Article first appeared on socialistaction.org (Socialist Action U.S.A.)
By JEFF MACKLER and LAZARO MONTEVERDE
On Sunday October 20, Evo Morales was re-elected president of Bolivia with 46.85 percent of the vote against his nearest competitor, Carlos Mesa, who received 36.74 percent. In anticipation of a Morales victory, the U.S. corporate media launched a fake news disinformation barrage nine days earlier, aimed at discrediting the result and setting the stage for a well-orchestrated fascist-led coup. Presented to the world as a popular democratic revolution against a dictator, the coup was led by fascist groups in alliance with Bolivia’s defecting police and army.
The relentless media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) aptly reported: “The New York Times’ editorial (11/11/19) accused Morales of ‘brazenly abusing the power and institutions put in his care by the electorate.’ The Washington Post (11/11/19) alleged that ‘a majority of Bolivians wanted [Morales] to leave office’ – a claim for which they provided no evidence – while asserting that he had ‘grown increasingly autocratic’ and that ‘his downfall was his insatiable appetite for power.’ TheWall Street Journal (11/11/19) argued that Morales ‘is a victim of his own efforts to steal another election,’ saying that Morales ‘has rigged the rules time and again to stay in power.’” FAIR’s corporate media accounting goes on to list several major media outlets in the country that dutifully sang the same song.
