Bolivia: IMF Paved the Way
to Narco-Terrorist Takeover

Another Ibero-American nation bursts into flames, and another president is ousted from office. The Bolivian government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada fell Oct. 17, after a month of violent demonstrations against his rule. Although many have dubbed the rebellion the "gas war"—it was ostensibly triggered by the government's decision to pump Bolivian natural gas to a Chilean port, for export as liquified national gas to Mexico and thence to the United States—it was actually the handiwork of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Sánchez de Lozada's unwavering subservience to the IMF's policies.

The ousted President (known as "Goni" in Bolivia) had been a high-level executive for the British mining consortium Rio Tinto before entering politics, and he has been the flag-bearer for the IMF in Bolivia, going back to his stint as Finance Minister in 1985. Harvard University's Jeffrey Sachs advised him then, on how to dismantle the state sector, particularly targetting the tin and oil industries. As a result of this policy, tens of thousands of unemployed miners were driven into coca production in eastern Bolivia—the only place they could make a living. This helped make Bolivia into the major coca producer that it is today.

Then, during his 1993-97 Presidency, Goni intensified the IMF's free-market policies, privatizing state-owned companies and wrecking what little remained of Bolivia's real productive economy. In 2002, he became President again, with only 22.5% of the vote, barely defeating coca growers' leader Evo Morales, an asset of global speculator George Soros's international drug-legalization apparatus (see box). Today, it is Morales and his Coca Growers Federation who have been the primary organizers of the revolts, and the provocateurs of violent confrontations with security forces which produced nearly 100 deaths in the four weeks leading up to Sánchez de Lozada's forced resignation.

The social explosion and toppling of the President, just a year into his second Administration, was the lawful result of the IMF policies he imposed. The propaganda of the international financial mouthpieces who, only a few months earlier, had marvelled at the "Bolivian economic miracle," now stands thoroughly discredited. Goni was ousted because his "adjustment" policies drove more than two-thirds of the Bolivian population to levels of "extreme poverty" and desperation for change.

These facts should impress the other governments of Ibero-America, all currently implementing IMF policies—some more reluctantly than others. But none of them have yet been willing to stand up and openly call for the only viable option to the IMF, the New Bretton Woods policy outlined by Lyndon LaRouche. Instead, they are all now looking over their shoulder, nervously wondering if Bolivia's fate will befall their own country next.

Continental Synarchist Revolt

The privatization contract for Bolivia's natural gas given to the multinational consortium Pacific LNG, would have proven the swindle of the century in Bolivia; instead, it proved to be the last straw for a population which has run out of patience. The Pacific LNG consortium, made up of British Petroleum and the Spanish company Repsol-YPF, among others, was going to pay for the Bolivian gas at bargain-basement prices: while Brazil pays Bolivia $1.70 per thousand cubic feet of gas, Pacific LNG was only going to pay $.70 per thousand cubic feet exported to California. The energy cartels to which Pacific LNG belongs, thought they could use this trick to ameliorate California's energy-price crisis, caused by the deregulation policies of Dick Cheney and company.

That gas deal is now frozen. But the Bolivia situation is far from stabilized. The new President, former Vice President Carlos Mesa, had barely been sworn into office, when he was challenged by the organizations of the coca growers, by the Jacobin Pachacutik movement of drug-legalizer Felipe Quispe, and by Evo Morales's own party, the MAS. These, all allies of Soros and of the drug trade, have declared that they will continue to incite revolt if Mesa does not heed their demands, beginning with a constitutional reform that would prepare the way for a "narco-republiquette" in Bolivia. They have given Mesa 90 days to rescind the Hydrocarbons Law under which the natural gas was to be exported, and to convene a Constitutent Assembly, modelled on the one madman Hugo Chávez has used as the battering ram against Venezuela's national institutions. These forces, which represent no more than 20% of the Bolivian electorate, are emboldened by what they consider "their" triumph: the fall of President Sánchez de Lozada. They openly threaten to plunge Bolivia into civil war, should their demands not be met.

Narcoterrorist organizations from throughout the entire Andean region were directly involved. Bolivian military intelligence soruces revealed that elements of the Colombian narcoterrorist FARC were detected in the most violent of the Bolivian upsurges. Peruvian military intelligence similarly reports that Shining Path cadre that operate in the Puno border region between Peru and Bolivia had deployed to the zones of La Paz and the Bolivian highlands, to actively participate in the revolts. The "black shirts" of the fascist Humala movement in Peru had publicly declared that their militants in southern Peru had deployed into Bolivia to fan the revolt.

This latter racist group, which has dubbed itself "ethno-nationalist," has just openly shown its links to the Synarchist International. It promotes Peruvian philosopher Hernando Nieto, who has proclaimed himself a follower of Leo Strauss. Strauss, in turn, is the ideological godfather of the cabal of U.S. neo-conservatives headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, which surrounds President Bush and seeks to impose its program of world fascism by any means necessary.

The conflagration begun in Bolivia could easily extend throughout the Andean region. In Venezuela, the Synarchist Chávez has openly backed Evo Morales' drug-legalization project; in Ecuador, peasant movements headed by the CONAIE (the Federation of Indian Nations of Ecuador) have just threatened President Lucio Gutiérrez that they will pour into the streets as was done in Bolivia, if he does not change his economic and social policies. Gutiérrez, trying to pacify these elements, has just publicly called for drug legalization.

Peru is the country which is perhaps closest to a Bolivian-style uprising, having the most unpopular president in its history, Alejandro Toledo, who, despite the repudiation of his own population, continues to insist on IMF policies which are worse than a failure. The question is not if, but when Peru will follow in Bolivia's footsteps. Already, the Federation of coca growers of Peru's 14 coca-growing regions, led by Nelson Palomino—the "Peruvian Evo Morales"—and backed by the Soros-financed non-governmental organization, Andean Commission of Jurists, have announced that, like their coca-growing brothers in Bolivia, they are ready to lay siege to the capital of their country.

LaRouche Proposed the Alternative

In the face of this pending regional disaster, the current presidents across Ibero-America have shown themselves to be incapable or unwilling to face reality. Even those who are putting up some kind of resistance to globalist imperialism, suffer from suicidal pragmatism. Such is the case, for example, with Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, who signed the "Buenos Aires Consensus" document following their meeting in Buenos Aires on Oct. 16, with the stated intention of standing firm against the "Washington Consensus" (see article, page 12). The latter, formulated 14 years ago in Washington, is the agreement which mandated the imposition of the IMF's policy everywhere in Ibero-America. However, the Buenos Aires Consensus is belied by the IMF policies being fully implemented domestically in Argentina and Brazil.

Ibero-America will continue to burn, until and unless its leaders are ready to adopt the recommendations made by Lyndon LaRouche in his famous Operation Juárez document more than two decades ago. If these leaders want to keep their posts, they will have to abandon their cowardice, and—in the words of former Mexican President José López Portillo—"heed the wise words of Lyndon LaRouche."