Eduardo points to a statement by the Bolivian military saying they want dialogue and noting they will support the Constitutional process and will carefully consider de facto measures meant to maintain the will of the majority.
The Bolivian military and police have quite possibly the hardest jobs in Bolivia. They've got the guns, but they can't use them without grave consequence. Up until now, they've struck a balance that I think has been about right. At this moment, they should continue to respect civilian government, not use excessive force and make sure they maintain open communications with all sides to avoid misunderstandings.
I don't envy a military or police commander in the middle of a huge ongoing protest that includes 10,000 people who hate the government and several extremists using dynamite. If they retire to their barracks, they allow the protestors to take over the government. If they shoot at the protestors, they threaten to increase the violence of the protests and destabilize the government. If they arrest too many people, human rights groups jump on them. If they don't provide enough security for the citizens, they lose the faith of the people. To top this all off, they know it is completely possible that the government may not survive in spite of their best efforts and they need to prepare for that scenario.
30 years ago, the military would have already taken charge. Instead, they are today trying to balance all of their different duties to the nation under civilian control. As I said, I don't envy their position.
1 comments:
What do you make of coup rumors? I could see it happening if somehow the Santa Cruz contingent was geographically located in the Altiplano, but the private sector in the lowlands seems awfully distant, ideologically and geographically, from the Plaza Murillo. In an alternate (unlikely) scenario, I could see Mesa finagling a Fujimori-esque auto-golpe. It would certainly shake things up, which is why I don't think Mesa has it in him.
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