RTWed, 13 Nov 2019 00:13 UTC
© Reuters/Carlos Garcia RawlinsBolivian Senator Jeanine Anez gestures after she declared herself as Interim President of Bolivia, at the balcony of the Presidential Palace in La Paz, November 12, 2019.
Añez's actions
echo those of Juan Guaido in Venezuela, who declared himself "interim president" in January with the backing of Washington and the Organization of American States (OAS). While Guaido has repeatedly failed to oust President Nicolas Maduro, however,
the opposition in Bolivia - also backed by the US and OAS - has been able to force the resignation of Morales after the military defected to their side.
While opposition activists claimed that Añez's declaration was in line with the Bolivian constitution,
lawmakers from the ousted president's Movement for Socialism called the assembly session illegal. They have refused to attend the proceedings, saying that armed groups loyal to the opposition controlled the roads and could not guarantee their safety.
Morales's party has had the majority in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and its boycott leaves both bodies without a quorum. Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera also "resigned" along with Morales on November 10, leaving the country in legal limbo. Their supporters have called the forced resignations a "coup" and vowed to resist by force if necessary.
Washington hastened to hail Morales's ouster as a "significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere" and accused the socialist president of seeking to subvert the will of the people by running for a fourth term,
even though the Bolivian courts had allowed it. Morales was one of the few Latin American leaders bucking the US line on Venezuela and supporting Maduro. Landing in Mexico, where he was granted asylum, on Tuesday he vowed to continue to fight "as long as I live."
Comment: thesaker.is: 12/11/2019: Peskov: Bolivia was an orchestrated coup to overthrow Morales!
RT, 12/11/2019: Marco Rubio blames Putin for Bolivian coup coverage he doesn't like
Eager to find some way to implicate Russia in Bolivia's political crisis and control of the US narrative, Republican senator Marco Rubio branded any skeptical coverage of events as an example of how "Putin uses disinformation."
Rubio did not specify exactly what kind of "fake news" he was referring to, but his past statements and support for the Bolivian opposition indicate that he is displeased with media coverage accurately referring to Morales' ousting under military pressure as a coup.
Twitter was quick to step in and point out that Rubio's description of how 'Russian' propaganda spreads is indeed quite similar to how the US government maintains narrative control on issues of foreign policy — usually by ensuring that misleading or outright false official statements proliferate rapidly in the media.
Journalist Dan Cohen said Rubio's interpretation of what was happening with coverage of Bolivia amounted to "pure projection."
"I mean, the US just assisted with a right wing fascist coup to overturn a democratic election... you're like a cartoon," another user wrote.
"If you disagree with Marco Rubio's warped neocon version of reality with regard to Bolivia, then you might be spreading Russian disinformation. Very convenient." added journalist Rania Khalek.
Rubio does have quite the incentive to keep pushing the line that Morales was ousted in a popular uprising though — and that Russia must be behind any other narrative. Leaked audio recordings show that right-wing Rubio was among a group of US senators actively plotting with the Bolivian opposition to overthrow the socialist leader.
See also:
At this point the public details on this person are rather vague other than the Colombian husband. More information is needed.