-------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 19:26:38 -0700 From: ILC <•••@••.•••> Subject: Mexico & Bolivia: Results of July 2nd Elections International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples (ILC) P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217. To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact ILC at <•••@••.•••> website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org -------------------- [Note: The following articles have been reprinted from recent issues of the ILC International Newsletter. To subscribe to this weekly online newsletter, send us a note at <•••@••.•••>.] MEXICO: Declaration of the Independent Democratic Workers Party of Mexico (PDTI) - July 6, 2006 - Respect the popular will! No to fraud! Every vote must be counted! For a march on Mexico City and actions in all the state capitals! The country is not for sale! The country must be defended! To Mr. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, leaders of the PRD and Obrador Citizen Networks, and all working people Dear Brothers and Sisters: With the recount of the vote by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) on July 5-6, a new step has been taken in carrying out a coup d'etat through massive fraud. These are not simple statistical mistakes. This is "state fraud" of monstrous dimensions. This is fraud in which at first close to 3 million votes disappeared temporarily, some never to be counted again -- with no further explanations given. Later entire ballot boxes appeared lying in the streets or in city dumpsters. This was documented widely. Violations of laws regulating polling observers and the transportation of the ballot boxes were commonplace. These were reported to IFE, only to be ignored. The vote totals for president and for senators are significantly different. Countless other anomalies remain unanswered. There is no question but that a concerted effort was undertaken to take votes away from López Obrador, district by district. To impose this fraud and to disrespect the will of the Mexican people, a "holy alliance" has been formed. This "holy alliance" is made up of the Fox government, the PAN, PRI, PANAL and PASC, the Catholic hierarchy, the mainstream media in Mexico and in the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, and the IFE functionaries. The goal of this fraud, organized against the nation and the workers by the "holy alliance," is to impose a government of Felipe Calderón. The declarations of the U.S. newspapers and of Gil Díaz, Mexico's under-secretary of the Treasury for the oil sector, clearly demonstrate that this is a drive to destroy the foundations of the nation, in line with the dictates of the IMF and the U.S. government, in a situation where the governments of Bolivia and Venezuela are taking measures against U.S. corporate interests! The editors of The Los Angeles Times say that Calderón needs to liquidate the "private and state monopolies." They insist that "the energy sector of Mexico ... desperately needs need private and foreign investment." (What this means is: "Mr. Calderón, hand over PEMEX to the transnational oil corporations!") -- The Washington Post editorialists have assigned Calderón the task of "promoting greater economic liberalization, including labor reforms." In other words, it is necessary to accept the deepening of NAFTA with the new North American Alliance for Security and Prosperity (ASPAN) and with the removal of all tariffs upon the entry of beans and corn through a NAFTA-Plus Agreement -- to the detriment of Mexico's agricultural sector and to millions of peasants. -- The Chicago Tribune editors state: "Calderón will promote the free trade reforms initiated by Fox." Indeed, Calderón has already announced the counter-reform of the labor code, taxes, and the Mexican Institute of Social Security for Public Sector Workers (ISSSTE). -- For his part, Gil Díaz declared on July 2 in Santiago, Chile, that PEMEX has discovered "giant oil reserves" in the Gulf of Mexico. The transnational corporations want to take over these riches at all costs. The future of the nation is at stake! We cannot and will not permit the creation of a Calderón government! We must raise the slogans "No to electoral fraud! The country is not for sale! The country must be defended!" The fraud of 2006, if successful, would have even more disastrous consequences than in 1988. The U.S. corporate elite have assigned Calderón the task of destroying the bases of the Mexican nation, with the complicity of the PRI, PAN, PANAL, PASC and the whole "holy alliance." Their aim is to prevent the formation of a López Obrador government. Their aim is to wield an absolute majority in the Mexican Congress. "It's necessary to fight, Andrés Manuel!" wrote La Jornada newspaper on July 5. In agreement with this call to fight, you declared you would call for a vote-by-vote recount. We completely agree with this demand! And now you are organizing an "informative assembly" on Saturday, July 8 at 5 P.M. in the Zocalo of Mexico City. We support this call and will spread it throughout the nation. The machinery of the fraud created by the "holy alliance" against the nation and labor rights will not be defeated easily. Thus, we pose the question: Isn´t it necessary to return to the methods used against the attempt to kick you out of office when you were mayor of Mexico City [the desafuero] and to prevent you from running for president? Wasn´t the determining factor in this victory the demonstration of 1.2 million people in the Zócalo on April 24, 2005 and the actions of 500,000 others throughout the rest of the country? In this new context, isn´t an even more vigorous and massive movement needed, a cohesive movement organized on a national scale? To defend the popular will, isn´t it necessary to call upon the 15 million people who voted for you -- as well as the millions who are outraged by the fraud -- to mobilize against the fraud and for the defense of the Mexican nation? Isn´t a march on Mexico City, from all parts of the country, and protests in all the main cities of the nation needed urgently? At the same time, seeing as the multinationals and the "holy alliance" are pushing harder than even for the counter-reforms against the nation, isn´t is necessary, Mr. López Obrador, to raise in the demonstrations against the fraud, the slogan "The country is not for sale! The country must be defended!"? >From our point of view, this would mean calling for the full re-nationalization of all PEMEX activities, the repeal of NAFTA, and the rejection of the implementation of the clause of this agreement that permits the massive entry of corn and beans into Mexico beginning in January 2008. "We will not permit another 1988," say millions of workers and peasants throughout the country. They are right. It is possible to smash this new and even more dangerous fraud! Mass mobilizations in 1938 made the expropriation of the oil possible. Mass mobilizations of working people crushed the military coup in Venezuela in 2002 and resulted in the nationalization of the oil sector in Bolivia in 2006. At first, all these results seemed impossible! We pose a question to the union leaders who called to vote for López Obrador: Isn´t it time to act? Isn´t it the moment to organize a march on Mexico City from all the parts of the country? Isn´t it the moment to raise again the need for a national labor strike? We pose a question to the leaders of the PRD and the Obrador Citizen Networks: Isn´t it necessary, in addition to the legal actions, to organize massive demonstrations in Mexico City and all the state capitals? Aren´t actions against the fraud springing up everywhere? Isn´t it necessary to channel this will to resist? For our part, we are calling on the workers and their organizations to form united Action Committees Against the Electoral Fraud and In Defense of the Nation and the Popular Will. These committees aim to group together workers from all backgrounds to propose in the unions, the universities, neighborhoods, and ejidos that the leaders organize a massive demonstration in Mexico City against the fraud, and in defense of the nation, together with López Obrador. The Committees Against the Electoral Fraud and in Defense of the Nation and the Popular Will will visit the leaders of the PRD and the Obrador Citizen Networks, where possible, and invite them to organize a mass national mobilization in all the country. Respect the popular will! No to fraud! Every vote must be counted! For a march on Mexico City and actions in all the state capitals! The country is not for sale! The country must be defended! -- The Independent and Democratic Workers Party of Mexico (PDTI) Contact in Mexico City: 5547-0161 •••@••.••• *********************** BOLIVIA: Bolivia Affirms Its Unity and Sovereignty on July 2nd! Elections to the Constituent Assembly in Bolivia, slated to be convened on August 4, were held on July 2 -- along with a national referendum held in the nine departments of the country regarding the issue of regional "autonomy." Fify-five percent of the voters on a national level said "NO" to the proposal that would dismember Bolivia into nine regions, each having the power to negotiate directly with the multinationals the disposition of their natural resources -- primarily the oil and gas. The latest figures regarding the elections to the Constituent Assembly give the majority, around 54%, to Evo Morales' party -- the Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS. On the last days of his election campaign, Morales called for a "NO" vote on the regional "autonomies" and also announced a deepening in the agrarian reform "right up to a veritable agrarian revolution." The mandate given to the deputies who will gather at the Constituent Assembly is clear: The majority of the workers and peasants, the oppressed population of Bolivia indicated clearly: "No to the dismemberment of the country." Such a dismemberment only serves the interests of the oligarchies and the multinationals. Democracy demands that the Constituent Assembly fully respect this majority vote of the Bolivian people, that it affirm the unity of the nation and sovereignty of Bolivia, and that it carry out the nationalization without compensation of the hydrocarbons, the re-nationalization of all privatized companies, as well as the agrarian reform. Democracy requires that the broadest front must be constituted by the labor and popular organizations -- with the nation's main trade union federation, the COB, at the helm -- to defend the unity of the nation and its sovereignty. Below we publish the statement published by the Bolivian organization La Chispa, supporter of the ILC, following the July 2nd election. Also published are articles that have appeared in the two recent issues of the ILC International Newsletter. -- The Editors ---------- BOLIVIA. DECLARATION OF LA CHISPA FOLLOWING JULY 2ND ELECTION: THE NO WON! The people have spoken. On July 2, the workers, the indigenous peoples andthe youth said "NO" to the destruction of Bolivia. In the national referendum on "regional autonomies" -- despite all the lies, intimidations and pressures by the oligarchies and imperialism -- the vast majority of the nation said NO to the division of the country for the benefit of the transnational corporations. The mandate of the people is clear: By voting in their majority for the NO, the people of Bolivia said YES to the sovereignty and unity of Bolivia. The peoples said YES to nationalization of hydrocarbons and YES to the agrarian reform. Any attempt to impose the autonomies in violation of the popular will that expressed by the majority on July 2nd would be an illegal attack on democracy and on national sovereignty. The victory of the NO on July 2 must be not be ignored. The duty of the government elected by the people is to respect the decision of the majority. The duty of the abor, peasant and popular organizations, led by the COB trade union federation, is to agree to forge the broadest united front to defend and impose the decision of the majority in the nation. This fight for the unity of the country is inseparable from the fight for a free and sovereign Bolivia, owner of all its natural resources. The NO won! For the unity and sovereignty of Bolivia! The gas, the oil, the land and all its natural resources belong to the Bolivian people! -- La Chispa (July 3, 2006) ----- BOLIVIA BACKGROUND TO ELECTION On the eve of new nationalizations, the agrarian reform has begun: "For the Unity of the Nation! No to the Secessionist Referendum!" (reprinted from ILC Newsletter No. 189 - June 27, 2006) Only two months after having issued a decree that nationalizes the Bolivian oil and gas, the new president, Evo Morales, has begun the "second agrarian reform" by distributing to the landless peasants and the indigenous peoples 3.1 million hectares of land that belongs to the state. During the same week, Morales announced "a wave of nationalizations' that will take back the telecommunication, mines, and post-office enterprises. >From Washington, Donald Rumsfeld declared the "very serious preoccupation" of the U.S. government concerning the "growth of populisms" in the Americas. He referenced not only Morales in Bolivia, but also Chavez in Venezuela, and, in doing so, issued a warning to the candidate of the PRD who is predicted to win the presidential elections of July 2 in Mexico. On May 1st of this year, in front of a massive demonstration in the Plaza Murillo, Morales, the new president of Bolivia, announced Decree DS 28701, which nationalized the oil and gas. This decree stipulates that "the hydrocarbons are the direct and inalienable property of the state." The nationalization is part of "the historic struggle of the nations and peoples for the reconquest of their resources, as the basis for the recovery of the sovereignty of the country. In this spirit, the decree determined that "the extraction, exploitation, transport and the commercialization of the oil and gas is the duty of the state." The reactions of the U.S., Spanish, French, and Brazilian multinational corporations -- which up till now jointly pillaged the natural resources of Bolivia -- were very heated. >From Brussels, the European Commission "lamented" the fact that "the Bolivian government did not consult it before approving the decree." In Spain and Washington, the reaction was even more heated. In Brazil, while the company Petrobras threatened to resort to international arbitration, Brazilian President Lula declared that his government "will respect the sovereign decision of the Bolivian people." In Bolivia, the oligarchies of Santa Cruz and Tarija, the two departments where most of the oil and gas resources are concentrated, immediately reacted by threatening to secede from the country. The referendum on "departmental autonomies", which will take place at the beginning of July, will give them an opportunity to do so. Supported discreetly by the U.S. ambassador, the oligarchies in these departments announced in advance a result of 80% in favor of "autonomy" and declared that they wouldn´t submit to the national results of the referendum. In other words, even if the "No" were to win throughout Bolivia, they said they would push through with the break-up of Bolivia if the "Yes" vote were approved in their specific departments. Faced with this exceptional situation, Morales (who himself convened this referendum, which is a deadly trap for the nation and people of Bolivia), has just called on the people to vote against the autonomies. And in addition to his declarations calling for a "No" vote on the referendum, he has begun two new developments. In its article, "Morales Launches a Bolivian Agrarian Revolution," Reuters writes: "Bolivian President Evo Morales chose the city of Santa Cruz, the base of powerful bourgeois opposition groups, to begin, on June 2, a massive distribution of land, the axis of an ´agrarian revolution.´" "This agrarian reform, even if it is still limited, comes after the measures taken in November 2001 in Venezuela, when president Chavez also initiated the expropriation of the big unused latifundias. After the defeat of the dialogue with the big land-owners of the region, Morales distributed the titles of 3.1 million hectares of land belonging to the state to the landless peasants and the indigenous communities. Š "Several of the big landowners threatened to organize ´committees of defense´ of the agricultural property in the face of possible occupations. Š ´If the state does not defend us, we have the right to look for the means to defend ourselves,´ declared the president of the Agricultural Confederation of Bolivia (Cofeagro), Jose Cespedes, who went on to announce the creation of committees of defense of the big tracts of the East of Bolivia; he refused to specify whether these groups would be armed or not." Another measure announced in recent weeks by Morales was the "second wave of nationalizations." After the hydrocarbons, this would affect the mines, telecommunications, the post-office, and the forest reserves. It is to smash these measures that the Bolivian oligarchies and the U.S. government are openly calling for the break-up of Bolivia during the referendum on autonomies. This is a policy which the U.S. government implements throughout the whole world. The map of "the future Montenegros" published in The Times of London [see ILC Newsletter No. 187] could now be expanded to include the Bolivian departments of Santa Cruz and Tarija. The urgent slogan today in Bolivia is for a united front to defend the unity and integrity of the Bolivian nation. In an Open Letter addressed to President Morales as well as to all the workers´ and peoples organizations, La Chispa (a political organization that supports the ILC) calls for a common front, irrespective of the past or present disagreements, without any condition, for a "united, free, and sovereign Bolivia." See statement below. ---------- Open Letter to Evo Morales and the Workers´ and Popular Leaders (June 16, 2006) To the Attention of Evo Morales, Leaders of all the workers´ and popular organizations, Brothers and sisters of the Bolivian people: The future of Bolivia will be decided in the following weeks. Imperialism and the multinationals, using the instruments of the regional oligarchies, aim to divide Bolivia to perpetuate the pillage of our natural resources. Imperialism has destroyed Yugoslavia and is currently destroying Iraq. Now, through the "regional autonomies," it aims to do the same to our country. They lie to the people when they say that the autonomies will bring Bolivian harmony and well-being. They lie when they say that the autonomies are the solution to the economy´s problems. They lie when they say that the autonomies are the recognition of the rights of the indigenous peoples. The autonomies are in contradiction with Decree 28701 and the struggle for the full nationalization of the hydrocarbons. They would hand over our natural resources to the puppets of the multinationals, that is, to the regional oligarchies. Likewise, the autonomies are in contradiction with the process of agrarian reform. The land-owning oligarchies will aim to abrogate the distribution of land to the peasants by decreeing the autonomy and the secession of Santa Cruz and the other departments. The vast majority of workers´ and popular organizations -- and Evo Morales himself -- correctly have called on the Bolivian people to vote "NO" in the referendum. It is now necessary to pass from words to actions. It is necessary to organize united mobilizations to assure the triumph of the No vote in all the departments of Bolivia. President Evo Morales and leaders of the workers´ and popular organizations: You have the power and the duty to mobilize the whole nation for the NO vote and against any secessionist attempt on the part of the regional oligarchies. The very existence of the Bolivian nation is at stake. We, signers of this letter, declare our firm stance in this struggle to defend the nation and its resources against imperialism. The gas, oil, land, and all the natural resources belong to the Bolivian people! For the sovereignty and unity of the Bolivian nation against the autonomies! La Paz, June 16, 2006 ----- -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
