Human Rights and Disinformation
Disinformation constitutes an imminent danger for human rights and democracy in Bolivia.
The political crisis generated by the resignation of Evo Morales on November 10, 2019 came as a shock to public opinion in the world, characterized by confusion, ideological polarization and moral panic. The controversy generated over accusations of electoral fraud and “coup d’état” was aggravated by the circulation of disinformation about the events in Bolivia. This contributed to a deepening of the crisis of legitimacy accompanied by a spiral of political violence before and after the resignation of Morales, resulting in a generalized crisis of human rights, for which the responsibilities are still current issues.
In the current context of the new MAS government, which seeks to justify its partial narrative of the “coup d’état”, not only to justify itself but also to delegitimize and persecute its opponents, disinformation constitutes an imminent danger for human rights and democracy in Bolivia. The official narrative of the “coup d’état” has used disinformation from abroad to misrepresent the figure of the victims and politicize human rights for partisan purposes. This includes biased studies, ignoring the material evidence of electoral fraud, conspiracy theories about the fall of Evo, such as the fantastic “lithium coup”, and attempts to monopolize victimhood, ignoring violence perpetrated by MAS supporters.
From the French Terror to the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union and the current dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the eternalization of the phantasmagorical threat of a coup has been used as carte blanche to justify political persecution, the criminalization of protest, the censorship of free expression, the suspension of rights with the state of exception and political violence.
The first year of the Arce’s government demonstrates the dangers of falling into this authoritarian abyss, opening the path of revenge. For this reason, it is doubly important that Bolivian society insist that those responsible for rights violations be judged impartially, transparently and with due process. Vicious cycles of revenge are only broken with true justice.
Originally published in Spanish in Opinión.