Hybrid war

A coup took place in Bolivia on November 10. The fact that the president of the country, Evo Morales, resigned it does not contradict the fact that a coup has taken place. Morales resigned forced by the military. The perpetrators of the Hybrid War were envisioning this same scenario for Venezuela but failed while they succeed in Bolivia. What made the difference?

Bolivia and Venezuela are similar in their independent approach to following a socialist path to break away from the hegemonic interference and economic exploitation from the US and its allies. Both countries have been successful in reducing poverty and achieving economic growth by the social use of their resources. And both countries have been subjected to a US promoted Hybrid War for regime change from a socialist government to a more neoliberal pro-US government.

The Hybrid War script involves at its minimum the following basic elements: accusing the government of some false wrongdoing, “mobilising destructive mobs” if other less violent means have not succeeded, creating “moderate groups” that penetrate as a wedge into the established institutions of the society in order to create divisions, and finally the coup de grâce: convincing the armed forces to betray their allegiance to the country’s constitution and turning them against the government and the people.

All these basic elements may be often operating simultaneously. At any time complementary actions can be introduced to force the success of the Hybrid War script. For instance, sanctions can be imposed to create shortages and economic restrictions that will further create hardship among the population; or parallel entities can be created in order to undermine the legitimate ones.

In the case of Bolivia the sequence of events followed to the letter the approach to regime change by the US-backed Hybrid War script. The basic elements of the Hybrid War were accomplished in Bolivia in the short span of time after Evo Morales was elected for his fourth term as the country’s president last October 20 until his resignation on November 10.

When it became clear that Morales was winning the election, the losing opposition candidate, Carlos Mesa, claimed that electoral fraud had been committed and that he would not recognise the elections results. The misguided intervention of the OAS publishing “preliminary observations” before a final ballot count was done, and suggesting a second round of elections was an endorsing factor to the opposition’s claim.

Neither was helpful the uncalled for interference from the government of Canada calling the presidency of Morales “illegitimate”. Taking into account the pro-US position of both the OAS and Ottawa, their involvement may have been part (or not) of the Hybrid War approach. The end result accomplished the delegitimisation of the Morales government.

Excerpted from: 'Bolivia and Venezuela: Two Countries, But Same Hybrid War'.

Counterpunch.org