Bolivia, the thrust of civic committees and the police uprising: what happens after the escape of Evo Morales and the appointment of Jeanine Anez

Jeanine Anez, representative of the right-wing party Movimiento Democrata Social and vice president of the Senate is the sixty-sixth president of the Bolivia, after the self-proclamation took place within the Palacio Quemado, which houses the executive. By profession lawyer and with a past from TV presenter, the current president, 52 and originally from Trinidad, finds himself facing a challenging challenge at a time of political distress: leading a transitional government until the next election.

It is the second time that Bolivia has been led by a female president: the only precedent is dated 1979 and bears the name of Lidia Guillier. But November 12 will certainly be remembered as a long day and not without twists, now the leitmotif of a period marked by numerous reversals in the face. In fact, the session of the legislative assembly had opened without the presence of the deputies of the Movement to Socialism (Mas), party of the former president Evo Morales, whose absence has caused long delays in the application of the constitutional rule that the opposition has immediately stigmatized as a violation of the rights of the Bolivian people.

The day had begun with the worst wishes: the tragic death of Lieutenant Colonel of the Police of the Tactical Unit for Special Operations (Utop), Heybert Yamil Antelo, hit by a vehicle on the run during a firefight in the city of El Alto. Location that in these days has risen to the headlines for facts of extreme brutality: the death of the Colonel is only the culmination of an escalation of violence that has been taking place for days and that has left many injured On the road.

The resurgence of violence peaked last weekend, echoing the renouncement of Morales' presidency, culminating in the tragic events of Sunday night: the looting in the popular areas of La Paz (Calle Eloy Salmon and Calatayud Market) e the fire of 64 new buses in the deposit Pumakatari and of the residence of the current rector of the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, Waldo Albarracin. Acts of violence that the opposition has blamed on the violent fringes of the people of El Alto, presumably sympathizer of the Mas, which rejects the nomination of Anez and which to date does not intend to compromise with the new government.

The opposition has long accused former president Morales of incite hatred against political opponents, accusations always rejected by the Mas and still to be groundless. What seems to have provoked first indignation and, subsequently, a violent reaction on the part of the people of El Alto is the provocative gesture of some police officers who in a video, published online and by local broadcasters, yes they tear the insignia with the symbol Whipala from the uniform, emblem of indigenous peoples, and then set fire to the relative flag.

Meanwhile, the former president Morales, who in recent days had already accused the opposition, in the people of Fernando Camacho (civic leader of Santa Cruz) is Carlos Mesa (former vice president at the time of the tragic Bolivian black October in 2003), of coup d'etat, yesterday in a tweet he published his intention to denounce Senator Anez's self-proclamation to the international community that would violate the CPE (political constitution of the state) of Bolivia and the internal norms of the legislative assembly.

However, President Morales is today the Tcp (constitutional court) who intervenes, sanctioning the constitutionality of the investiture of the Beninese senator according to article 170 of the Bolivian constitution which establishes the "Termination of the presidency, among other causes, due to absence or definitive impediment".

But the confusion that affects the national political scenario and that divides the two fronts is also reflected at the international level in the table ofOrganization of American States (Oea), who met in a joint session yesterday to discuss the destiny of the Bolivian nation. On the table of the debate the alleged blight and the alleged electoral fraud, on which there is still no certain proof but only the preventive detention of Tse members (Supreme Electoral Court) and the accusations made by the opposition to the Mas and by some international actors (on all United States). Yesterday's meeting certified the official position of 15 countries (including USA, Brazil is Argentine) regarding the resolution of the crisis in Bolivia: urgently guarantee new elections.

The representative of the Mexican government takes a completely different view. Luz Elena Banos Rivas, which offered asylum to former president Morales and emphasizes how “the Mexico is seriously concerned about the dismantling of the constitutional order in Bolivia, where a coup d'etat occurred that Mexico strongly condemns ”. The general secretary of Oea, Luis Almagro, expresses however the total rejection of any unconstitutional solution to the Bolivian crisis, calling for peace and respect for the rule of law.

In this situation of uncertainty, a central question remains: what led to the resignation of Evo Morales? To answer this question we have to go back to the facts of Saturday that they recorded the Cochabamba police force mutiny, decision later supported by the forces of other departments including Santa Cruz and finally La Paz. The extreme decision matured within the police force must be interpreted within a vortex of protest and popular involvement triggered by the irruption on the political scene of a character with a strong emotional charge, Luis Fernando Camacho, leader of the Santa Cruz Civic Comite . Character with undoubted charisma that with his speeches inflamed the crucene crowd after the elections. His speech traced an unbridgeable gap between the supporters of the change, hence opponents of Morales, and those who demanded respect for the outcome of the polls.

The police decision which was followed by the refusal of the Bolivian army general to stand against the people in protest, and against the police itself, did the rest. The choice of Morales is therefore the consequence of a situation now out of control for the executive of the Mas.

To understand why the intervention of a character like Camacho may have influenced the political fate of the country, it is necessary to specify the role of the "comites civicos" in this scenario. These leverage, rather than the political power, of which they are deprived, on the exercise of the pressure and influence in the political decisions of the country. Nothing else is that popular assemblies headed by a lider.

Bolivia has nine departments, each of which consists of a comite. The most influential is the one directed by Camacho, by virtue of the economic weight that the ciudad of Santa Cruz plays in the Bolivian State.

The pressures exerted by the comites add up to those of the social and professional categories: doctors, students, miners, cocaleros and other. Each category has its own historical political representation. In the case of the Bolivian case, the passage of miners and gods cocaleros, historic supporters of the Mas, played a decisive role in the establishment of the transitional government.

From a future perspective, the reawakening of the political capital, La Paz, was far from encouraging and what was celebrated yesterday as victory of democracy and back to normality actually hides numerous uncertainties and pitfalls: first of all, the decision of the gods campesinos and of part of the Ciudad de El Alto, not to join the demonstrations of jubilation of part of the Bolivian people and, on the contrary, to resume the march with destination today Plaza Murillo. The situation of normality is still far from being restored.

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