Electoral fraud

[Ruben Mundaca]

A little more I know from Valverde (that government "journalists" don't say

He fight against the infamous narco-government of Luis García Meza, doing strike of hungry in a Santa Cruz church. He was caugth by military and tortured. Because that, he lose the hearing in one ear, so he speak loud because he is barely deaf.

Later, in the only action joined together with his father (leader of the right wing Carlos Valverde Barbery) against Luis García Meza, they assault the TITA oil field and took it by force.

Luis García Mesa send military commandos at the order of the coronel Gary Prado, who commanded operations against Ché Guevara. They took the field peacefully due that any ressistance will be a massacre, but in the incident an accidental bullet destroy the vertebal spine of the general Gary Prado. He is in weel chair until now.

[Jan Klimkowski]

So, Senor Mundaca, what is Carlos Valverde Bravo's position on the Unión Juvenil Crucinista and the Camba Nacion?

[Ruben Mundaca]

If you search in his link and see some of his videos, his position will be cristal clear to you.

But the word he uses most when he speak about Union Juvenil Cruceñista, is "felons".

The Comité Pro santa Cruz, despite government propaganda, is very respected by people in Santa Cruz, due it has great popular leaders and there was a time that many vindications that carry progress and wealth to the region was leaded by Comité Pro Santa Cruz. But today's leadership is very criticized by Valverde. See the videos for yourself.

Union Juvenil Cruceñista is a paralell organization created many years ago (about 50 years) in times of great danger and sorrow: when another former populist party (MNR) send thousands of colla militia heavely armed against Santa Cruz, to chase "Camba" leaders that where protesting, trying that government fulfill a law that recognize a tax of 11% of oil production in favor of Santa Cruz region (by that time, government keeps 100% of production, with not a cent to producing regions).

The colla militia sended invades the city and commit many atrocitys: murder, rape, torture, burning houses, stealing, etc...under influence of drugs and alcohol generously delivered by their leaders. Many people die. For example, the father of a friend was tortured, flagellated and took all their teeth with tweezers, then penetrate his ass with a wood stake. He barely survived at the intensive bleeding. But his rage survived with him.

Maybe you now understand that camba hate against collas are not because racist, but due to the felonies committed that time, because many people that suffers is still alive and remember those months of horror. They are fathers, mothers and grandfathers of a new generation now.

But that colla militia want to chase the leaders of the movment, specially Melchor Pinto Parada. So, Union Juvenil Cruceñista was created to protect the leaders of Comite Pro Santa Cruz and protect their own families. Young Carlos Valverde Barbery (Sr.) was one of the fouders.

But later when things get calm, The Union Juvenil Cruceñista do not dissolve and keeps active "protecting" the Comitee, but only under nominal control of the Santa Cruz Comitee, because they develop their own structure. The structure is to support a fight.

It seems today that Morale's and other governments has infiltrated the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista to give bad press and/or destroy Comité Pro Santa Cruz. Some of their most notorius "members" (notorius for beting colla strikers with clubs) has joined Morale's party in public media presentation.

[Ruben Mundaca]

Ho, the allmighty "Camba Nation" is a group of about 20-30 intelectuals that his only function is to write press articles about the need that local indigenous be respected and not be displaced of their land by colla migrants.
So, the land has to be gived to them in the first place, and then to any other migrants.

They emphatize in the need to keep the camba cuture and commmon values too, and the need of a federative or autonomic government system (like Spanish autonomy), in order that the political power be distributed in the regions and the resources too. The identity of regions have to be preserved and regions have to take control and responsability of their destiny.

Between his members you find radicals too ( some believe that Bolivia is a failed country because after 200 years of history, is still not able to give tranquility, freedom and wealth to their citizens. So, few radicals proposal is to separate from Bolivia and evry people find his own destiny, coz the most important in a country is not territory or government, but people and his happiness. That's the real meaning of a country") but the most of them support an autonomic state. They contribute to the ideological support to Santa Cruz Autonomic Movment.

But Morale's "socialism" crash with them, due to by nature, socialism need that political power and resources be centralized in the "papa" state.

So, he fight to destroy them and his media propaganda creates a monster. Finally, when he realizes that Autonomy is a conquest that he can't take off from the people's mind, he create his own "autonomy" and make a referendum to aprove it, wich happened with the aid of colla regions. His "autonomy" is barely a joke: is dis-funtional because create too many levels of autonomic government and give very little atributions to regions, most atributions that frequently mix between other regional governmental levels. Is so wrong that can't be applied until now.

Is inapplicable, because he does to be inapplicable, and to keep the power, resources and decissions centralized in his hands.

[Magda Hassan]

Ruben, my information, from other Bolivians and South Americans, is that there are no biometric devices being used in this election as it is not ready to use yet and has just been discussed. It may or may not be used in future elections.

[Ruben Mundaca]

Ruben, my information, from other Bolivians and South Americans, is that there are no biometric devices being used in this election as it is not ready to use yet and has just been discussed. It may or may not be used in future elections.

There is. I just vote a couple of hours ago. I have been registred. Some month ago they took me a picture of my face and all my fingerprints in a glass of a little machine, that transfered to a computer and registred, with all my data.

When I went to vote today, they have my registration, data and picture in a card. When I vote, they give me a little cardboard with my picture, place of voting and my ID number, as a certificate that I vote. Voting in Bolivia is a duty, not a right. You can be punished if not (they charge you money if you dont' show your certificate of voting)

http://www.lostiempos.com/ustedelige/coy...84665.html

There is a statement of Horatio Serpa, election observer from the OEA, sayin that the biomethrical registration that guide the bolivian election is "trustable". He was the same guy that avail Morale's election in 2005.

In july 2008, for the revocatory referendum, registred electoral citizens where barely 4.000.000 (four million), but for that time, oppositors say that was "inflated".

http://boliviasol.wordpress.com/2008/07/...n-bolivia/

Now, just a year latter, we are almost 5.200.000 (one million two hundred thousands increase in ONE YEAR.) Interesting, isnt it...????:mad:

First partial results are released by media. Morales is wining by nearly 65%, wich give him total control of both congress chambers (all congress, in fact). With The Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees destroyed (he destroyed earlier), no legal force can stop absolute power of Morales in Bolivia. He is above any law now.

[Keith Millea]

http://www.counterpunch.org/dangl12082009.html

The Speed of Change in Bolivia

By BENJAMIN DANGL
Bolivian President Evo Morales was re-elected on Sunday, December 6th in a landslide victory. After the polls closed, fireworks, music and celebrations filled the Plaza Murillo in downtown La Paz, where MAS supporters chanted "Evo Again! Evo Again!" Addressing the crowd from the presidential palace balcony, Morales said, "The people, with their participation, showed once again that it’s possible to change Bolivia… We have the responsibility to deepen and accelerate this process of change."
Though the official results are not yet known, exit polls show that Morales won roughly 63% of the vote, with his closest rival, former conservative governor Manfred Reyes Villa, winning around 23% of the vote.
The Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), Morales’ political party, also won two thirds of the seats in congress and took control of the senate, meaning the MAS administration will have an easier time passing laws without right wing opposition.
Many of Bolivia’s indigenous and impoverished majority identify with [SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1][/SIZE][/SIZE]Morales, an indigenous man who grew up poor and was a grassroots leader before his election as president in 2005. Many also voted for Morales because of new government programs aimed at empowering the country’s marginalized people.
"Brother Evo Morales is working for the poorest people, for the people that are fighting for their survival," El Alto street vendor Julio Fernandez told Bloomberg reporter Jonathan Levin on election day.
"He's changing things. He's helping the poor and building highways and schools," Veronica Canizaya, a 49-year old housewife, told Reuters before voting near Lake Titicaca.
During his first four years in office Morales partially nationalized Bolivia’s vast gas reserves, ushered in a new constitution written in a constituent assembly, granted more rights to indigenous people and exerted more state-control over natural resources and the economy. Much of the wealth generated from new state-run industries has been directed to various social and development programs to benefit impoverished sectors of society.
For example, Bolivian mother Inez Mamani receives a government stipend to help her care for her newborn baby. The funding is thanks to the state-run gas company. Mamani, the mother of a two-month-old baby and five other children, spoke with Annie Murphy of National Public Radio about the program. "With my other children, there wasn't a program like this. It was sad the way we raised them. Now they have milk, clothing, diapers, and it's great that the government helps us. Before, natural resources were privately owned and there wasn't this sort of support."
In addition to the support for mothers, the government also gives stipends to young students and the elderly; the stipends reached some 2 million people in 2009. "I'm a teacher and I see that the kids go to school with hope, because they get breakfast there and the subsidies ... I ask them how they spend the hand-outs and some of them say they buy shoes. Some didn't have shoes before," Irene Paz told Reuters after voting in El Alto.
Thanks to such far-reaching government programs and socialistic policies, Bolivia’s economic growth has been higher during the four years under Morales than at any other period during the last three decades, according to the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"None of this would have been possible without the government's regaining control of the country's natural resources," said CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot. "Bolivia's fiscal stimulus over the past year was vastly larger than ours in the United States, relative to their economy."
During Morales’ new term in office, with a majority in the congress and senate, the MAS government should be able to further apply the changes established in the new constitution, a document passed in a national vote this past January. The MAS base is eager for land reform, broader access to public services, development projects and more say in how their government is run. The mandate and demands for massive changes are now greater than ever.
As Bolivian political analyst Franklin Pareja told IPS News, "In the past four years, the change was an illusion, and now it should be real."
Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Paraguay and is the author of "The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia" (AK Press). He edits UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America, and TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events. :bike:

[Ruben Mundaca]

Only a few quotations about Benjamin Dangel's article, Keith:

- There was no doubt that Morales will win this election. But he wanted to win with so great difference, that allows him to control both congress chambers, wich actually did.

- The fact that right wing oppositors where controlling the senate chamber, has never be an obstacle to Morales. When a law don't pass or was observed due to unconstitutional (he frequently violate his own Constitution), he rule by presidential Decree. Under bolivian Law, any rule or act delivered by president is presumed legal and contitutional until The Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees don't say the contrary.

Gess what?... Morale's first actions was to destroy that tribunal, wich did, so nobody has a legal rigth to correct his decrees. Senate do this function sometimes. But when that happen, he displace some thousands of his followers from El Alto and surround the Congress, practically kidnapping oppositor senators and attacking them.
The good thing about this, is that now he has no excuse to his lack of administrative capabilities. He has all the absolute power now.

Since he destroyed, he obstruct any action to replace the Tribunal Members coz the senate has the right to check the background of the judges elected by deputy chamber. Now he probably will, because he have the power of total majority to place any of HIS judges there.

- ...Building higways and schools?...maybe in the west, in the colla region..???...In the East, only one mayor highway is building, the one that will connect Santa Cruz with Brazil. But was not due Morales, but from the oppositor local government of Santa Cruz, with the aid of a loan from European Union. Other major roads (to Beni, for example) are full of deep potholes. Schools ...?.. yeah, during his political campaign, he delivered here about five schools with great propaganda. The Major of Santa Cruz (oppositor) quietly delivered more than a hundred schools just last year.

- The stipend for the elderly was not created by Morales, but by a former government. Was called "Bonosol", payed once a year. Morales change the way of payment (now is monthly) fractioning the yearly amount, and changed the name to "Renta Dignidad" (Dignity Rent), claiming he created.

Its ok. to give bonus to the elderly (equivalent to less that $US. 30,oo monthly), but they don't have health attention, medicine and hospitals, for example. That's the elderly need most.

The other bonuses are low too. Scholar kids recive BS. 200 YEARLY (about $US:30 too); and the mothers recive free attention in hospitals (that was not creation of Morales, but former administration) and some little money too ( about $US. 70 for his kid born, if I am not wrong, this one created by Morales), but all this is good to win elections and use as political propaganda. Oppositor governor of Tarija has ruled that local government take charge of all health in his region (any health attention is totally free there for EVERYBODY), but he doesen't have Morale's propaganda apparatus.

Oppositor Santa Cruz governor wanted to do something simmilar, but Morale's opposed (veto) saying that he will do it as a part of "his National Health Plan". Allmost 3 years since that, he doesen't have "his" health plan and we don't have our Basic Regional Health Plan, as Tarija is.

The problem of Morales is that he is absolutly lack of administrative skills and have big problems to accomplish with the yearly National Budget (he never has accomplish (spend) not even 50% of the yearly budget), so he NEED to spend. Creating bonuses (stipends) is one of the easiest way, and most profitable electorally.
In fact, all money "not spended" by not accomplishing the budget, has been sended to International Money Reserves, which has grow a lot. Any of you, who know Economics, know that's very, very bad for a country with so many needs.

But strangely, he has contracted huge private loans. Thank's that, we have the biggest debt ever.
That data I know thanks to senate oppositor members, who have hard time to know that information, due absolute lack of transparency of Morale's government. Now, citizen will have no legal way to know anything about his administrative disposals.

Yes, we are changing. But sadly, not for good.

[Ruben Mundaca]

Some other economical data:

- Bolivia has recived a lot of money due to gas prices increase, Bolivia's main export product (as stated before, not specialy thanks to Morales nacionalizations as Drangel's article says. Former chief congressman has aproved a great increase in taxes to oil companys. Bolivia was allready reciving big money when Morales win the presidential election). Now if you look a statistics, we are not PRODUCING more gas or other goods during Morales government. In fact, in many fields we are producing LESS.
But the companies nacionalized by Morales, not a single one is producing more or is in better situation. The star companies nacionalized: Oil and gas; and comunications, are in very dangerous economical situation. We are exporting less gas, have lose export markets, not developing new fields or exploring. In comunications, ENTEL has lost about 30% of his former market, and increasing that lose evry year against other companies.
A Spanish company, encouraged by spanish government, will invest $US. 1.500.000.000 in exploration. Is not a big amount (for gas business), but hope that they can do what YPFB government can't.

- The first year of Morales government, thousands of bolivian citizens migrate to Spain, european countries and Brazil. The ammount of money sended by that people is about $US 900.000.000,oo at year. For bolivian little economy, thats a lot of money injected to the market.

- Another injection of money to the market come from drug traffiking. An estimate of at least $US. 1.000.000.000,oo goes directly to spending.

[Keith Millea]

Ruben,
I do not know the political ins and outs of Bolivia,so it would be foolish of me to make an informed opinion.I will say this though.Your country had what at this time seems to be a free and fair election.Evo Morales recieved 63% of the vote.The great majority of your country seems to like the direction that Morales is taking.So I ask you this question.What don't you like about Democracy?Well,beside the fact that your choice didn't win.