The October of 2003 coup against Bolivian peoples that turned Bolivia into a dictatorship and a narco-state

By: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín - 28/10/2023

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Twenty years have passed since the 17th of October of 2003, a date in which the Republic of Bolivia’s constitutional president and his coalition government were violently toppled, thus starting a process that now-a-days resulted in a country without democracy, without the Republic, without any respect for human rights, without a sea coast, without a thriving economy, without security and without sovereignty. Bolivia’s reality, and the historical clarification of the facts, reveal that what the 21st Century Socialism called the “Gas War” was a “coup d’état against Bolivian peoples” that has turned Bolivia into a dictatorship and a narco-State.

The narrative used to ignite violence aimed at toppling the democratic government was one to oppose the sale of Bolivian gas to the United States and Mexico passing through Chilean ports that was extended to include the opposition to sell gas to Chile. In January of 2000 there had been an attempted toppling of President Banzer with a so-called “Water War” and in February of 2003 there had been an attempted coup d’état with an attempted murder of President Sanchez de Lozada, as proven by reports from the Organization of American States (OAS).

The twenty-first century started with the Bolivarian Populism birthed by Hugo Chavez’s ascent to Venezuela’s presidency in 1999. Immediately after his rise to power, Chavez salvaged Cuba’s dictatorship of Fidel Castro that had been agonizing in a “special period” and had been barely and nominally sustained by the Forum of Sao Paolo created by Lula da Silva for that purpose. Castro, Chavez, and Lula, started the 21st century in the Americas creating an anti-democratic mechanism they labeled Bolivarian Movement, renamed as the ALBA Project, and finally as 21st Century Socialism, or Castrochavism, that is solely the re-creation of Castroism to expand its dictatorships and control of the government by Organized Crime.

The perfect storm against democracy in Latin America was brewed by the aggression -using Venezuelan moneys- of the Venezuelan Castroist project with Hugo Chavez in Command and was topped off by the consequences of the terrorist attack against the United States on 11 September of 2001. President George W. Bush and his administration abandoned its State Policies that had been implemented since the first Summit of the Americas in 1994, to concentrate U.S. actions and resources in wars against terrorism. Ironically, on this same 11th of September of 2001, in Lima-Peru, the Interamerican Democratic Charter was being signed, as a byproduct of the Summit of the Americas process, support to democracy, the war against drugs, the war against non-Islamic terrorism. U.S. relations with Latin America fell dramatically to a new low thus leaving the road open to Castrochavism.

In the 20 years that have elapsed, something that is now clear is that the toppling of Bolivia’s President in 2003 could not have happened without the treason of his Vice-President Carlos Mesa who, upon succeeding the toppled President, through his felonious acts promptly signed amnesty decrees to favor the topplers, granted impunity to Evo Morales and opened the way for Morales to be a candidate in a forthcoming presidential election. Mesa also promoted the judicialization of political persecution of those who were toppled. Amnesty is “the forgiveness of crimes” and the signed decrees -by themselves- confess of crimes committed, including those committed by Mesa.

Important research, including Evo Morales and his accomplices’ confessions in public speeches claiming their authorship of the violent toppling, record and prove the coup d’état and the development of the Castrochavist dictatorship in Bolivia are their responsibility. In his book “Goni’s Fall” Felipe Quispe -an outspoken indigenous leader and former political partner of Evo Morales- confesses the coup d’état, its weaponization, and even the assassination attempts that he was responsible for. Academician Hugo Balderrama has just published “Bolivia: From the Coup of 2003 to the Dictatorship/Narco-State.” Journalist and investigative reporter Emilio Martinez Cardona has published “The Five Myths of October” where he shows that “the data contradicts the official account of the Gas War.” Much earlier, journalist and writer Cayetano Llovet in his book “Paths of Freedom” offers passages of history that show Mesa’s treason and describes the coup.

Bolivia, today, has over 260 political prisoners and over 9,000 political exiles with the same methodology of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, there is no rule of law, there is no separation and independence of the branches of government, and a new electoral fraud is being concocted for 2025 based on a forged voters’ registry that includes over 20% of ghost voters, the absence of objective and impartial electoral officials, the existence of an active functional opposition, and control of the press.

In 2003, Bolivia had only 7,413 acres of illegal coca plantations, today is has around 247,105 acres because they have turned the Coca Harvesters’ and Cocaine Producing Federations that Evo Morales leads, into a political party “Movement Towards Socialism” (MAS in Spanish) that controls the government, thus structuring the narco-State. Bolivia is now a satellite dictatorship of Cuba and Venezuela and by the mandate of Cuba as the Dictatorship-In-Chief, has turned over its Lithium reserves to China and Russia and has signed a Military Treaty with Iran thus becoming the cornerstone of the threat to regional peace and security.

Bolivian peoples do not have security, do not have U.S. dollars, do not have a thriving economy, do not have independence and the conspiracy to destroy the “Bolivian nation” continues. The toppling of 2003 took away the Bolivian peoples’ power and freedom. It was a coup against Bolivia and Bolivians.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas

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