Unnecessary Bullying, Fearless Violence

One, two, three, Evo will remain! Three, two, one, you get lost at once! The yelling, screaming and violent bullying had a reason: try to keep the opposition from getting into the newly founded Plurinational Electoral Organ, in charge of receiving the final lists of candidates for elections in December.

The Red Ponchos (peasants known by their insane killing of dogs on TV), the youngsters (known by their alcohol consumption in every political event), and coca vendors (known as capable of kidnapping people who oppose them), among others, got together in Plaza Abaroa, a downtown location in La Paz, Bolivia, government headquarters.

The deadline for presenting the lists was midnight. By 6pm, government followers entered the plaza, and the nightmare of violent bullying began.

Each of the 7 parties that will oppose MAS (Evo Morales’ party) got to the Plaza in the midst of violent screaming, beating and rock throwing. Many were hurt and bleeding. The constant threat from MAS was taking place while the police looked away. No one got into the plaza… no one but government followers.

The peak of violence was reached when the strongest opposition leader, Manfred Reyes Villa, got to the place. The kicking, the beating, the screaming, all the fearless bullying was there, meant to stop the opposition from presenting their lists. Candidates chose not to respond and got hit by rocks, slaps, kicks and beating on their way inside. Faces full of blood were captured by media cameras which the crowd tried to break.

A few days ago, Evo was lonely at the top of the surveys. Now, a small but firm opposition has began with Manfred as candidate for president and Leopoldo Fernandez for vice president. Leopoldo (Leo for everyone), is a political prisoner. He has been in jail for over a year now without a trial.

Why is someone in prison running for office? Because he represents the injustice of politics and politicians. He was overthrown by the military forces who got to Pando, where he was the Governor, in the blink of an eye during protests against the government and in pro of autonomy for this and four more regions.

Now, from his jail, he is still loved by his people. Pando is the smallest state (department) of Bolivia. It is in the northern border with Brazil. He was voted to be the governor by nearly 70% of the people there. His daughters went to La Paz to be with him and try to get him out, but could do nothing against the stone justice prevailing in the government city of La Paz, where Morales has won by more than 60% of the voting.

It is not the same winning in La Paz or winning in Pando. La Paz can make you president. Pando, due to the small number of voters, will not make you anything. But Pando has become an appreciated jewel for the government, as winning there means wining the Senate majority. In fact, it means so much that people from La Paz (MAS people), were offered free land in Pando to colonize, and of course, to add up to the 8.000 votes needed by MAS to win the Senate. To do this, millions of dollars danced around.

Pando suffered a killing on September, 2007. Peasants came from other locations to fight against the governor, Leopoldo. People did not stay calm. They fought back. The number of deaths is not clear. The government accused Leopoldo of the killings, but has not been able to put on a fair trial for him yet. But they succeeded to overthrow him.

Now, people were shocked by the news that Leopoldo would run for vice president from jail. So, elections will confront injustice, represented by Leopoldo, and the fight in the name of the poor, represented by Morales.

Which will win? Surveys say that Morales has nothing to fear. He will win big. But still, he broke a table and shouted at some people when he learned about Leopoldo’s candidature, the media reported. So, why the violence? Why the bullying?

People in Bolivia stand for justice, good feelings and poor people. Some years ago, the son of a well known politician who died abruptly, won big in a municipal election that otherwise would have turned away from him, this was called ‘thankful voting’. Could it be that Leo will raise more votes because of empathy, and this makes Evo mad? Only time will tell.