Abolish the Organization of American States
The Organization of American States made unfounded claims of electoral fraud in Bolivia in 2019. Now a growing chorus of Latin American leaders is calling for the end of the OAS, which has long stood as an obstacle to meaningful democracy across the continent.
Then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo (C) sits with OAS secretary general Luis Almagro (L), instrumental to the 2019 coup d’état in Bolivia, at a gathering of OAS representatives in Washington on January 17, 2020. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
If there was any remaining doubt, news emerging from Bolivia last month has utterly delegitimized claims of fraud in the 2019 election. The allegations made by the Bolivian right, the US foreign-policy establishment, and the upper echelons of the Organization of American States (OAS) have now been painstakingly researched in at least seven international studies, as well as in a more recent investigation commissioned by Attorney General Juan Lanchipa. In each case, the allegations were found to be false.
The attorney general sought out expert advice when right-wing leaders brought a case to the courts charging fraud. After months of scrutinizing that election, experts at Spain’s University of Salamanca informed the attorney general that no evidence exists to support the claim of fraud. The oligarchy’s legal case has officially been closed, but threats of a renewed coup continue to haunt the country, despite the Movement for Socialism’s (MAS) overwhelming victory in last year’s democratic election.
Simmering Tensions
Lanchipa’s decision to close the case on fraud has in some respects only further inflamed the Right. Rómulo Calvo is the leader of Bolivia’s arch-conservative Committee in Support of Santa Cruz, connecting business leaders of the wealthy eastern lowlands. That committee possesses well-known fascist roots. A month ago, Calvo warned President Luis Arce that the city of Santa Cruz has found the “recipe for toppling a dictator.” Hardly secretive, the committee has boasted of its role in mobilizing middle-class outrage against MAS and persuading the army and police command to join their coup.
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