[Marxism] Ex-Morales backer decries party betrayal

[Horacio Oliveira <horaciooliveira@xxxxxxx>]

I'm not "in" on the real situation on ground in Bolivia but this
article strikes me as very concocted.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060613-123249-3197r.htm

Amongst the most insidious paragraphs is:

"It was announced this month that El Mutun would go to a company from
India, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., for $2.3 million. But Santa Cruz
businessmen and civic leaders have charged publicly that the
government is trying to turn one of the world's largest iron deposits
into a joint state venture with Venezuela, which has been taking over
Bolivia's hydrocarbon reserves."

With a convenient error the Arostegui claims that El Mutun would go
to an Indian company for 2.3 million (when it was 2.3 billion) then
he follows up with a statement that reads in a deliberate manner that
Venezuela is taking over Bolivia's hydrocarbon reserves. So a slip in
billion to million and the a little coma totally misinforms the
cursory reader with what is now pure BS. I wonder how much more of
this story is concoction...


Ex-Morales backer decries party betrayal
By Martin Arostegui
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 13, 2006

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia -- Adriana Gil braved death threats, public
insults and social ostracism to campaign for Evo Morales in Bolivia's
conservative eastern region during the presidential election last
year. She now feels "betrayed" by the ruling Movement Toward
Socialism, which expelled her and invaded her family's land.
    Miss Gil had won a seat representing MAS on the city council,
and her family contributed generously to Mr. Morales' campaign. But
none of that has protected her from the new government's
revolutionary land redistribution policies.
    She cried before TV cameras earlier this month when truckloads
of armed Quechua Indians occupied her farmland, burned down the homes
of tenant farmers and seized their cattle.
    "It's a conspiracy and a vendetta against me," said Miss Gil, a
24-year-old Santa Cruzheiress who described herself in an interview
as a "social democrat."
    She said she is being persecuted for speaking out against the
increasingly authoritarian policies of the new president. "The
Bolivian people voted for change, not for a dictator," she said.
    Miss Gil this month announced the formation of her own political
group, the Social Democratic Force, to oppose the radical program
that Mr. Morales seeks to introduce through a national constitutional
assembly to be held in August.
    Only days later, her land was invaded by squatters, who have
camped out along 2,500 acres of her 11,000-acre property. Miss Gil,
who spends most of her time at a house in the city, said that the
squatters have not taken over the farmhouse, but that more are arriving.
    "They are Indians from the highlands sent by the government,"
she told The Washington Times. "They show written permits to occupy
our land signed by [Rural Development Minister] Hugo Salvatierra."
    She also accused Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera of
inspiring the takeover of her and other farms, a charge he has
repeatedly denied.
    "We have a government of lies," said Miss Gil, one of several
intellectuals, professionals and businesspeople who supported MAS
before the December elections but now feel ignored by the hard-line
leftist leadership and its indigenous peasant base.
    "They want to put us all in ponchos and chulos [traditional
Indian wool caps] and make us chew coca," she said, referring to the
source of cocaine. "The president only seems to govern for the
Quechuas and Aymaras."
    Miss Gil's problems with the MAS hierarchy began even before the
election, when she started feuding with Santa Cruz party elder Chato
Peredo, a Cuban-trained Marxist who formed part of Che Guevara's ill-
fated guerrilla expedition to Bolivia in the 1960s.
    Miss Gil further irked MAS bosses after the election when she
denounced corruption in government road-building contracts and
championed the protests of workers laid off because of the Morales
government's expulsion of a Brazilian mining company.
    She said she became disillusioned with the government's "closed
outlook" when ministers failed to respond to an offer from U.S.
investors interested in bidding for the vast iron ore mining
concession of El Mutun in the eastern town of Puerto Busch.
    "They refused to consider the American offer, which could have
brought $10 billion in market capital to the region, using anti-
imperialist arguments," said Miss Gil, who presented the Morales
administration with letters of intent from two U.S. companies in March.
    It was announced this month that El Mutun would go to a company
from India, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., for $2.3 million. But Santa
Cruz businessmen and civic leaders have charged publicly that the
government is trying to turn one of the world's largest iron deposits
into a joint state venture with Venezuela, which has been taking over
Bolivia's hydrocarbon reserves.
    "We are seeing the destruction of our productive apparatus,"
Miss Gil said. "I was always hoping that MAS would turn toward
democratic socialism. Sadly, I was wrong. The illusion of changing
Bolivia made me delude myself."

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