Evo Morales: We are MAS, We are the People

A request reiterated over and over again, and which is once again highlighted these days, is made by  former president and leader of the Movement for Socialism -Political Instrument of the People (MAS-IPSP), Evo Morales Ayma, to the Bolivian people and especially to the militants of his party: maintain unity, increase political preparation, not give in to the blackmail of the right-wing and the manipulation of the media by the bourgeoisie, try to contribute more each day to the development of Bolivia, in peace.

"The political stability of  Homeland and the economic certainty of the people must be our priority," Morales Ayma defined in one of the many meetings he has held in recent weeks with political leaders throughout the country.

And it’s that after the recovery of democracy in Bolivia, the ratification of the government lead by Luis Arce Catacora to go ahead and reinvigorate many of the economic and social projects Evo Morales had started in his period in power and despite threats, destabilization attempts and falsehoods against them, a fighting strategy is needed that must have the majorities as protagonists, promoters, and above all, main beneficiaries.

Not a few risks loom every day in the southern nation and the leaders and militants of the MAS-IPSP know it, since it seems that the ghosts of violence and death surface, although in more sophisticated and even camouflaged forms. In this sense, Morales Ayma has said: "For responsibility before the people, history, militancy, and sisters and brothers presidents and former presidents who saved our lives, for our brothers massacred, persecuted, and imprisoned who to this day do not have justice, I reject and condemn the lies and slander that try to justify the coup d'état of November 2019".

He also regretted the false and irresponsible statements of deputies called "renovators", which become a political justification for the coup right-wing that now relies on those lies to seek impunity.

In another of the moments when the first indigenous Bolivian president has held meetings with militants, denounced: "In order to attack Evo Morales, they are capable of denying justice for the victims of the de facto government and misrepresenting history." And he recalled: "Since we began the fight against the neoliberal system of plundering of our natural resources and for the dignity of our people, we have suffered many attacks. I want the Bolivian people to know that before they also accused us with slander and false accusations. It was even worse. The neoliberals used the media to demonize us. Now the enemies of the people use social networks to try to discredit us. The militants of the MAS-IPSP remember how they expelled me from parliament by order of the United States embassy with denunciations that were never proven. So much dirty campaign".

Through the experience he’s gained, Morales Ayma has shared a bit of the history of his party, of the struggles that have brought them here, remembering that they are heirs of rallies, strikes, effort, and sacrifices against right-wing governments that excluded them for being indigenous peoples and who plundered their wealth to benefit transnational corporations, power groups, and their families. "We organized to refound Bolivia and nationalize our natural resources," he said.

He has also warned how the coup leaders also tried to outlaw them and that for a whole year during the coup d'état they investigated them, but they could not prove anything. "Despite their hate speech, we are strengthened thanks to the unity of the People's Political Instrument and even if they try to divide us, we remain united. Our responsibility with the historical struggle of the ancestors, organizations and social movements to resist colonialism and defeat neoliberalism is to take care of unity, because that would be the defeat of the right," he considered.

For the former Bolivian president, that unity must be based on principles of dignity and honesty. Meanwhile, he warned: "Given the dangers that threaten our country and to take care of the well-being of Bolivian families, I ask our leadership and militancy to act with great prudence without falling into the provocations of those who desperately try to usurp the struggle of the people.  Unity is strength."

In his words, he has defined what’s his country lives today, as a Democratic and Cultural Revolution, in which Bolivia and the well-being of everyone stands above prebends and circumstantial, individual, family, and group ambitions, and he said that they do politics out of love for the country, for principles and ideals, not for an obsession with money as the right-wing does.

Today the work of the indigenous leader for the ideological reaffirmation of the bases of his party is strong, he knows how complex times will continue to be, the permanent challenges that lie in wait for them, but as he has also said: "the people are wise and have memory. The truth and unity prevail in the face of hatred, opportunism, and falsehood. United and strengthened from the conscience and responsibility of our bases, we work politically based on the principles of honesty, solidarity, and anti-imperialist unity that our ancestors bequeathed us. We are MAS, we are the people".

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff