Bolivia goes to the polls this weekend to elect its President. Evo Morales won the presidential elections of 2005, 2009 and 2014, yet with the Trump administration’s interventionist agenda in Latin America there is growing concern that Bolivia is now in its sights too.

President Morales has acted to recover Bolivia’s wealth, including its oil and gas industries, from foreign corporations, gaining over $30 billion in 10 years to invest in development, compared to the $2.5 billion in the previous decade of neoliberal policies. Leading the way in Latin America, the Bolivian economy grew by 4.4 percent in 2018 according to the UN. 

Extreme poverty has been cut from nearly 40 to 17 percent, millions have benefitted from improved public health, nutrition, education provision, and a large public housing programme. No other government in Bolivia’s history has done more to restore the dignity to the majority indigenous population, including the recovery of land illegally appropriated by large landowners. And Bolivia is now a leading voice for international justice and action to tackle climate change.

Yet in Morales’ time in office, the US has been accused of seeking to destabilise the country through organisations such as USAID and National Endowment for Democracy. 

We are therefore concerned that the US may engage in further efforts to intervene into Bolivia ahead of the election and pledge to stand up for Bolivia’s right to determine its own future.

Yours,

John Pilger, journalist & filmmaker
Michael Mansfield, QC
Brian Eno, musician
Maxine Peake, actress
Andy De La Tour, actor & writer
Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary & TUC General Council International Spokesperson
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary NEU
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS
Mick Cash, General Secretary RMT
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary TSSA
Tony Burke, Unite the Union Assistant General Secretary
Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary
Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions
Kevan Nelson, Regional Secretary, UNISON North West
Christine Blower, former General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers
Max Hyde, former President of the National Union of Teachers
John Gledhill FBA, FAcSS, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, Manchester University
Dr. Francisco Dominguez, Latin America specialist Middlesex University
Ray Bush, Professor of African Studies and Develop Politics, POLIS, University of Leeds
Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy, Kingston University
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Professor of Human Rights & Political Philosophy, Birkbeck
Dr. David Raby, Latin American Studies, Universities of Liverpool & Toronto
Kate Hudson, General Secretary, CND
Lindsey German, Convenor, Stop The War Coalition
Mónica del Pilar Uribe Marin, Director & Editor-In-Chief The Prisma Newspaper
Bob Oram, Chair, Morning Star
Salma Yaqoob, Patron, Stop the War Coalition
Luke Daniels, President of Caribbean Labour Solidarity
Maggie Bowden, Liberation
Murad Qureshi, Chair, Stop the War Coalition and former London Assembly member
Marcus Barnett, Young Labour International Officer
Rachel Garnham, Labour NEC
Claudia Webbe, Labour NEC
Matt Willgress, Friends of Bolivia
Colin Burgon, Honorary President, Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America.