Name: To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup - FAIR
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To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup - FAIR

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&nbsp;The Guardian () pretends not to understand the difference between overthrowing a government and arresting someone for overthrowing a government.One can imagine an editor of the London-based Guardian () shaking her head sadly as she typed the headline: “Cycle of Retribution Takes Bolivia’s Ex-President From Palace to Prison Cell.”&nbsp; The subhead told readers, “Jeanine Áñez’s government once sought to jail the country’s former leader Evo Morales for terrorism and sedition—now she faces the same charges.”The Guardian article by wants us to lament an alleged incapacity of Bolivian governments to stop persecuting opponents once they take office. We are told that Áñez’s government did it, and that now the government of President Luis Arce (elected in a on October 18, 2020) is also doing it.The article’s premise is a lie, and the liberal Guardian has hardly been the only outlet spreading it, with help from Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), whom Philips quoted. A team effort between Western media and NGOs like HRW often reinforces the views of the US government (FAIR.org, , , , ).Áñez was a dictator installed after a military coup sent democratically elected President Evo Morales fleeing Bolivia on November 10, 2019.&nbsp; Once in power, Áñez immediately promised security forces as they dozens of protesters. She is with terrorism (in addition to sedition and criminal conspiracy) over her attempt to keep power by terrorizing the public. Her arrest is good news to people who support democracy and human rights.But now, as when the coup took place in 2019, the most obvious conclusions are evaded when they are incompatible with US foreign policy (FAIR.org, ). It should surprise nobody that have made statements depicting her arrest as political persecution.In downgrading the coup that installed Áñez to a mere allegation made against Áñez, Reuters (), the Financial Times (), the Washington Post (), CNN () and Canada’s National Post () have all run articles quoting HRW’s Vivanco criticizing her arrest. CNN quoted him:The arrest warrants against Añez and her ministers do not contain any evidence that they have committed the crime of “terrorism.” For this reason, they generate well-founded doubts that it is a process based on political motives.The Washington Post article, whose headline alleged a “crackdown on opposition,” used a shorter version of the same quote from Vivanco.While all the articles described the coup as an allegation, CNN stands out for getting the most ridiculous with its denialism:Then-head of the Bolivian Armed Forces, Cmdr. Williams Kaliman, asked Morales to step down to restore stability and peace; Morales acquiesced on November 10 “for the good of Bolivia.”But political allies maintain he was removed from power as part of a coup orchestrated by conservatives, including Áñez.Did Kaliman need to be filmed putting a gun directly to Morales’ head for CNN to admit it was a coup?Adding to the disinformation loop from his own platform on Twitter, Vivanco an Americas Quarterly op-ed&nbsp; by Raul Peñaranda () that denounced the arrest of Áñez. Peñaranda that Bolivia’s democracy was “saved” the day Morales was overthrown, and his recent op-ed depicts the November 2019 coup as a legal transfer of power.In 2019, the military publicly Morales to resign, as both the military and police made clear they would not protect him from violent right-wing protesters, some of whom .&nbsp; Áñez, a right-wing senator whose party received only in the 2019 legislative elections, had the presidential sash by military men, while lawmakers from Evo Morales’ party (Movimineto al Socialismo, or MAS), the majority in the legislature, were : some , others without guarantees of their safety and their families’.Ignoring all that, the Guardian article by Tom Philips refers to “claims the former senator [Áñez] was involved in plotting the right-wing coup that Bolivia’s current government claims brought her to power.” (My emphasis.) Editors are usually big fans of concision. The highlighted words should have been deleted. An added benefit would have been accuracy.Of course, it’s easier to deny that Áñez was involved in plotting the coup that put her in power (hardly a stretch) if you do not even accept that a coup took place. Reuters placed scare quotes around the word “coup” in headlines about Áñez’s arrest: “Bolivian Ex-President Áñez Begins Four-Month Detention Over ‘Coup’ Allegations” (); “ Bolivian Ex-President Áñez Begins Jail Term as Rights Groups Slam ‘Coup’ Probe” ().Reuters () and CNN () also uncritically reported the thoroughly debunked pretext for the coup. CNN reported, “Though an international audit would later find the results the 2019 election could not be validated because of ‘serious irregularities,’ [Morales] declared himself the winner, prompting massive protests around the country.” (The “international audit” is the OAS’s widely debunked report.) Reuters simply stated that the Organization of America States (OAS) “was an official monitor of the 2019 election and had found it fraudulent.”The “lawless course” that the Washington Post () is referring to is prosecuting the people who overthrew the elected Bolivian government and killed people who protested the coup.The coup was incited by transparently dishonest claims repeatedly made by OAS monitors about the presidential election won by Morales on October 20, 2019. Three days after the election, they claimed there was a “drastic,” “inexplicable” and “hard to explain” increase in Morales’ lead in the vote count (FAIR.org, ).The Washington, DC–based Center for Economic and Policy Research that this was utter nonsense. But in the crucial months following Morales’ ouster, outlets like Reuters the OAS from devastating criticism. Eventually, expert criticism of the OAS continually mounted and . Details from the election results in 2020, in which Evo Morales’ party triumphed by an even greater margin than in 2019, OAS dishonesty.Like Reuters, the widely quoted Jose Miguel Vivanco of HRW spread fraud claims when it mattered most in 2019. The day after the election won by Morales, Vivanco&nbsp; in Spanish that “everything indicates that [Evo Morales]&nbsp; intends to steal the election.” As late as December 2019, HRW executive director Ken Roth was also without the slightest trace of scepticism. Months into the murderous illegitimate rule of Áñez, Vivanco explicitly referred to Bolivia as a “democracy.” He did so in a Spanish-language interview with BrujulaDigital&nbsp; (), an outlet edited by Raul Peñaranda, the coup supporter whose Americas Quarterly op-ed Vivanco on Twitter. Meanwhile, on Twitter, Vivanco constantly refers to the governments of President Nicolás in Venezuela, and President Daniel in Nicaragua–two democratically elected presidents the US government wants overthrown–as “dictaduras” (dictatorships).The New York Times editorial board openly that ousted Morales in 2019:The forced ouster of an elected leader is by definition a setback to democracy, and so a moment of risk. But when a leader resorts to brazenly abusing the power and institutions put in his care by the electorate, as President Evo Morales did in Bolivia, it is he who sheds his legitimacy, and forcing him out often becomes the only remaining option. That is what the Bolivians have done, and what remains is to hope that Mr. Morales goes peacefully into exile in Mexico and to help Bolivia restore its wounded democracy.So predictably enough, a Times article () about the recent Áñez arrest referred vaguely to the utterly debunked OAS fraud claims (“a contested vote count”) and took the same kind of dishonest stance as HRW and other Western media by equating&nbsp; a US-backed dictatorship to a democratically elected government whose ouster the US supported: “Both Mr. Morales and Ms. Añez used the judiciary to go after their critics.”The Washington Post editorial board () came out with a wild defense of&nbsp; Añez, headlined: “The Bolivian Government Is on a Lawless Course. Its Democracy Must Be Preserved.” Most ominously, the editorial said, “The Biden administration should lead a regional effort to preserve democratic stability in this long-suffering country, lest crisis turn into catastrophe.” Informed people may laugh at this for a few seconds–until they remember that Bolivia’s people could eventually face for daring to hold murderers to account. Left unchallenged, that’s the that propaganda like this could bring about.Brutal dictators supported by Washington have no reason to doubt that establishment journalists and big NGOs will try very hard to keep them out of jail. Removing the threat of US -backed coups from the world will involve a constant struggle against Western media and the sources they present to us as reliable.&nbsp;FAIR’s work is sustained by our generous contributors, who allow us to remain independent. today to be a part of this important mission.You can also support FAIR on Patreon! Click the button below!More evidence of Western hypocracyThe UK supported the coup in Bolivia to gain access to its ‘white gold’I’m sure the US wasn’t displeased with getting rid of Morales (as with most Leftists he was after all trying to change the Constitution to hold onto power indefinitely), but please share concrete evidence of US backing for the Añez government, because I’ve never seen anything but throwaway accusations.Hello, I have some feedback on the writing. It’s 100% my opinion, so I may be wrong, but I think writing CNN (date here) and that “date here” being a link really is jarring to the reading experience. I think it would be better with little numbers and foot notes. The current method, I think, breaks up the reading too much. I personally like something like what Newsboat (Feed reader) does. Example: Link to Fox News[1][1]: http:\\foxnews.com\story\tech (date that it was published)Trump congratulating the regime hardly constitutes being “US backed’.Given that Maduro in Venezuela and Correa in Ecuador both used the same subterfuge to cheat elections, the Bolivian military should also be given credit for standing up to Morales and his attempt at a permanent hold on the Presidency.Again as with Ecuador, once you restore democracy you get to borrow money from the Empire.Lately, I rarely agree with US foreign policy but in this case I can find no fault.The day of the arrest of Anez was as thrilling a political day for me as hearing Reagan had died. She’s a war criminal responsible for dozens of deaths in the wake of the coup. She’s a Christian too. Although that’s incidental, it’s bad enough.HRW knows who butters its bread. But you have to admire the international class solidarity of the oligarchs.US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken just tweeted“We are deeply concerned by growing signs of anti-democratic behavior and politicization of the legal system in Bolivia. The Bolivian government should release detained former officials, pending an independent and transparent inquiry into human rights and due process concerns”Quite a horrific propaganda system the world is up againstSure it was a coup, but Morales’ prior behavior gave the coup an appearance of legality. He breached the constitution by extraditing the Italian terrorist Battisti to Brazil without any court hearing, and his extra presidential term was dubious at best. The current government is doing the right thing by keeping Morales out of government, despite his former achievements.Until when United States will stop interfering with other countries democracies? Their assisting meddling in Latin American countries help to bring terror and death. It’s know that they want every country to be by aligned with US POLITICS of meddling, submission and slander, but every country should get together by now and fight US meddling once and for all !!FAIR’s 4-page, ad-free, newsletter publishes ten times a year bringing you the media analysis and activism that you won’t find anywhere else. Choose a print subscription, a digital PDF edition, or both together.FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. We expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. As a progressive group, we believe that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information.Fairness &amp; Accuracy In Reporting124 W. 30th Street, Suite 201New York, NY 10001Tel: 212-633-6700We rely on your support to keep running. Please consider donating.This work is licensed under a License.

&nbsp;The Guardian () pretends not to understand the difference between overthrowing a government and arresting someone for overthrowing a government.One can imagine an editor of the London-based Guardian () shaking her head sadly as she typed the headline: “Cycle of Retribution Takes Bolivia’s Ex-President From Palace to Prison Cell.”&nbsp; The subhead told readers, “Jeanine Áñez’s government once sought to jail the country’s former leader Evo Morales for terrorism and sedition—now she faces the same charges.”The Guardian article by wants us to lament an alleged incapacity of Bolivian...

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Joe Emersberger

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, holding corporate media accountable for distortions & omissions since 1986. http://mastodon.world/@FAIR

To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup - FAIR

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