields of natural gas.

This time it looks like Mesa may stay resigned. On the one hand, he has been unable to keep a lid on the people. On the other, he cannot satisfy their demands for nationalization of Bolivia’s rich fields of natural gas.

The latest reports are that the struggle continues, and it is going on all over the country. Bolivia’s natural resources belong to its people. U.S. hands off!