 see wherever he's going, we want to go. Okay. Hello, everyone. This is what the app is going on in Latin America, CodePink's weekly 20 minutes of hot news from Latin America. This is basically our brown bag lunch, 20 minutes of news at 12 p.m. Eastern every Wednesday. Today, we are joined live from La Paz, with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin. And so we're also, we have our entire Latin America team joining you today as well, Michelle Elner and Leonardo Flores and myself and Medea. So this afternoon, we will listen to some witnessing from Medea, particularly on the tests that have occurred in La Paz over the last two days. And then we'll take your audience's questions and have a more in-depth conversation with all of you. So hi, Medea. Hello. Good to be on with you, although it's just so sad being here and seeing what's going on. But I'm glad we have a chance to let people know and thank you for doing this. So why don't you give us a little background as to how you got to La Paz? You were invited to come by activists and share a little bit about what you've been witnessing because we are not seeing much in the mainstream media except for U.S. State Department narrative. Well, we were asked to come here by groups precisely because as soon as the coup happened, the coup makers took over the media here and the media is pure propaganda. So they need international people to come down to tell the world what's really happening here. Incredible censorship. And so we have been going around with different groups, particularly a wonderful Indigenous women's collective. And we've been helping to document the marches, the murders, the community efforts to oppose this coup, as well as to give financial support. We're helping them with getting coffins today for the people who died. These are very, very poor people. We're helping them in their efforts to contact the people in La Paz because we're up in a city called El Alto. It's a million people, mostly Indigenous, but it's now the part where the gas plant is. And these people for now the last 10 days have been doing 24-hour vigil to keep the plant closed as part of their efforts to put tremendous pressure on this entire capital city, not letting gasoline for cooking or gas for cars to come down to the city. It's incredible. I can't describe to you every block. I'm in a hearse right now going to the place where people were killed yesterday. Every block is closed off. People have to jump out of this car to move the barricades because the people in this part of El Alto have said no to the coup and they won't let any gasoline come down. Except yesterday when the military came in in full force, shot at people after large amounts of tear gas and they managed to get out about 50 different tanks worth of gasoline. But the people are right back today even though there was so much repression yesterday barricading this place. Every single street is blocked. There are no cars getting by. The people are helping us get by because we're in a hearse carrying a coffin that's going for one of the people who was killed yesterday. So I don't know if that's, if you can understand what I'm talking about, maybe you could ask me about it if it's not clear. Well, so the streets are being blocked by the appointed government? The pro-Avo people are blocking the plant and blocking the streets and they're saying with this coup government that is so opposed to the indigenous people that has already committed murders in Cochabamba, we are not going to allow this country to function. And so they've created shortages of gasoline, of cooking fuel, of products. There are huge long lines for chicken for eggs. They're not letting things into the city. And this is an effort by thousands of indigenous people to say no to the coup. It's quite remarkable. A level of organization that you just don't see anywhere else because these communities speak to each other and are organized by community of indigenous groups. So it's a level of organizing we could only dream of seeing here in the United States right now. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Not sure what is going to take. In a level of solidarity you could only dream of. Yeah. Every business, you know, that people are contributing, bringing food and water for the families and the church. They're contributing by putting up signs all over. They're organizing a big, big march today down into the city. And they're saying we won't negotiate with this new government because they are murderers. We want them out. So the indigenous population is the majority population within the country of Bolivia. And El Alto is, is what percent, almost 90% indigenous or almost 100% indigenous in that community. Yeah. It's the largest indigenous city in Latin America. And so yesterday, I guess I should let the audience know that Medea has been live streaming throughout the day, every day that she has been in Bolivia. And one of the things that I caught yesterday, Medea, was you talking with some of the people in line waiting to buy chicken. And it was a very interesting conversation you had with several people. There were people who were pro Morales government and there were a few who were not. And maybe you could share with us the different opinions that you're hearing and why people have the differences. Well, first, let me say that they had 13 good years with Eva Morales, whether or not you were indigenous. This economy was doing great. And people's lives were improving. But the idea that the indigenous community was gaining power was too much for the white highland, the white Santa Cruz people who are the ones who are the elite. And they never liked having an indigenous president. And they never wanted to see indigenous people in control. And so they have been, you know, trying to organize a coup against Eva Morales for some time now. And now that this coup has happened and the indigenous community, not only the indigenous community workers, all kinds of people, whether or not they were pro Eva Morales, they're now seeing how awful this right wing fascist government is, and they're organizing protests. So when you see on the chicken line, you'll see people who now are blaming the scarcity on the protesters. They're blaming it on Eva Morales people and this party called the last party. But there are other people who are just coping with the shortages and recognizing it's what they have to do in order to get rid of the coup. So it's an extremely divided society, extremely dangerous. The level of hatred, the indigenous people are feeling so under attack, and they are getting angrier and angrier. And I only see more death and misery in the short term, and hopefully a reversal of this in the medium term. So you mentioned a reversal of this. How how is that possible at this point? What sort of are there governmental mechanisms that could do that? Is it going to be people power from the streets that do it? Is it the return of Eva Morales or a confluence of activities that will make that possible? Well, right now, the people on Eva Morales is party. Some of them agree to negotiate. Some of them don't want to negotiate. Some of the the indigenous people are saying no to negotiations. So there are different positions that are happening right now. But the pressure that the the indigenous communities putting on the government is intense. And the shortages are intense. And they're going to have to negotiate. But she the the so-called president is supposed to announce today what her plan is for elections. And we will see how the people react to that. They are saying they want Eva Morales to come back, whether or not he participates as a candidate in election is another issue. But they feel that he should have the right to come back here while the government is threatening that they would arrest him minutes that he came back. So right now, the positions are extremely diametrical. And we don't yet see the way out. But hopefully there will be more negotiations and international community getting involved because otherwise this could descend into a civil war. Well, it seems from here, watching from what's happening from Washington, D.C., we saw Eva Morales resign on Sunday, November 10. And I know in Leonardo Michel, please join in here because I know the three of us have talked about this as well, that we were all pretty shocked, disappointed to see him resign and have since had conversations that it and himself as well, particularly from his press conference now that he's has sought asylum in Mexico, that he was basically saving his people by resigning. And it appears that that it was a very honorable move on his part, and that perhaps what we would have seen on the 10th was an immediate explosion into civil war. And now we're watching perhaps a slow simmer into civil war. How do I mean, would you concur with that? Or what is your sense? Yeah, when I heard that he resigned and then other top leaders of the master resigned, you know, I was very disappointed. And I said, and thinking it was not a good thing. And then I came here and I realized that people in the party were being literally held hostage. We met a union leader whose wife and daughter were being held hostage. Their home was burned down. This was the kind of pressure that was being put on Eva Morales and the other top leaders, that if they didn't resign and they didn't leave, that there would be more of this. And so yes, they were doing it to save other people and save their family members. So tremendous duress that they resigned under and more on sister's house was burned down. So, you know, this is a temporary move that they made while they gathered their strength. And now the force of the pro Aval, you know, it's difficult to even call them for Aval forces, because you don't hear in these markets, chance that are about Aval, it's now chance about get rid of the coup government. That's the main thing. And that's bringing together people who are pro Aval and people who had opposition to Aval as well. Recognizing that what's come to power is so negative, so racist, so destructive that they have to get together. But the chance are more about getting rid of the so-called president, getting the military back in their barracks, getting doing the way with this decree that said that the military could commit abuses and not be held responsible for it. Having the prisoners released, those are the main demands that we're hearing on these marches. So I just have to tell you to say, I wish you could see what we're what's happening right now as we are passing through blockade and blockade. And the people are coming out to open up the road for this hearse. It is quite remarkable. There are just hundreds and hundreds of people along the path towards the plant, the gas plant. And this is just an incredible show of people power, how they've taken over the main roads, and they will decide who gets through and who doesn't get through. Wow. We can go back to the other issue. I just wanted to know that this is just remarkable what we're seeing right now. We're so pleased to have you on the phone to be sharing this because these are not these are not scenes or visions that we are seeing or hearing about in the media here in the state. So no, it's wonderful to have you painting this picture for us. And I should just remind the audience that you can follow Medea on your own Facebook on her Facebook page and see her live streaming. She's got quite a catalog of video at this point since Saturday and more to come. So there's some live reporting that you all can see of these various incidences that she's been describing with all of you this afternoon. One thing I wanted to talk about was you clearly mentioned people calling this a coup government. And here in the states it's been very slow the narrative to develop the language into coup. Leonardo and Michelle and I spent yesterday on the hill lobbying members of the congressional progressive caucus. And the three of us can share with the audience listening we were was pretty astounding how few progressive caucus members have actually made statements against what is happening in Bolivia. And so there's a few reliable ones that have tweeted already and our Hank Johnson I will share with all of you is circulating a letter in Congress specifically directed towards violence against the indigenous community. But what will it take Medea for us to change this narrative here in the states for people to understand that it was a coup. No no one was shot. No the tanks didn't run able Morales out but there was definitely a resignation under duress forced by the military. What will it take? Well I think that I think that as time goes by we're learning more and more how this was premeditated and we'll find out more of the details about who in the region and the US helped with this because you just can't imagine in one week of taking over how they transform this country and they had to have it ready. They had they've taken over all of the ministries. They've changed the ambassadors. They have changed the relations with other countries. They have put in place new laws. They have taken over the communications, the television, the radio, the press. I mean you just can't do that without having off the top before and have things in place. So I hope more and more information will come out about how this happened, who was behind it, and that it's important to say that there were many leaders of the opposition who said before the election that there was going to be fraud, who said before the election that they weren't going to believe the results. And so this is a premeditated coup and we'll just have to keep getting out information that shows who planned it, how it was planned, but most important now is for people to realize that there is a fascist right-wing racist government in power that is destroying this country. So that's all very powerful. I know there's one thing I wonder if you could comment because to me it was so shocking to see the self-proclaimed president inaugurate herself on a on a bible and a big oversized bible. A big huge bible almost out of a cartoon, a Saturday morning cartoon. Yes, exactly, a prop. And you know for those of us who are from Latin America and have been activists in Latin America for any length of time, we all know and understand the history of Christianity and its influence for the past 500 years in this hemisphere, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean. And can you just address that a bit to see this the the reemergence of Christianity and in conjunction with the extermination of indigenous people? It's a fact. I mean there are indigenous people who are who are Christian, but what we have now in power are fanatic evangelicals and we see them watching down the streets talking about peace, peace, we want peace of course. They're not talking about peace, they're talking about a takeover and they are using the bible as a prop to say that they want to take down the the indigenous flag that we follow and that the bible is now back in inside the presidential palace that the the god is is or has ordained them to make this coup and so they are using religion as a front for this right-wing takeover and we see these evangelicals all over the streets of La Paz and they are so happy with this new government power, but really religion is the one of the justifications they're using and we're we've just arrived in Sencata where the people were shot yesterday it's still full of the military and you know I would get off now and join the people but the and and you can continue on with your wonderful other guests there but I just want to say I'm looking right now at the distributor of oil and gas here called Sencata that is being guarded by military fully armed military tanks and this is one of those pictures that you see maybe historically where the military is taken over oil facilities and guarding it and where people's blood has been shed so that gasoline could go down to the richer people in La Paz and so and while the press here the Bolivian press has said that the people that were the ones who were and the violent ones that they dynamited the walls to the plant none of that is true we're seeing it ourselves and we'll send back more live stream so thank you for having me on and I look forward to more discussions about what's happening here and hearing from you all there what we can do to get our elected officials to not only call this a coup but to demand a reversal of this so thanks so much for having me on thank you so much for being there and thank you for joining us this afternoon okay so Leonardo and Michelle is there anything you would like to add to the conversation Leonardo you've been doing a lot of lobbying regarding Bolivian Americans here and what they're starting to suffer as a result of the coup maybe we could take a minute to address that oh there we go sorry I had a technical issue there no that's okay that's all right so I was just asking you know you have been working with the Bolivian American community here in Washington DC and I wonder if you could just let our audience know some of the issues that are happening here among that population as a result of the coup on November 10th right well unfortunately that a lot of the Bolivian population was organizing the best organized folks were in the opposition prior to this coup or at least prior to Abo's resignation but now after you know seeing everything that's been happening over the last week and half I'm very happy to say that there's a good group of folks that are organizing against the coup in particular because we've seen like Medea mentioned so many disgusting acts of racism and of white supremacy and of these fanatical Christian evangelical evangelicals in Bolivia and so especially with the burning and the taking down of the Wipala flag so these folks are organizing now in DC and you know if you're in another city if you're Bolivian American it would really really help if you could call your representative and tell them to denounce this as a coup because yesterday as Terry was saying we went into about 10 offices and the message we heard over and over again was that yeah talking to Bolivian Americans is great but it's much more effective if it comes from people in their districts so is there anything else that we we should add to the conversation I mean we were so fortunate to have Medea join us live from the ground are there any questions from the audience or any any closing comments that Leonardo and Michelle you would like to make you know we try to keep this as 20 minutes of hot news every Wednesday and we're running close to 30 minutes which is great but is there anything that we should add or ask our audience to do at this point I will one thing I will add before we sign off is that we at Code Pink are building a Bolivia news page and we're on our website codepink.org we'll have a page dedicated to all of Medea's videos that she's made while in Bolivia you will also find links to our webinars and radio shows that have been about Bolivia and so it will be one media source that you can all go to codepink.org slash Bolivia is where you'll be able to find all of that news on one page at your fingertips I will also let all of you know that tomorrow Medea will be calling in to Code Pink radio for an hour-long conversation that will be 11 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow on WBAI from New York City simulcasting from WPFW in Washington DC well also once we have the archive we'll also put that on our the Code Pink Bolivia news page so I don't see any additional questions so any closing comments from Michelle Leonardo before we sign off and see you again next week. No I think we just have to keep spreading the message and sharing all these videos not just from Medea's videos but other intrepid journalists that are on the ground in Bolivia document to these disgusting massacres and these massive violations of human rights. So okay everyone thank you so much for joining us for what the F is going on in Latin America every Wednesday 12 p.m. Eastern 20 minutes of hot news live from the ground and thank you Leonardo and Michelle as well and we'll talk to all of you next week and please remember Code Pink radio 11 a.m. Eastern tomorrow WPAI New York WPFW Washington DC thank you so much