The battle for democracy in Bolivia

People’s forces battle for their democratic rights | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

July 14, 2020 demonstration in La Paz, Bolivia.

(July 25) – Workers, women, and Indigenous peoples and their organizations along with other social movements have returned to the streets to demand an end to the wrecking of the coup government and the right to elect a president and government of their choosing without further delay. Demonstrations are being held especially in places where the workers have fighting traditions, such as Cochabamba and El Alto, a suburb of the capital city of La Paz.

Media struggle to defend Washington’s cruelty toward Venezuela and Iran as coronavirus spreads

By JOE EMERSBERGER, FAIR

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wears a facemask, Marcch 23 | Venezuelanalysis

An Associated Press article (New York Times, 3/17/20) headlined “IMF Rejects Maduro’s Bid for Emergency Loan to Fight Virus” declared:

The request is an about-face for Maduro, who for years refused to share economic data with the Washington-based lender and just last month condemned it as a tool of US imperialism. In the past he has called the IMF a blood-sucking “assassin” responsible for plunging millions of people into poverty across Latin America.

IMF refuses aid to Venezuela (Excerpts)

– Ana Maldonado, Paola Estrada, Vijay Prashad, Zoe PC –

Venezuela receives aid from China, March 19, 2020, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 16, 2020, the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva wrote a blog post on the Fund’s website; it represents the kind of generosity necessary in the midst of a global pandemic. “The IMF stands ready to mobilize its $1 trillion lending capacity to help our membership,” she wrote. Countries with “urgent balance-of-payments needs” could be helped by the IMF’s “flexible and rapid-disbursing emergency response toolkit.” Through these mechanisms, the IMF said that it could provide $50 billion to developing countries and $10 billion to low-income countries at a zero-interest rate.

Bolivia’s president talks about the country’s ongoing socio-economic transformation and his third term in office

I have no regreats – in fact, I am pleased to have expelled the US ambassador, the DEA and to have closed the US military base in Bolivia. Now, without a US ambassador, there is less conspiracy, and more political stability and social stability. Without the IMF we are better off economically – Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia