"PREVENTIVE COUP DtETAT" IN BOLIVIA
From information which World Outlook has received from Bolivia, it is now possible to fill in more accurately the picture of what happened in the downfall of the Paz Estenssoro regime. It is clear that at a certain moment, the repressive measures taken by the would-be dictator touched off a mass reply that bordered on an uprising. At Sora-Sora, in particular, where the press reported that the army had driven back the miners, it appears that just the opposite occurred,
The miners, who were ill-armed but who greatly outnumbered the troops, held their own, succeeded in seizing arms from the soldiers,
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and eventually compelled them to retreat. Bolivian Trotskyistswere prominent in this struggle.
It was at this point that General Barrientos, who, according to all reports, had been groomed for some time by the State Department and Pentagon as the "coming man" in Bolivia decided, along with others, that the situation had become extremely dangerous and that it was necessary to carry out a preventive coup d'état at once. The result was that the regime went down and Paz Estenssoro had to flee _the country.
"at present," our correspondent writes, “there is-the most complete liberty since the Paz apparatus was dismantled, There is a veritable flowering:.of newspapers, and each class, each social layer, each party, group and political tendency is. freely expressing itself and advancing its own demands, Thus one can read the program of the extreme right and, at the other pole, the program of the COB [Central Obrera Boliviana] which shows the -evident. influence of the Trotsky=ists.
"It is clear that the country is going through a provisional interlude and that the conflict will presently be resumed, Already one occurred over the demand that arms be given up to the army, some- ‘thing which the miners have openly refused to do,
"The miners have more arms than ever. -They are stronger. and more determined, The peasants are hesitating. I should add. that the news on the international press wires about the peasants backing Paz against the students and miners was false or exaggerated. This ‘occurred only at Sucre where they belong to the Falange,.. :
"Barrientos is not playing the role of the typical ‘gorilla't [reactionary militarist]. On the contrary. He is promising everything to everybody, visiting the mines, etc. He has made overtures about re-establishing workers control, “his Minister of Labor coming out flatly in favor of it. a NT should add that the - Wotekjiste, whose ranks are recruited * from the poorest.levels of. the population, are completely. out of. funds... This greatly handicaps them in presenting their program in this. promising situation." _
The latest news in the world. press is that Washington is holding up both recognition of the Barrientos government and also ‘economic aid for the Bolivian people. Anti-imperialist sentiment .is high in Bolivia and quick recognition would not help Barrientos! image. In addition the situation is so unstable that the State Department may have decided to wait to see if Barrientos can actually consolidate his position. On November 21 Barrientos asked all civilians to hand in their arms but he has not received an enthusiastic response, The slogan of the Trotskyists is "Nobody give up your arms, The whole people and the workers need their arms."
~ Be
BOLIVIAN