Bolivias New Right-Wing Government Intensifies Crackdown on Journalists,
Doctors
The US-backed administration of Jeanine Añez is arresting prominent members
of the press and even doctors in what it calls a dismantling of the
propaganda apparatus of the dictatorial regime of Evo Morales.
by Alan Macleod
January 10th, 2020
By Alan Macleod @AlanRMacLeod
The U.S.-backed right-wing coup government of Jeanine Añez continues its
moves against media and other dissenting voices. The latest victim of the
crackdown was Marcelo Hurtado, president of the ATB media network. Hurtado
was paraded before cameras; handcuffed and forced to wear a vest labeled
arrested. He was flanked by two black clad, masked and armed members of
the countrys infamous police, who led a successful coup against socialist
president Evo Morales in November.
ATB (private outlet) was one of the only Bolivian TV channels that provided
balanced coverage before the coup.
This is Marcelo Hurtado, their director. pic.twitter.com/uXPlzXusCk
Ollie Vargas (@OVargas52) January 5, 2020
The Añez administration justified Hurtados public arrest on the grounds
that he was linked to Morales and ex-Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, in
what new Communications Minister Roxana Lizarraga has called the
dismantling of the propaganda apparatus of the dictatorial regime of Evo
Morales. Since November, the new government has begun systematically
destroying all voices opposed to it. TeleSUR, Bolivia TV and RT en Español
have already been taken off the air, journalists have been shot, detained
and tortured. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo was tear-gassed
in the face live on air at point-blank range by riot police as she stood
alone, talking to the camera.
Al Jazeera's @TeresaBo has been intentionally tear-gassed in the eyes by
Bolivian police while on air. She was simply trying to report what was
happening. And, being a total pro, she kept right on doing it.
pic.twitter.com/74foN7tvRF
Barry Malone (@malonebarry) November 16, 2019
The repression of journalists has brought back memories of previous eras
when most of Latin America was ruled by fascist dictatorships. But unlike in
Argentina or Chile, where the governments disappeared dissenting voices,
refusing to confirm or deny their involvement, the Bolivian government is
doing so openly; in fact, making pains to publicize their treatment of their
opponents.
Another group the Añez administration is targeting is doctors. On Monday the
same armed, masked police conducted a press conference displaying Mirtha
Sanjinez, a hospital administrator who had disobeyed orders not to treat
injured opponents of the government. I am innocent. Gentlemen of the Civic
Committee: stop persecuting innocent people, I am an honorable person, I
have worked honorably, said the elderly lady to the cameras of pro-Añez
media attending, as she was taken away to an uncertain fate.
The arrests continue in #Bolivia. The Montero Hospital administrator who had
staff provide medical care to the wounded Argentine citizen, accused of
being a FARC member. So much for the Hippocratic Oath, due process, justice,
truth. It's getting worse.https://t.co/8ZiMeQkceB pic.twitter.com/KRcDUTidH3
AndeanInfoNet (@AndeanInfoNet) January 7, 2020
Cuban doctors provided the backbone of Bolivias universal healthcare
service. However, upon gaining power, Añez immediately expelled the entire
cadre, over 700 in total, closing down health facilities aimed at the
countrys poor. In more than a decade of partnership with the previous
socialist government, Cuban doctors had carried out over 72 million
consultations across Bolivia. This week MintPress News Ollie Vargas visited
a hospital in the city of Cochabamba where 143 Cuban staff provided free
healthcare to those who needed it, finding it closed and abandoned. He also
reported that Bolivian doctors who had previously collaborated with Cuban
colleagues had been arrested.
Cuban doctors in Bolivia provided free healthcare until they were pushed out
by the US-backed coup. The hospitals they worked at are still closed,
leaving working class communities vulnerable. Report from @OVargas52
pic.twitter.com/s3m0K8E3v7
MintPress News (@MintPressNews) January 8, 2020
In November, after military generals and police appeared on television
demanding his resignation, President Morales fled to Mexico. In his place,
the military picked Añez, a lesser-known senator. Añezs right-wing Democrat
Social Movement Party won just four percent of the vote in the October
elections that sparked the unrest and, eventually, the coup. In contrast,
Morales Movement to Socialism (MAS) party received 47 percent. Añez
immediately exonerated the military of all previous and future crimes,
giving them a carte blanche to kill anyone opposing the new
military-approved government. Medea Benjamin was on the scene of the Senkata
massacre for MintPress News, where she noted the morgues were overwhelmed so
local church pews were filled with blood-soaked corpses.
Despite labeling itself an interim government, in classic shock doctrine
style the new administration has also planned a mass privatization program
and reoriented Bolivias foreign policy, pulling out of several regional
organizations. New elections are scheduled for May. However, with Morales
and others in the MAS banned and labeled terrorists by the current
administration, it is difficult to see how they will be free and fair. Añez
has already declared that Bolivia must prevent the savages (i.e. the
indigenous majority) returning to power.
In dictatorship, laws are meaningless.
Bolivia's coup govt has hurriedly put together some fake charges against
Romero, Evo's former minister, following less than a day of pressure by
far-right activists camped outside his house. https://t.co/He3YcOOqKD
pic.twitter.com/AjnVrkZ8EO
Ollie Vargas (@OVargas52) January 9, 2020
An eight-person team from the United States government agency USAID arrived
in Bolivia Thursday purporting to be experts in electoral systems aiming to
strengthen and support the May elections. The U.S. government immediately
welcomed the November coup and has supported a number of previous attempts
at dislodging Morales from power. The MAS has set a date of next weekend to
choose their candidate. While the left is united around MAS and against the
coup, the right has fractured into four roughly equal factions, opening up
the possibility of a serious vote-splitting problem for the current
administration. But regardless, without a free and independent press, the
May elections will surely lack legitimacy.
Feature photo | A press conference announcing the arrest of Hospital
Administrator, Mirtha Sanjinez, center, in La Paz, Bolivia. Screenshot |
YouTube
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD
in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of
Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still
Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common
Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.
