“The Story of Electoral Fraud in Bolivia has been Debunked”

By Jorge Petinaud Martínez

There was a profound awakening in Bolivia yesterday with the re-emergence of Juan Ramón Quintana, former minister of the coup-overthrown government of Evo Morales, in an interview on the Russian station RT.  “With the election victory of Luis Arce, the story of fraud in the 2019 election has been completely debunked,” the former minister stated in a teleconference from his asylum in the Mexican Embassy in La Paz, in response to journalist Eva Golinger.

Quintana, author of several books in which he denounces the interference of the United States in Bolivia and in Latin America in general, gave this first interview after nearly a year of silence in this diplomatic headquarters, where he arrived a few hours after the coup of November 10, 2019, after the de facto government minister Arturo Murillo publicly ordered “a hunting expedition” for him.

Quintana, considered one of the mainstays of the process of change led by Morales in 2006 and interrupted by the unconstitutional civil-military action undertaken with the support of the United States, emphasized that the tale of supposed electoral fraud in 2019 formed part of the coup dètat legitimization both internally and externally, as Washington had hoped.  He was emphatic in his affirmation that the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, should resign his post, not only because he caused upheaval in Bolivia and facilitated the coup operations, but also because he generated this, serving as a “shameful” instrument of the United States policy of interference.

“This contravenes the basic principles of the OAS.  Almagro carried out the same role as Jeanine Áñez,”  the ex-minister stated,  “They went over the top in carrying out the instructions of Washington and ended up making themselves ridiculous, and even grotesque, as well as damaging the confidence of member countries of  the OAS.  The OAS is the Ministry of Colonies for the U.S.”

Speaking about the situation of the country after the recent victory of the Movement Toward Socialism party (MAS) in the October 18 election, he offered the opinion that the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz (Comité Cívico de Santa Cruz) and its paramilitary arm, the Santa Cruz Youth Union (La Unión Juvenil Cruceñista) are reacting by rejecting the results.

However, he made clear, this has largely dissipated since there has been no evidence or data supporting the renewed accusation of fraud, “which has been surrealistic, since there exists no evidence, as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has said after review.”  Questioned by Golinger about the new era opening up for Bolivia, he considered that the Legislative Assembly should create a Truth Commission to clear up the violent acts of the de facto administration headed by Áñez.

“When this regime turns over the government to Luis Arce, the reign of impunity and violation of human rights will be over,” he maintained, and pointed out that the legal processes initiated against people on the left who are now in exile or seeking asylum were fabricated by command of the government ministry headed by the “unmentionable Minister, Murillo, converted into a powerful front-man for the U.S. State Department.”

With regard to the situation of himself and other ex-ministers of MAS in the past 11 months, Quintana stated that in spite of being confined, they are freer now, and added that the release of all of them should occur after Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca assume the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, respectively.

Questioned regarding the future of Morales and his ties with Arce, the ex-minister said that he saw him “really, as the great leader, the great visionary, the great communicator, the great architect for sustaining the government, for giving it force and for working with community organizations, preparing them for the long haul.”

He stated that the two are different, one from the other, in many aspects, but nonetheless it is evident that Arce was the minister who has been successful in constructing an alternative economic model to predatory capitalism, under the political and ideological umbrella of ex-President Morales.

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, Cuba, translation North America bureau