Greetings Comrades
The Saint Lucia – Venezuela Solidarity and Integrationist Movement (SLVSIM) is alarmed at events in Bolivia, as the governing authorities of that country continue to blatantly disregard the most basic tenets of the rule of law and democracy in the Western Hemisphere, exacerbated by the fact that on the very eve of the imminent general elections in Bolivia, the authorities have been openly calling for violence against the legitimate official political opposition, including against the leaders of the MAS Party, the Movement Towards Socialism. What is even more alarming is the connivance of Washington DC, the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union, and the hostile mass media, with such blatantly undemocratic behavior.
Indeed, the progressive forces of the international political community of nations already have a moral and political responsibility to jointly revisit the abused and misused concept of democracy, and formulate a joint Declaration on the strange evolution of the concept, as events have unfolded in this 21st century Western Hemisphere, the so-called democratic bastion of the international community, in ways that have nothing to do with what real democracy has been understood to entail to date.
And the most contradictory manifestations in this regard are unfolding at this very moment in the United States of America – the internationally proclaimed leader of the free (Democratic) world to date – under the chaotic Donald Trump administration, a government that still clings to the 6-decade old, worn, failed, pathetic, archaic Economic Embargo against Cuba, a small Caribbean nation that decades ago far outstripped the United States in the world, in terms of national prestige, national unity, the sustainable Human Development Index, international respect, and international esteem. And it does not matter to the United States that the United Nations member States have almost unanimously voted, year after year, for the dismantling of its Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo against Cuba for decades now.
Isn’t it a very significant paradox that the very manifestations of violence that the Bolivian government is at this very moment promoting against opposition colleagues in Bolivia, are mirrored in the USA, where president Trump has consistently been promoting violence and social anarchy by extreme Right Wing forces, and where he has clearly stated that he will not adhere to the rule of law should the Democratic Party win the similarly imminent general elections, on 3rd November 2020? As in Bolivia, Trump is threatening to annul an election result unfavorable to the Republican Party.
SLVSIM has now moved past the stage of trepidation, our earlier mental condition when the drafting of this Declaration was begun, to a stage of absolute bewilderment at the dangerous silence of the international community of nations and democratic institutions in the face of this extremely undemocratic onslaught on the people of Bolivia and the inhabitants of peace-loving humanity everywhere. We fail to comprehend this silence by CARICOM, the ACS, the OECS and other democratic institutions in the Caribbean, their sister democratic institutions in Central and Latin America, and the endless acclaimed democratic governments and institutions of the international community.
SLVSIM wishes to quote from the Bolivian Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity (REDH), as follows: “Also worrying is the news from newspapers and agencies recognized for their seriousness in the dissemination of information, of plans to unleash violence before, during, and after the elections, for which MAS will be blamed, with the sole purpose of annulling the elections and unleashing a relentless persecution of the popular masses.
“The return of democracy is seriously threatened and we are in a position to ensure that any serious act committed by the police, military or para-military forces, will be the full responsibility of the de facto government, the OAS, the EU, and the hegemonic media, that manipulate and conceal the serious abuses that are committed. REDH calls on the democratic forces of the world and in particular of Latin America and the Caribbean, to engage in daily monitoring of the events in Bolivia, to denounce the dictatorial intentions of the de facto government and to make calls for nothing to interrupt the return of democracy in Bolivia, which is the aspiration of the vast majority of Bolivians,” La Paz, October 8, 2020.
The Saint Lucia – Venezuela Solidarity and Integrationist Movement (SLVSIM) wishes to place on record its utter condemnation of the unlawful, undemocratic actions of the government of Bolivia, and its deep disappointment at the damaging silence of the international community of nations and democratic institutions in the face of the presently unfolding events in the imminent October 2020 General Elections in Bolivia.
Peter Lansiquot
President of the Saint Lucia – Venezuela Solidarity and Integrationist Movement (SLVSIM), Castries, Saint Lucia.
